The Tribe Must Survive

About

The Tribe Must Survive is a single player strategy game. It was developed by Walking Tree Games GmbH and was released on May 23, 2024. It received mostly positive reviews from players.

"The Tribe Must Survive" is a single-player strategy survival game set in a dark, Lovecraftian Stone Age. As the leader, manage resources, guide Tribe members' behaviors, and make key decisions to ensure your Tribe's survival against external threats and internal factions. Venture into the outer world to gather more resources, facing challenges that will test your leadership and the Tribe's cohesion. The game offers a dense atmosphere and takes about 12 hours to complete.

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Play Modes

Single-Player

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66%

Audience ScoreBased on 213 reviews

gameplay12 positive mentions

replayability4 negative mentions

The game has a fantastic atmosphere and engaging gameplay, reminiscent of titles like Frostpunk and Don't Starve.
Players appreciate the unique setting and the depth of strategy involved in managing the tribe's survival.
The developers seem responsive to feedback, and many players are excited about future updates and potential improvements.

The game suffers from significant balancing issues, making it frustrating and punishing, especially for new players.
There are critical bugs and AI problems that lead to unresponsive tribe members, causing gameplay loops to become tedious and unmanageable.
The lack of a save option and the repetitive nature of events can lead to a feeling of hopelessness, discouraging players from wanting to replay.

