Timberborn

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Humans are long gone. Will your society of lumberpunk beavers do any better? A city-building game featuring ingenious animals, vertical architecture, and river control. Contains high amounts of wood.

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

Reviews

95%

Audience ScoreBased on 16,060 reviews

gameplay789 positive mentions

story35 negative mentions

gameplay
1,932 mentions
41 % positive mentions
57 % neutral mentions
3 % negative mentions
The gameplay of Timberborn is characterized by its unique water management mechanics and vertical building systems, which set it apart from traditional city builders. Players engage in a cycle of managing resources, constructing dams, and navigating droughts, creating a compelling and often addictive gameplay loop. While the game is still in early access and has room for improvement, particularly in its district mechanics and overall depth, it offers a charming and engaging experience that appeals to fans of the genre.
- “Timberborn takes the best game mechanics from this genre and goes in a completely different direction with it.”
- “The modular, vertical construction and carefully crafted seasons keep gameplay engaging, while the cozy art style and dynamic soundtrack breathe life into each cycle.”
- “The water management mechanics coupled with the terrain-altering mechanics mean every map can ultimately become anything, restricted really only by the size of the map.”
- “But I just can't get past the district mechanics; it's a terrible mechanic added on top of what would be a wonderful game.”
- “The gameplay loop gets very predictable and boring after a few hours, because once I've secured a solid water storage plan, there's absolutely nothing to do but make my beavers happy.”
- “The district system is a pain; until you figure out how it is meant to be used, it begins to make more sense, but I would like to see the tightening up of the resource movement mechanic, as it is possible for neighboring districts to run out of food/water despite their neighbor having an overabundance of resources.”
graphics
521 mentions
50 % positive mentions
48 % neutral mentions
2 % negative mentions
The graphics of Timberborn are widely praised for their charming and unique art style, which effectively complements the game's cozy and whimsical theme centered around beavers. While some players appreciate the simplicity and pleasant visuals, others note that the graphics can be basic and may not meet the standards of more modern city builders. Overall, the visuals contribute significantly to the game's immersive atmosphere, making it enjoyable for players despite occasional performance issues on lower-end systems.
- “The graphics are beautiful, the beavers are charming, and the resource management is expertly balanced.”
- “The game’s charming art style, lively beaver animations, and soothing sound design create an inviting atmosphere, perfect for hours of immersive gameplay.”
- “The graphics are stunning, with a beautiful and atmospheric world that truly brings the game to life.”
- “The graphics are ugly, the gameplay is focused on elements that have nothing to do with the theme of the game, it is especially intricate in the science and research elements that take a lot of learning to understand yet have literally nothing to do with beavers controlling a flow of river.”
- “Game on max graphics doesn't look like screenshots.”
- “The game is very bare-bones and flat graphically, so admiring your creation isn't satisfying.”
music
199 mentions
52 % positive mentions
44 % neutral mentions
5 % negative mentions
The music in the game is generally praised for its quality and ability to create a relaxing atmosphere, with many players enjoying its soothing and well-composed nature. However, several reviews note that the soundtrack can become repetitive over time, leading to a desire for more variety. Overall, while the music enhances the gameplay experience, there is a consensus that additional tracks would improve long-term enjoyment.
- “The modular, vertical construction and carefully crafted seasons keep gameplay engaging, while the cozy art style and dynamic soundtrack breathe life into each cycle.”
- “The music is gorgeous and fits the atmosphere perfectly.”
- “The soundtrack is relaxing and so fun to watch the beavers as they work away.”
- “Is it paper dry and makes you roll your eyes at the repetitive music, lack of building sounds and ambiance, as well as gag at how awfully chalky and meh the gameplay loop is?”
- “The music is just god awful.”
- “Needs more music, same 2 minutes on loop gets old pretty quickly.”
story
197 mentions
13 % positive mentions
70 % neutral mentions
18 % negative mentions
The game's story aspect is largely criticized for its lack of depth and structure, with many players noting the absence of a campaign, missions, or clear objectives. While the setting offers a unique post-apocalyptic backdrop where beavers thrive after humanity's downfall, players express a desire for more narrative elements and goals to enhance engagement and replayability. Overall, the game is seen as a sandbox experience that allows for creative building but lacks a compelling storyline to drive the gameplay forward.
- “First of all, Timberborn is an incredible resource management city builder game, with a unique backstory and some really fun features.”
- “The story background is an apocalyptic future where the beavers out-survive the humans.”
- “It's a refreshing take on the city builder genre, and with its soft post-apocalyptic setting, it brings with it an interesting story.”
- “This game has no campaign or story mode.”
- “There's no missions, challenges, nothing.”
- “I understand that this is an early access, but there is no story at all, no objective, it is quite empty.”
