A fun game with little beavers that make silly sounds when you click on them. Is there more you could ask for, well yes, but honestly this game is quite enjoyable. This game is a laid back city builder that doesn't demand that you constantly run just ahead of a civilization on the verge of collapse if you don't meet every single need as it pops up. I mean that, it is probably the biggest factor that makes this my favorite civ/city builder. In so many city builders growth is inevitable and uncontrollable, and as your city grows so to do the demands of your people until at last you cannot keep up and everything fails. Timberborn does not do this. You get to choose how fast you grow and providing more for your beavers is a bonus rather than a requirement that spells failure if not met. Each stage does get more difficult over time, but the pace is such that you'll likely fail one or two times at most before you get the hang of things.
The good:
- The graphics are nice, nothing jaw dropping, but cute and charming with a solid aesthetic. There isn't anything that is an eyesore or out of place. This is a great example of well made visuals.
- Similarly the music really nice as well, with tracks that fit the events of the game. The number of tracks are limited and I do wish there were more, but the music that is there has never gotten on my nerves.
- The gameplay is neither overly simple or complex. You have enough options to make interesting choices but not so many that you're left wondering what to do or if you made the right choice.
- Failure in this game is mostly a setback rather than a reason to start over. Barring really really bad luck you can generally recover from anything bad that happens, even if it might take a while.
The mixed:
- There are only two factions, and after all this time, it really feels like there should be more. I had been holding out hope that 1.0 would introduce one but no luck there. There are some mods that add in new factions, but I am reviewing the game, not the mods.
- The number of official maps has been slowly growing which is good but there could definitely be more. Again there are plenty of maps you can get through the community but I'm reviewing the game not the community.
The bad:
- The developers really really like the folktails, the first faction you have unlocked. While they've always made sure to give the irontails (the other faction) a few new things here and there it's not quite the same. This is very apparent in the fact that there are two whole world features, aquifers and geothermal vents, that the irontails have zero ways to interact with, making maps where they are present (and therefore very helpful) much much more difficult for the irontails. They don't and probably shouldn't interact with these in the same was as the folktails, but they shouldn't just be left out.
- The water physics can sometimes be a bit unintuitive. Water flow affects power wheels and can be easy to mess up without realizing it. It can especially be surprising when it comes to the rates at which it drains off the map. I have had a number of times where I thought I had successfully routed the badwater to a good outflow point only to find it overflowing the barriers I had placed.
All in all this is a great game, and even if you are normally a little hesitant about picking up a city builder I would still recommend this one because the goal isn't to crush you with complexity, but to let you build a cozy city for cute beavers.
