izigame.me

At 60 hours, having finally unlocked the Iron Teeth (2nd faction) on a normal playthrough on the Helix Mtn map, I must say I love this game. Few city builders employ mechanics outside of your base 4X iterations, so the gameplay of Timberborn requiring more careful thought, planning, and implementation of real engineering concepts in regards to fluid mechanics (water) has really activated my neurons. It is definitely a brutally steep learning curve, especially given how much there is to learn that isn't covered in the base tutorial; however, it is extremely satisfying once you finally see what you built come together and work efficiently.
That said, nothing is perfect. This game is shooting for a high bar in terms of what you can do, given the engineering nature of it, and I can see it getting there at this rate but I do feel like it needs some QOL to smooth some edges:
- There 100% needs to be an in-game guide, glossary, manual- something that at least briefly explains how some of the physics/mechanics work in this game. God bless "The Idiots Guide To Timberborn" and many others for providing the information, because without it this game is a LOT of brutal trial and error. I would be less bothered by this if the consequences for experimenting were less severe, but fucking up your water supply can AND will end a playthrough (or at least require you to reload a save)
- Expanding on the previous point, I do think there should be some reconsideration as to how harsh the punishment for experimentation is. There was so much more in the game I hadn't even touched yet, like dynamite, by the time I unlocked the Iron Teeth (and perhaps that is the point, where playing Iron Teeth will expose me to more of this) and it was because it was such a long and risky investment for most of what I was doing that I had little room to experiment with much else beyond what was critically required.
- I definitely want to see more factions, admittedly I have yet to touch Iron Teeth because I dont want to "experience all there is" so quickly and be left with nothing else. I hope more get added so that there is more challenges waiting to be experienced.
- I think there should be to encourage the player in the way of utilizing decorations and improvements to lifestyle, because at this point its nothing more than a number that goes up but doesn't really improve the rest of the colony as a whole, like for example improving efficiency in any manner. You can entirely ignore those 'lifestyle benefits' until you have all the tools ready to deploy them, plop them down, and have beaten the criteria (at least for unlocking iron teeth) within a few moments. I only ever placed decorations and those few lifestyle benefits because they were pleasing to look at. Showers for example; I think these could totally be something with more strategic and functional value, like possibly washing off bad-tide contamination before they become sick indefinitely.
- I think the inclusion of something like seasons (winter, fall) to add a bit more challenge throughout the year aside from drought and badtide, two things I was wholly able to ignore after the first 10 cycles, would be a warm welcome. Something to maybe require stockpiling many more resources like food, as oppose to having an almost entirely uninterrupted food growth cycle once you get a few floodgates rollin.
All in all, its still a great game but my complaints I think surround the overall issue I foresee- once I have a successful playthrough as Iron Teeth maybe once or twice, there may not be much more bringing me back.