gameplay
71 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
17%
73%
10%
Gameplay is characterized by an engaging concept and atmospheric visuals, but suffers from significant performance issues and a lack of clarity in mechanics, leading to frustration. While some players appreciate the depth and learning opportunities, many criticize the slow pace, unbalanced mechanics, and insufficient tutorial guidance, resulting in a feeling of repetitiveness and limited strategic options. Overall, the game requires further balancing and optimization to enhance the player experience.
- “The gameplay is simple and rich without being too complicated; the game slowly introduces you to the mechanics without you even realizing it, and there is no better feeling than surviving something you thought was doom for sure!”
- “Its dynamic tribe members add depth and unpredictability to gameplay, while the atmospheric visuals and haunting sound design create an immersive experience.”
- “Still needs to be balanced a bit better and have some of the performance issues resolved, but already very playable with engaging gameplay, meaningful choices, and a compelling story.”
- “I've only ever seen 1 faction spawn; it leads to no gameplay at all so far.”
- “I had hoped it might give me new starting buffs or something to encourage another replay, but it ultimately didn't, and I don't really feel like I was given enough game mechanics to warrant trying a second complete run as it wouldn't be any different.”
- “The tutorial is approximately 10 minutes of gameplay; there are no instructions as to hazards, events, or other encounters in the game that may be experienced.”
atmosphere
26 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
77%
11%
12%
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its depth and immersive qualities, enhanced by haunting sound design and atmospheric visuals. While many players appreciate the unique blend of themes, such as prehistory and Lovecraftian elements, some note that the slow-paced gameplay can detract from the overall experience. Despite its current state, the atmosphere is considered a standout feature, contributing to a compelling "just one more turn" feeling.
- “Excellent atmospheric in-depth game, combining two loves: prehistory and Lovecraftiana.”
- “Its dynamic tribe members add depth and unpredictability to gameplay, while the atmospheric visuals and haunting sound design create an immersive experience.”
- “Atmosphere is fantastic, really hits that 'just one more turn' feel.”
- “The atmosphere, including sounds, is top-notch.”
- “It comes with a very dense atmosphere already.”
- “The difficulty level and atmosphere of the first runs can be compared to the best survival game: Frostpunk (in hardest mode).”
story
14 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
29%
50%
21%
The game's story is engaging and compelling, featuring a unique "die to learn" mechanic that encourages players to gradually uncover the narrative as they navigate gameplay challenges. While the streamlined storyline offers meaningful choices, some players may find the learning curve frustrating. Overall, there is anticipation for future updates and additional content that could enhance the storytelling experience.
- “Still needs to be balanced a bit better and have some of the performance issues resolved but already very playable with engaging gameplay, meaningful choices, and a compelling story.”
- “Interesting story and concept.”
- “Gameplay structure is centered around a 'die to learn' style of revelatory storytelling; prepare to be frustrated rather than to have fun or even get that dopamine tick of '# go up!'”
- “What it has instead is one streamlined story where you're not meant to improve so much as get allowed new tools as you level up.”
- “The player doesn’t know the mechanics, and they stumble along, discovering the story as they learn how to play, making sense of the game only gradually.”
replayability
14 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
21%
50%
29%
Overall, players express mixed feelings about the game's replayability. While some find it enjoyable and hope for more content in the final version, many criticize it for being repetitive and lacking depth, leading to a sense of staleness after a short playtime. The consensus suggests that the game currently falls short in offering substantial replay value.
- “The game also has decent replayability.”
- “Looking forward to more replayability in the finished game, but overall I'm having a great time with my little tribe.”
- “I thought I'd write a quick review because I didn't see any other reviews yet, but I haven't played enough of the release to get past where the demo ended, so I don't know how much content and replayability the game has yet, but I'll update my review once I've sunk some more time into it.”
- “If the cataclysm is the end of the game no matter what we do, this game is very short and has zero replayability.”
- “It gets to a point where it gets stale and there's not much replayability.”
- “The events keep repeating in the same order for the exact same number of days; it's not necessarily bad, but it gets boring after a while... and this is a game which is built upon replayability.”
graphics
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
60%
40%
The graphics of the game are highly praised for their magnificent artwork and atmospheric visuals, which create an immersive experience. The art style, complemented by haunting sound design, enhances the overall gameplay, particularly appealing to fans of Lovecraftian aesthetics. Players appreciate the engaging visuals that add depth to the basic city-building mechanics.
- “Amazing concept, genuinely engaging gameplay, magnificent artwork and ambience.”
- “The art style is really nice and so is the sound and the overall experience.”
- “Its dynamic tribe members add depth and unpredictability to gameplay, while the atmospheric visuals and haunting sound design create an immersive experience.”
optimization
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
20%
60%
The game's optimization is widely criticized, with players experiencing significant performance drops, particularly during daytime and rainy conditions, leading to slow or halted time progression and gameplay stutters. Even on high-end systems, such as an i7-12700 with an RTX 4080, performance issues arise with a relatively small number of on-screen characters. While the game remains engaging and playable, it requires further balancing and optimization to enhance the overall experience.
- “Still needs to be balanced a bit better and have some of the performance issues resolved but already very playable with engaging gameplay, meaningful choices, and a compelling story.”
- “Maybe not optimized or something; time starts progressing either very slowly, or not at all mid-game.”
- “It felt like a slog, especially as performance is often terrible by then, and the fact you lost access to your other resources decimates this part of the game.”
- “After release, the game has terrible performance drops during the day and during rain.”
grinding
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious, particularly when managing large groups of members and multiple outposts. The inability to automate certain tasks, like turning fires on and off, adds to the frustration, making progression feel cumbersome and repetitive. Overall, while players acknowledge the game's early access status, they express concern over the level of tedium involved in managing resources and personnel.
- “Yes, I know it's early access, but progression feels so tedious.”
- “I could not imagine the level of tediousness and confusion of having several outposts.”
- “The fact that you can't automate the fire being turned on and off is a big issue for me, because it just feels tedious to turn it on and off every day and die because you forgot it once and it burned through the day.”
stability
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game suffers from significant stability issues, including buggy AI and serious glitches that detract from the overall experience. Many users feel that the lack of quality end-game content further exacerbates these problems, leading to a perception of the game as a glorified flash game.
- “The AI is a bit buggy and there's no good end game content as of now.”
- “There's a reason it's 20 (15); it's a glorified flash game with some decent ideas but pretty serious glitches that make it a chore to get through.”
music
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The music in the game has received high praise for its quality, with many players expressing their admiration for both the soundtrack and the overall art design. Several users were so impressed that they chose to purchase the soundtrack, highlighting its significance to the game's appeal.
- “What a great idea for a game, and my god, the art design and music are amazing!”

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10h Median play time

8h Average play time

3-12h Spent by most gamers

*Based on 4 analyzed playthroughs

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The Tribe Must Survive is a strategy game.

The Tribe Must Survive is available on PC, Mac OS, Windows and Epic Games.

On average players spend around 8 hours playing The Tribe Must Survive.

The Tribe Must Survive was released on May 23, 2024.

The Tribe Must Survive was developed by Walking Tree Games GmbH.

The Tribe Must Survive has received mostly positive reviews from players. Most players liked this game for its gameplay but disliked it for its replayability.

The Tribe Must Survive is a single player game.

Similar games include Frostrain, Dice Legacy, Surviving the Abyss, New Cycle, Super Fantasy Kingdom and others.

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