Beaver city-builder Timberborn is off to a good start; the game is rated Very Positive on Steam

Publication date of the original Japanese article: 2021-09-16 15:12 (JST)
Translated by. Ryuki Ishii

The beaver city-builder Timberborn launched as an early access title on September 15 and it seems to be off to a good start.

Timberborn is a city-building game set in a world where mankind turned Earth into a dry wasteland. Humans are long gone, and highly intelligent beavers have emerged to create cities. Players can choose between two beaver factions: “the nature-friendly Folktails” or “the industrious Iron Teeth.” Both have distinctive characteristics and gameplay traits, so you can pick the one that would fit your playstyle. More beaver factions will be added in future updates.

In addition to using wood for construction as beavers do, you can also use metal acquired from the ruins of the old world. You must satisfy the needs of fellow beavers with food and entertainment, while also keeping the colony alive by building your beaver city strategically.

At the time of writing this article, Timberborn has received over 200 Steam user reviews, 93% of which are rated positive. The peak concurrent player count is little over 5,000, which is modest, and not bad for a newly released indie game (SteamDB). The concept of “beaver city-builder” has caught the attention of many gamers, and the game seems to be living up to their expectations thus far. The fact that the game is pretty stable with relatively few bugs despite being an early access game, has also been well received by the players.

The developer, Mechanistry, has been putting effort communicating with the players on SNS and Discord. Their official Discord server currently has over 2,000 participants. The server has seen a lively exchange between players and the developer, and regularly hosts a discussion titled “Beaver Brainstorms” to solicit ideas from players.

In February of this year, the test version of Timberborn was streamed by several Twitch streamers and garnered peak viewer count of 27,000. The studio’s marketing effort, as well as their sincere attitude towards the game’s community, likely paid off.

Timberborn is now available as an early access game for PC (via Steam/Epic Games Store/GOG.com). The game is expected to stay in early access for at least a year.