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
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
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.
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.