Let’s start by saying that while the game is still early access, it has been playable for years. It first released in 2021, and has been continuously updated since (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timberborn#Development). To be fair, with what is possible in the game now, I would consider it a complete game.
I’m not the best at game critics, so I’ll just try to tell what’s good, what can be improved, and whether I recommend it. Keep in mind I only started playing it this week-end, so I’m quite new, but hopefully this is still relevant.
For the context, I’m a very heavy Caesar III fan, and have been looking for a long time for a modern game that would give the same relaxing feeling of “solve one issue at a time” that C3 is (also, for C3 fans, check out Augustus, it’s amazing)
The good
- Cool concept and theme: beavers and water are refreshing compared to the usual city builders. The general art style fits the theme as well
- Building can be stacked vertically, allowing for more creativity for city building
- No too many “risks” mechanics: food does not decay, buildings don’t collapse. That’s usually a thing that I was not that much of a fan of in C3, seemed like it was there just to add an unnecessary layer of management
- the Districts mechanics allows you to expand your bases in a nice way, you have quite a lot of control of what is sent between districts
- the easy mode allows for a quite chill experience. Not sure how challenging the other modes are.
- the devs listen to the community feedback, they recently made a “you were right, we were wrong” announcement: https://steamcommunity.com/app/1062090/eventcomments/830458962613745838
The potential improvements
- I got a few hiccups running it on Linux using Proton. Nothing too critical, got one crash at some point, I just reloaded the autosave. It was a one time occurrence.
Should you play it?
Definitely a solid game for people who like this type of city/base-builders
I loved Timberborn, great game with a fun twist compared to the rest of the genre. I’d also recommend Bannerlords and Foundation, I had a blast with both of those as well.
I had a lot of fun with foundation. Plus they just recently added mod support
How is this a !patientgamers thing? It’s still in “early access!”
It’s been “released” for 4 years. Yes, it’s “early access,” but surely there’s a point where we ignore that label, no?
My point was 50% that the game is still too new for this sub and 50% that “early access” is ridiculous, LOL.
Still, I’m pretty sure the game genuinely isn’t feature-complete yet. They only implemented the “real” water flow algorithm (allowing for aqueducts and underground pipes) a month or so ago, after all.
Your comments made me curious what our threshold for “too new” is, my first guess being 5 years. (Thanks XKCD.)
It’s actually
catering to gamers who wait at least 12 months after release to play a game
according to our sidebar. But you pose a good question if Early Access release counts as release, especially if it’s been in EA for this long.
Early Access games feel out of scope. Half of the point of patient gaming is waiting for a feature-complete product.
But you pose a good question if Early Access release counts as release, especially if it’s been in EA for this long.
I feel like there’s “real” Early Access, where major features and other wholesale changes like replacement of placeholder art are still being implemented, and “fake” Early Access, where the devs just avoid calling the game “finished” for some reason (possibly because they overpromised and have abandoned it). Timberborn is very much in “real” Early Access.
Construction lacks materials (2385)
Thanks for posting this. I’ve been thinking about picking it up.
I’m not big on city builder / management sims, but I really enjoyed my time with it. It’s also quite cute, and on sale now on GOG.
The harder modes are pretty much longer droughts/bad tides compared to good tides.
I watched Mojod do a couple hard modes and it’s like 6 days of good water then at least 18ish days of bad/no water. Couple times it even went up to 30 day droughts.
The first day is basically build 2 pumps, store enough water to last the first drought then get as many berries.
I played it last year. It was fun for a few days, but once I got the hang of the water physics and had a well-functioning city, it became mostly repetitive.
I wonder if newer updates bring more to the mid/late game. I’ll have to check it out again at some point.
There’s a new update coming out in May with ziplines and tubes!
This looks pretty cool, thanks for sharing! Definitely a unique spin, always wanted to play as a beaver and just chop down trees and dam rivers.
This game is a weird one for me. It kind of punishes growth or improvement to me, and neither are necessary or forced.
Every time I play it I realize I can just not have any offspring except when needed to keep the population at exactly the same amount.
Then you just don’t build upgraded buildings or anything and everyone lives a happy, safe, and stable existence lol.
I’m not sure what mechanic or combination of mechanics in this game specifically become the burden that makes me not want to expand but something in it makes me just want to start at beginning tech. The word snowball effect of new problems and challenges…
Got 248 hours on record. It’s probably my top city builder at this point.
I bought it last week when there was a sale and i have sunk in 60 hours already. So yes, i’d say its a full game.
Ooo, fellow Linux gamer. Did you check ProtonDB to see if they have a fix for your issue? I’m hyped for Timberborn but also have a personal rule to never buy Early Access. Also, we would like this post over in !citybuilders@sh.itjust.works.
Timberborn, much like Factorio was, is definitely worthy of an early access purchase, the devs have been constantly updating and improving, and are very proactive with addressing bugs. The next major update adds some really neat features as well.
Did you check ProtonDB to see if they have a fix for your issue?
Not yet, to be honest the issue was minor enough that I’m fine with it.
I’ll probably crosspost it later!