optimization
171 mentions
29 % positive mentions
61 % neutral mentions
9 % negative mentions
Overall, "Timberborn" exhibits a mixed performance landscape, with many players experiencing significant frame rate drops and stuttering as their colonies grow beyond 200-400 beavers. While the game runs smoothly on mid-range systems and has seen improvements in optimization during early access, late-game performance remains a concern, particularly for larger settlements. Continued updates and community engagement suggest that developers are aware of these issues and are actively working towards enhancing performance.
- “What further enhances this system is the verticality of Timberborn, which allows for insane optimization opportunities, rarely encouraged by other games in the genre.”
- “This is a fun and relaxing sandbox logistics game with plenty of satisfying building and optimization opportunities, mostly in the form of planning well-laid-out districts.”
- “The game is very well made, it runs smoothly and looks amazing.”
- “It's really fun to build your base, but it needs to be optimized more because when you reach late game, you lose so much FPS that it becomes unplayable.”
- “The only downside is performance; even on my top-end Alienware with 64GB RAM, the game suddenly grinds to 10 FPS or worse at around 400 beavers.”
- “My only major complaint is the performance gets bad when you get a colony of several hundred beavers.”
grinding
169 mentions
2 % positive mentions
8 % neutral mentions
91 % negative mentions
The reviews highlight a mixed experience with grinding in the game, where players find the early stages engaging and rewarding, but the late game often becomes tedious due to micromanagement and resource logistics. While some appreciate the balance of city-building and farming mechanics, many express frustration over repetitive tasks and a lack of quality-of-life features that could alleviate the grind. Overall, the game is seen as fun and addictive, but it may require patience as players navigate its more tedious aspects.
- “Not too grindy and easy to get addicted to.”
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
- “The main problem is that there's no automation resulting in too much tedious micromanagement.”
- “It makes the gameplay very micromanagey and tedious.”
- “After you have a few big cities it gets a little tedious managing them with the lack of quality of life features like selecting multiple workplaces or creating certain action groups.”
replayability
141 mentions
40 % positive mentions
56 % neutral mentions
4 % negative mentions
Overall, "Timberborn" is praised for its high replayability, driven by its unique beaver factions, varied maps, and engaging building mechanics. Many players appreciate the game's potential for endless playthroughs, especially with the addition of updates and a map editor, although some express concerns about the current limitations in content and challenge. While the game is still in early access, it shows promise for continued improvement and increased replay value in the future.
- “With distinctive beaver factions and endless replayability, Timberborn is a must-play for any strategy fan seeking something truly innovative.”
- “I've been playing Timberborn since the demo, and I honestly would say that it is my favorite game, or at least in the top 3, as it is infinitely replayable, with amazing possibilities of what you can engineer.”
- “The dev team is still working and making regular improvements; it's fun, relaxing, and has loads of replayability.”
- “Personally, I wouldn’t buy it at full price because the replayability is somewhat questionable.”
- “The amount of maps currently are very few, and since each map is completely static, it doesn't allow for as much replayability as I would have liked.”
- “A really solid game, not much replayability and there aren't many differences between the two factions apart from a few buildings but they pretty much play the exact same.”
humor
92 mentions
99 % positive mentions
-2 % neutral mentions
3 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is widely praised for its charm and lightheartedness, primarily revolving around the antics of cute, funny beavers engaging in construction and resource management. Players enjoy the amusing sound effects, quirky achievements, and humorous dialogue, which contribute to a fun and relaxing gameplay experience. Overall, the game's comedic elements, including clever beaver-related jokes and a slightly dark sense of humor, enhance its appeal and make it a delightful choice for casual gaming.
- “10/10 beaver madness, great game to sit back, relax, not too overwhelming, and just watching the beavers build is hilarious.”
- “I love the smart, slightly dark sense of humor built into every aspect of the game, and that you can determine the difficulty level depending on your mood.”
- “The open-ended building system is really fun to play with and honestly is really funny to make these nutty scaffolding structures and watch all the beavers do their jobs.”
- “The humor in this game falls flat and feels forced, making it more cringeworthy than entertaining.”
- “I expected some lighthearted moments, but the jokes are stale and lack any real wit.”
- “The attempts at humor often miss the mark, leaving me more confused than amused.”
stability
82 mentions
33 % positive mentions
1 % neutral mentions
66 % negative mentions
Overall, the game's stability is generally praised, with many players reporting minimal bugs and glitches, especially for an early access title. While some users experienced occasional freezes, particularly during autosaves or when managing larger districts, the majority found the game to run smoothly across various platforms. A few players noted specific graphical issues and performance drops, but these were often outweighed by the game's solid mechanics and enjoyable gameplay experience.
