Using old era bit style graphics, Earthtongue is a ecosystem simulator where you try to balance fungi and bugs who develop within an alien crater to create a self sustaining microcosm. You play as a non-physical consciousness who has limited ability to influence things using intervention points, which slowly accumulate over time as your micro world becomes more diverse. The end result is very interesting and reasonably enjoyable, but it can become frustrating at times.
I definitely like the approach of this game. While there is a little micromanaging, your interventions are limited until the next allotment, so you'll spend a fair amount of time just watching things develop, which can be adjusted for speed. While you develop your world, you have a research page which tells you aspects of things you've learned about how these little creatures live and see insight about your true nature.
As the name of the game is balance, you're going to find there's a rocky road to understanding what does what. You won't really be overwhelmed with choices for the most part, but if creatures don't live long enough (or don't develop at all), you can't really learn what you need to do. Because your interventions are limited and creating a lifeform creates a higher cost for a while if you want to do it again, it can become frustrating as some creatures are very hard to develop. Because some of them can die almost instantly, you don't get the opportunity to figure them out, and meanwhile, your world is developing, which can be inhospitable to certain things. This is something that galled me.
I'm all for trial and error, but I'm several hours in at this point and I still don't know why certain creatures won't thrive, what they will or will not eat, how they behave, etc... because they die almost immediately. If you can't learn from a forced trial and error approach, you don't really have any options and there's not a lot in the way of out of game guides for Earthtongue. Why do my wasps keep dying? How do I make use of the red mantis? Where do I plant pitcher plants successfully? Almost six hours in and I have still have some fast dying creatures with little explanation, because the research won't update until they've lived for around 7500 time units. I would have preferred some kind of clue on how at least to start with some of these creatures and then learn more as time went on.
Creatures aside, you must maintain a balance of nutrients in the soil versus that which is locked inside creatures/the air. I think this represents a type of carbon cycle. With your interventions, you can occasionally call down nutrients, rain to hydrate the land, wind to spread spores, etc. These things can happen without you, but they're very rare. One of the options feels a bit off putting however. The meteor option can be used to create ground based nutrients and break up piles of dead bodies/undesired creatures. Aesthetically, I feel like this is an odd method for adjusting balance however, since asteroids are more analgous to the evolutionary dominance and change of various creatures in real earth history, than anything to do with natural balance. Additionally, the meteor option either comes as a fiery ball which can be used to burn excess carcasses like an incinerator, or just a frozen iceball which creates a less ground impact to deliver nutrients. I didn't see any way to control the outcome of which type arrives, which was vexing. None of the other weather options have that issue.
Lastly, and this could just be the result of the world I managed while trying to learn the game- the breakdown cycle of creatures doesn't keep up well. Detrivores are often sluggish in their work, and while my roaches reproduced reasonably fast, my flies barely did. That felt non-intuitive. In time, there were more dead bodies piling up than all the detrivores and meteor drops could keep up with. My advice? Avoid using locusts and sundew molds as long as possible. They get out of control rapidly and little seems to get them under control. I have the option to use an expensive meteor shower to wreck my world down a bit, but I feel like that's an unsatisfying answer to my dilemma. But I get it... balance is hard. I just wish I had the ability to come into this more equipped with information than just guessing at times. Some creatures also seem more effective at their 'jobs' than others.
Generally, I liked the old school graphics and basic animations. The developments of the fungi were also very detailed as they grow and wither in a very telling way. You can also see the extent of water and nutrients in the soil with some subtle graphical touches. However, I would have changed the three fliers (wasps, locusts, and flies), as they use the same model with very small palette changes.
The music is nice. Simple relaxing quasi-Metroid-like ditties although they can get a little tedious after a while.
As a bonus, there's also mod support to try out new maps and designs, but know that there's only a few around. Still, it can keep things fresh.
Aside from the frustrating inability to learn things in game at times, I like Earthtongue and I wouldn't mind seeing more of it.
