Birthdays the Beginning

56%
Game Brain Score Based on 1,036 reviews
  • gameplay
  • graphics
  • story
Birthdays the Beginning Game Cover
Impressive efforts with a few noticeable problems holding them back. Won't astound everyone, but is worth your time and cash.
Starting at $6.94Buy now
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"Birthdays the Beginning" is a sandbox game that lets players create cube-shaped worlds, influencing their geography and temperature to foster life. Witness the evolution of single-celled organisms into complex lifeforms such as plants, dinosaurs, and mammals, shaping a unique ecosystem in each world. Imagine, experiment, and create limitless and diverse planets for a one-of-a-kind experience.

  • Nintendo Switch
  • PC
  • Play​station 4
  • Play​station 5
  • Windows
  • Play​Station
Genres & TagsPlay Modes

Reviews

56%
Audience ScoreBased on 1,036 reviews
gameplay35 positive mentions
optimization14 negative mentions
  • The game features a charming art style and cute creature designs that enhance the overall experience.
  • The gameplay allows for creative terraforming and world-building, providing a satisfying sense of progression as new species evolve.
  • The concept of manipulating terrain to influence the evolution of life is engaging and offers a unique twist on the god game genre.
  • The controls are clunky and unintuitive, especially for keyboard and mouse users, making gameplay frustrating.
  • The tutorial is lengthy and often feels like it holds the player's hand too much, detracting from the overall enjoyment.
  • Performance issues, including lag and crashes, significantly hinder the gameplay experience, making it unplayable for some users.
  • gameplay155 mentions

    The gameplay of the game has received mixed reviews, with many players finding it tedious and repetitive due to its limited mechanics, primarily focused on raising and lowering terrain. While some appreciate the game's concept and the depth of its climate and evolution systems, others criticize the lengthy tutorial, clunky controls, and lack of guidance, which detract from the overall experience. Despite these issues, there are positive notes on the game's visuals, performance, and potential for enjoyable simulation gameplay, suggesting that it may appeal to fans of the genre if they can overlook its flaws.

    • “Positives: cute models, amazing performance, a lot of content, calming music, gameplay is very addicting and has a lot of replayability.”
    • “It’s a really good game with extremely good and smooth gameplay.”
    • “While others are complaining about things that can be fixed in simple updates, the core gameplay is very satisfying and will please anyone that enjoys this type of game.”
    • “The game tosses you into a convoluted mix of biology and geology without a hint of guidance, leaving you to decipher its confusing mechanics on your own.”
    • “And don't get me started on the gameplay; it's a mind-numbing, tedious routine that lacks any excitement or variety.”
    • “Despite the infinite potential from the premise of the game, the gameplay itself gets bogged down by clunky and overly complicated controls reminiscent of a poor PSX port to PC.”
  • graphics135 mentions

    The game's graphics receive mixed reviews, with many praising the cute and charming art style, while others criticize the dated visuals and performance issues. Some players enjoy the bright colors and creative design, but report significant lag and a lack of graphical options, which detracts from the overall experience. Overall, the aesthetic appeals to a younger demographic, but technical shortcomings hinder its potential.

    • “The environment itself is also very brightly coloured and compliments the animals well, and you can tell a lot of thought and effort went into the game's artwork.”
    • “On the plus side, I quite like the game's visuals and the sort of modeling clay feel they were going for with the creatures.”
    • “It has adorable visuals, I really like seeing my critters populate the world.”
    • “Visually, it's an eyesore – a failed attempt at charm with dated graphics and performance so sluggish it's infuriating.”
    • “The graphics and simplicity of the actual creatures makes this feel cheap; the animals are only representative of whether they exist in your world or not, they don't actually do anything to provide interactivity.”
    • “There are no graphics options, there is no quit button, there are very few settings at all.”
  • story102 mentions

    The story mode of the game is widely criticized for being poorly executed, overly lengthy, and lacking meaningful content, often feeling like a tedious tutorial rather than an engaging narrative. Many players find the objectives unclear and the controls frustrating, leading to a sense of failure and annoyance, especially with unskippable cutscenes. While some appreciate the charming graphics and the potential for sandbox gameplay, the consensus is that the story detracts from the overall experience rather than enhancing it.

    • “It has good graphics, and a charming story.”
    • “The story has you working towards modern humans, but you also have access to free-play which means you can do whatever you'd like.”
    • “As the game progresses, things get easier. I really do like how they did the story mode, starting with a small cube with a limited objective requiring less to worry about during the growth of the world.”
    • “The story also doesn't make sense and doesn't seem to add anything to the game.”
    • “For starters, the story mode is one lengthy tutorial that quickly wears itself thin.”
    • “1) The storyline is a huge waste of effort; it is not only rubbish but completely unnecessary. Games like this do not need one, and it just slows down the playing.”
  • optimization56 mentions

    The game's optimization has received significant criticism, with many players reporting severe performance issues, particularly on older AMD graphics cards, while some found it better suited for high-end systems. The controls are also noted to be unoptimized for PC, reflecting its console port origins. Despite these challenges, a few players experienced satisfactory performance and found the gameplay engaging, suggesting that a more optimized version could enhance the overall experience.

