I want to make this topic because i find it kinda interesting to talk about.
World:
First off. It seems this game is in some kind of different universe where not even the continents looks the same. Someone can confirm if Cascadia/Omnistat etc. is in the real world continental map or not. It seems that even the continents looks fictional. I'm also wondering how the rest of the world/planet is like? From what iv'e seen most of the landscape (like greylands) suffer from extreme pollution to the point where they need to do agricultural work inside huge structures like these "bio-domes" which sounds interesting. But that is just inside Cascadia.
You can also notice lots of planes in the air. Wondering if they are only for getting around Cascadia or is also traveling to other distant continents. And if there is other continents i would like for the writers to give us a hint on the worlds state in the game universe. So far we only know a little about Omnistat and a little more about Cascadia. The other third country is interesting tho but stil a mystery.
Timeline/Technology:
And in the timeline of that world it is obvious they have advanced allot further than us irl so it may be in the future timeline in that world (as there even is a huge hundreds of years old advanced desolation plant under the city) and they have managed to build something like the Shard. They got advanced holograms and glass screens. They have drones smart enough to fly around the city like birds avoiding buildings (they seem to be delivery drones for commercial stores or personal pickup drones).
But they are stil stuck at our present lvl of energy tech and they need to use polluting Technics to make the energy as their stock of things like uranium is pretty low (fission plants doesn't pollute if the waste is handled properly and the security tech is high) so they are soon damned if they dont come to something else. But the amount of green tech on top of most buildings in these cities might help a little to the power usage. The shard even got 2 huge windmills which may/may not produce most if not all of the power this tower is using. I'm wondering why they stil haven't made something like a fusion plant since we are on the lvl of developing that today (in germany they have a prototype under testing) but we are stil years from having it irl if they ever develop a working prototype.
They also seem to have issues regarding clean water. Mostly due to groundwater being to polluted or drained so they need to desolate salt water from sea. The only "green place" we have seen as mentioned when you are there is the garden inside the Shard which you can see with heavy water falls etc.
This conclusion is that they have problems far worse than progressing real world countries even tho with the high tech stuff. But i think they focused to much on computer/construction tech rather than energy and water. They have hightech systems and screens, drones all around. And constructions we can dream about today, But stil heavy polluting energy production and lack of cleanwater.
Comments
The world does seem to be on earth but a different world with different geology and things and set somewhere in the future where pollution has become a huge problem but technology is way past then the present.
About the planes I was wondering about that too... I do think there are other countries on different continents. They could be transporting some cargo; I think that because on ME original on the docks mission the ship that you go on was a cargo ship for deliveries and with a ship that size it would probably go long distances. I'm not sure there is a dock area in Catalyst though because I didn't see one on the map. Still needing to transport people or commodities with planes or ships probably means more countries and continents far away! I also wonder about the other cities in Cascadia and what they're like...
As for the timeline I'm pretty certain they are in the future and even with technology some big issues and needs are and would still be a massive problem, such as resources running thin from years of mining - this would definitely be a side effect of being in the future because the more years the more resources that are being used up. With amazing buildings like the shard you can see that green energy is being used but even that massive windmill I don't think could even provide enough power for itself and it can't power even a fraction of the massive city. It looks like it's a show piece for what can be done to fix these problems with greenery inside and green self power but it's probably insanely expensive. To power, provide water, and feed a city the size of glass takes tons of resources and since they are running out it's mean lot of employ's comfy lives making a 180 turn. These are pretty big issues that really put this world on the edge and I don't see how they can be fixed before they run out of one or more needed resource.
I really like the lore that DICE added to this game it makes it more immersive
I've been to Eden one I think