- “It's really easy to forget that this game is still in early access because there's almost no glitches or bugs.”
- “Not only is this game unique but it's also virtually bug free even in its current early access state.”
- “While it only took me around 6 hours to explore to the end of the current tech tree, the base game and the underlying mechanics are incredibly solid and bug free for being so early in the development, and the content that is here is already well worth the price.”
- “If I had one complaint, it would be how the game flat out freezes during an autosave, which can really screw up building placement.”
- “There are constant performance stutters where it freezes visibly for about a half second at a time.”
- “The only issues I have with the game currently are: you do not get any resources back when cancelling a building before completion, you do not get resources back when you tear down a fully built building, and the water occasionally glitches and disappears from areas you have dammed up.”
emotional
37 mentions
100 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
0 % negative mentions
The emotional aspect of Timberborn is characterized by its wholesome and charming gameplay, which fosters a deep connection to the beaver colony and its well-being. Players often express heartfelt sentiments about the game's ability to evoke joy and attachment, even as it presents challenges that can lead to moments of sadness, such as drought-induced hardships. Overall, the game is celebrated for its optimistic and heartwarming portrayal of post-apocalyptic city-building, making it a delightful experience for those seeking a more uplifting simulation.
- “I'm not very experienced with city builders, but I've enjoyed my time with Timberborn, to the point where I found myself emotionally invested in the well-being of my charges, especially when a longer-than-anticipated drought led to food shortages and some starvation.”
- “I never would have thought that I would have such an emotional attachment to a beaver building society.”
- “I look forward to what the future of this game looks like and am very excited for what it currently is, which is thoughtful, fun, heart-wrenching at times, and, above all, beautiful.”
atmosphere
34 mentions
59 % positive mentions
32 % neutral mentions
9 % negative mentions
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its charming art style, delightful beaver animations, and soothing sound design, creating an inviting and relaxing environment for players. The well-composed music complements the visuals, enhancing the immersive experience, although some players feel the game could benefit from additional content to maintain long-term engagement. Overall, the atmosphere is described as cute, calming, and enjoyable, making it a standout feature of the game.
- “The game’s charming art style, lively beaver animations, and soothing sound design create an inviting atmosphere, perfect for hours of immersive gameplay.”
- “The sound design complements the atmosphere effectively, with soothing music that matches the game's relaxed pace.”
- “The graphics are stunning, with a beautiful and atmospheric world that truly brings the game to life.”
- “Cute graphics style and setting; however, in the current state, I found the game lacks a bit of 'soul' and atmosphere, and it did get pretty boring, pretty quickly for me as I could not really see many long-term objectives, besides 'building more'.”
- “Whatever stress relief is provided by the aesthetics and atmosphere is undone by insufficient UX design.”
- “If/once the developers add more music tracks, focus on building up the atmosphere, and think about longer-term objectives, it might get more interesting.”
monetization
7 mentions
43 % positive mentions
-29 % neutral mentions
86 % negative mentions
The monetization approach of the game is generally praised for avoiding microtransactions and ads, focusing instead on a stable and feature-rich experience, which reflects the developers' commitment to their vision. However, some users express concerns about potential future content being locked behind a subscription model and criticize the current lack of content, feeling it leans towards a cash grab despite the initial promise of multiple playable factions. Overall, the game is seen as a refreshing alternative to typical monetization practices in the industry.
- “I really wanted a simple farming-like game without all the in-app purchases, and this did me just right!”
- “The monetization model is fair and doesn't pressure you to spend money to enjoy the game.”
- “I appreciate that the game offers plenty of free content without forcing you to make purchases.”
- “I really wanted a simple farming-like game without all the in-app purchases and this did me just right!”
- “I feel like this was kinda a cash grab with minimal content that took longer than the refund period to get to late game which is lackluster.”
- “"effective marketing team" will seduce developers to add super content for only 25 cents per month subscription?.. my minus for too much self-advertisement.”
character development
2 mentions
100 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
0 % negative mentions
The game excels in character development through its charming graphics and appealing character design, which enhance the overall experience and make it suitable for players of all ages.
- “They did a really good job with character design and how things in the game run in general.”
- “The game's charming graphics and cute character design add to the overall appeal, making it a great choice for players of all ages.”