Timberborn

Early access review: The game is charming but there's still a lot of stuff missing. You can play and enjoy, but the EA price is too expensive.

Although the game is still in Early Access, it's buoyant with content and I haven't come across any bug that would interfere with its use. This is what early access is supposed to look like. You can set the game to a very chill difficulty and just build, or get really challenged, where you'll be facing long periods of drought, or a flood of bad water. The game is something between a colony builder and a factory builder. The ability to build vertically is very refreshing. I highly recommend the game!

Few years ago, I started playing Frostpunk, which got me hooked on the city-building survival genre, and is one of my favorite games of all time. Timberborn is an enjoyable game so far that scratches that same itch and makes you plan accordingly when disasters occur, just like in Frostpunk (except with beavers, of course). Fun for both casual strategy gamers and pro-strategy gamers alike. No regrets on this purchase, even in early access.

Timberborn is a unique "post apocalyptic" city builder that replaces humans with industrious beavers. Despite it's great concept and charming aesthetic, I don't believe it's worth its current purchase price of $24.49. Factions: The two playable beaver factions are the Folktails and Iron Teeth, the latter having to be unlocked. While both factions share many similarities, they still offer some unique gameplay differences such as theme (farmers vs metalworkers), population size management, and different plantable crops. I would expect Mechanistry to add a third faction for the full release and further emphasize their unique playstyles. UI and Maps: The user interface is solid but could use refinement. Timberborn needs more official maps, and the map selection would benefit from a categorized system like their community map contests (small, medium, large). The game offers three difficulty settings, but most of the challenge occurs early on. Rather than providing a continuously scaling difficulty, the Easy/Medium/Hard settings mostly determine how carefully you need to play at the start of a map. While custom settings allow for additional challenge, the lack of a built-in, endlessly increasing difficulty mode is a missed opportunity. Gameplay & Customization: While the core mechanics of the game are enjoyable (especially the 3D water mechanics), I was disappointed by the limited decoration options for building aesthetically pleasing settlements. This was a huge drawback for me, but it’s something that could easily be improved. Overall, Timberborn is fun for many hours, but it feels like it falls short of its full potential. More meaningful customization and expanded faction and faction differences would greatly improve it. I'd recommend trying a different game due it's high early-access price tag, but then take another look once it's complete.

This has became my go to chillout game. It didn't look as good on paper but I gave it a go and it turned out amazing! Only criticism I could have right now is that it's a bit low on end game content. You can still find stuff to do, but you have to make your own fun. I'm sure this will be addressed in future updates.