The Tribe Must Survive
- May 23, 2024
- Walking Tree Games GmbH
- 10h median play time
Get on Steam"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.
Mac OS
PC
Windows
Epic Games
Reviews
- The game has a unique and engaging concept, blending rogue-like elements with colony management in a Lovecraftian setting.
- The atmosphere and art design are praised, creating an immersive experience that keeps players hooked.
- Gameplay offers a challenging experience that encourages learning from mistakes, making each run feel different and rewarding.
- The game suffers from balancing issues, with many players feeling that it is overly punishing and lacks meaningful recovery options after failures.
- There is a lack of clear instructions and documentation, leading to confusion about mechanics and contributing to frustration during gameplay.
- The absence of a save feature and repetitive gameplay can make the experience tedious, as players are forced to restart after each run without significant progression.
- gameplay35 mentions
- 17 % positive mentions
- 74 % neutral mentions
- 9 % negative mentions
The gameplay has received mixed reviews, with many players noting a lack of cohesion among the various systems, leading to frustration rather than enjoyment. While some mechanics are engaging and offer depth, others feel poorly implemented or unbalanced, resulting in a steep learning curve and a reliance on trial and error. Additionally, performance issues and insufficient tutorials hinder the overall experience, leaving players feeling overwhelmed and unclear about the game's mechanics.
“Very in-depth gameplay with the capability to try and use different strategies.”
“Amazing concept, genuinely engaging gameplay, magnificent artwork and ambience.”
“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!”
“There are just too many systems competing with each other and not complementing each other, and most of them don't seem to be geared into the gameplay loop correctly.”
“But this core game loop to reset gameplay with roguelite unlocks doesn't make it fun, especially when 'one mistake' is coming from the AI not doing what is expected from it.”
“Survival settlement builder that artificially forces failures in order to implement roguelite mechanics.”
- atmosphere13 mentions
- 77 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 23 % negative mentions
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its depth and immersive qualities, featuring haunting sound design and atmospheric visuals that enhance the overall experience. While some players note a slow pace that can detract from gameplay, the combination of unique mechanics and a rich setting creates a compelling environment that encourages exploration and engagement. Overall, the atmosphere is considered a standout feature, contributing significantly to the game's appeal.
“Excellent atmospheric in-depth game, combining two loves: prehistory and Lovecraftiana.”
“Atmosphere is fantastic, really hits that 'just one more turn' feel.”
“Its dynamic tribe members add depth and unpredictability to gameplay, while the atmospheric visuals and haunting sound design create an immersive experience.”
“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).”
- story7 mentions
- 29 % positive mentions
- 29 % neutral mentions
- 43 % negative mentions
The game's story is structured around a "die to learn" approach, where players gradually uncover the narrative through gameplay rather than traditional progression, leading to a mix of frustration and engagement. While the streamlined story offers meaningful choices and compelling elements, it still requires balancing and performance improvements. Overall, players find the writing and random quests flavorful, and they are eager for future updates and story expansions.
“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 am looking forward to updates and story development and DLCs.”
“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.”
- replayability7 mentions
- 43 % positive mentions
- 14 % neutral mentions
- 43 % negative mentions
Overall, players express mixed feelings about the game's replayability. While some enjoy the experience with their tribes, many criticize the game for its repetitive events and lack of varied outcomes, leading to a sense of staleness. There are hopes for improved replayability in the final version, but current impressions suggest it may fall short in providing lasting engagement.
“Looking forward to more replayability in the finished game, but overall I'm having a great time with my little tribe.”
“The game also has decent replayability.”
“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.”
- optimization5 mentions
- 20 % positive mentions
- 20 % neutral mentions
- 60 % negative mentions
The game's optimization has been criticized for significant performance drops, particularly during specific weather conditions and mid-game, leading to frustrating gameplay experiences. Users report that even high-end systems struggle with stuttering and slowdowns, especially when managing larger populations, indicating a need for further balancing and performance improvements. Despite these issues, the game remains engaging and playable, with a compelling narrative.
“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.”
“After release, the game has terrible performance drops during the day and rain.”
“Maybe not optimized; 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.”
- graphics5 mentions
- 60 % positive mentions
- 40 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are highly praised for their magnificent artwork and atmospheric visuals, which create an immersive experience. The art style, combined with haunting sound design, enhances the overall gameplay, particularly appealing to fans of Lovecraftian themes. Despite the basic mechanics of the city-building aspect, the dynamic visuals and engaging ambiance contribute significantly to the game's appeal.
“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.”
- grinding4 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and frustrating, particularly due to the lack of automation for essential tasks like managing fire and the difficulty in managing large groups of characters. The early access status is acknowledged, but many feel that the progression system contributes to a cumbersome experience.
“Also the fact that you can't automate the fire turning 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.”
“I could not imagine the level of tediousness and confusion of having several outposts.”
“Yes, I know it's early access, but progression feels so tedious.”
- music2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The music in the game is highly praised, with users highlighting its exceptional quality and integration with the art design, enhancing the overall experience. Many players find it so impressive that they are motivated to purchase the soundtrack.
“What a great idea for a game, and my god, the art design and music are amazing!”
“I did buy the soundtrack, though :)”
- stability2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game's stability is criticized due to significant bugs and glitches, particularly in the AI, which detracts from the overall experience. Many users feel that the lack of substantial end-game content further highlights its unfinished nature, likening it to 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.”