    • “But besides that, this game has great performance, sometimes even going more than 60 FPS (however it's rare), a whole lot of content for you to do, and a lot of cute models.”
    • “I believe that the optimization is still abysmal, but now the game is able to show me its beautiful core - and I frankly love it.”
    • “If you can work around the dubious controls and have a computer that doesn't suffer from performance issues - the game is a gem.”
    • “Visually, it's an eyesore – a failed attempt at charm with dated graphics and performance so sluggish it's infuriating.”
    • “Currently the game has severe performance issues and is recommended only to users who have really high specced computers (16 GB RAM, i7 CPUs, top of the line GPUs).”
    • “The game definitely was not optimized for PC, leaving some things feeling very clunky.”
  • stability34 mentions

    The game's stability has received mixed reviews, with many players reporting significant bugs, glitches, and control issues that hinder gameplay, particularly during the tutorial. While some users have experienced smooth performance, others have faced frequent freezes and lag, suggesting that the game may not run well on lower-end systems. Overall, the game's potential is overshadowed by its current instability, leading to frustration among players.

    • “Runs great if your PC isn't a potato.”
    • “The game is good, but whenever I complete one of the scenarios, it freezes and doesn't let me do anything. I tried using the keyboard and the mouse, but nothing worked; just this one problem.”
    • “As a fan of Harvest Moon, I was super excited when Birthdays was announced, but unfortunately, any enjoyable gameplay is completely destroyed by lag and buggy controls left over from a rather botched import to PC.”
    • “My general rule applies then: no matter how good a game is, if it's unplayably buggy, it's worthless and deserves downrating.”
  • music33 mentions

    The music in the game is generally described as calming and atmospheric, enhancing the relaxing gameplay experience. However, many users find it to be limited and repetitive, which can detract from the overall enjoyment over time. Despite these criticisms, some players appreciate the adaptive nature of the music that changes with the player's world modifications, adding a unique touch to the soundscape.

    • “Super-chill sim game with great music.”
    • “The music and atmosphere of the game is very pleasant and rewarding when you discover new areas and a new sound.”
    • “Really relaxing to play, and an amazing soundtrack!”
    • “The music is very limited and repetitive and can get old pretty quickly, and short of modifying the environment by raising and lowering the ground to make hills, oceans, and mountains, there's not a whole lot to do.”
    • “The soundtrack itself is very repetitive - almost to a fault.”
    • “The music is ambient and repetitive to a fault.”
  • grinding30 mentions

    Reviews consistently highlight the grinding aspect of the game as tedious and repetitive, often describing it as a mind-numbing routine that detracts from the overall enjoyment. While some players find initial hours engaging, they quickly become frustrated with the lack of variety and the time-consuming nature of tasks, such as terrain building and achievement hunting. Overall, the grinding elements are seen as a significant drawback, overshadowing the game's creative potential.

    • “And don't get me started on the gameplay; it's a mind-numbing, tedious routine that lacks any excitement or variety.”
    • “A very grindy last set of achievements that are just time padding.”
    • “It's a tedious game where you only have 2 base mechanics to work with.”
  • replayability20 mentions

    The game's replayability is a mixed bag, with some players noting limited replay value due to a lack of engaging gameplay, while others appreciate the potential for exploration and evolution of species in different worlds. The sandbox nature of the game offers opportunities for replay, but opinions vary on whether it justifies the price. Overall, while some find it charming and replayable, others feel it falls short in this aspect.

    • “This is a great game with very few things I dislike; it is charming, easy to grasp, and has a large amount of replay value.”
    • “So there is replayability; finding and evolving all of the animals in one world is impossible, but this just adds to making other worlds.”
    • “Due to its sandbox nature, it appears to offer a lot of potential replayability, and I'm certainly going to be playing more.”
    • “With little replay value, many of the players feel disappointed.”
    • “However, I can't for the life of me say this game has replay value.”
    • “Runs terribly and has no replay value.”
  • atmosphere6 mentions

    The game's atmosphere is frequently praised for its pleasant and rewarding music, particularly when exploring new areas. Despite some negative reviews, many players find the atmosphere to be a standout feature, enhancing the overall experience.

    • “The music and atmosphere of the game is very pleasant and rewarding when you discover new areas and a new sound.”
    • “While there are a lot of negative reviews, the beginning is a fantastic atmospheric game.”
    • “The music is atmospheric.”
  • emotional4 mentions

    Users express frustration with the game's emotional impact, citing issues like lag and a tedious storyline that detracts from the experience, leading to feelings of disappointment rather than engagement.

    • “The preset controls are frustrating, and the slow progression makes the storyline feel tedious and unengaging.”
    • “The emotional depth is lacking, making it hard to connect with the characters or care about their journeys.”
    • “The storyline drags on without any real emotional impact, leaving me feeling indifferent to the characters' struggles.”
  • humor4 mentions

    The humor in the game is characterized by its playful and absurd elements, with users highlighting its comedic value through silly and outrageous content, such as creating humorous representations. Overall, players find the game to be genuinely funny and entertaining.

    • “It is a very funny game.”
  • character development2 mentions

    The character development in the game is highlighted by its adorable character design, which resonates positively with players.

Positive mentions (%)Positive
Neutral mentions (%)Neutral
Negative mentions (%)Negative

Critic Reviews

65% average critic score

Buy Birthdays the Beginning

Play time

14hMedian play time
11hAverage play time
3-20hSpent by most gamers
*Based on 24 analyzed playthroughs

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