Recent reviews by BobIsBadAt

The DEMO was free, so I chose "received product for free"

So I spent like 2 hours playing the demo. I enjoyed the majority of my time, but had a couple issues. Firstly, as some others have, I struggled with understanding how to implement the multi-build parts of certain buildings. I figured it out eventually, but found it not only unintuitive, it was also needlessly unfun. The UI was otherwise decent enough, but having to build the separate parts and then manually connect them to the main building just seemed like a hassle. Now it's possible this is meant to add more aesthetic options for people really trying to finely tune the layout of their domains, so I'll see if I still hate it when I play again here shortly.

Additionally, I have some demo-specific frustrations. You get tutorial quests to do things you can't actually do in the demo and that wasn't discovered until I had spent two hours, and then I was simply stuck. So I got to play all of the tedious stuff and basically none of the fun stuff (Specifically, I was unable to elevate my serfs and thus could not create a tax collector.)

I felt like the game was meant to be an aesthetic chill kind of game, like an RTS without all the intensity. It's not that. It was neither casual enough for me to focus on making pretty, cool things, nor was it active enough for me to see real growth and progression. Again this is likely because it is a demo, but demos should really sample a wider swath of gamepay.

I think that the demo might be detracting from the actual game, but as it stands now I can't recommend the game or the demo as I have no experience in early access, and the demo left me disappointed.

I always think when I go to review I'm going to have like... a system or a format. Maybe one day I'll do that, but for now I think this game deserves a little of my time by way of review. Reasons you might like this game:
* You love Civ and other "just one more turn" games in which you lose all sense of time tinker away at your builds.
* You like/know enough about genetics to enjoy the thoughtfulness behind the game, and aren't likely to get hung up on the fact that it's *still a game*
* You like cute animal sounds but don't get annoyed at them over time
* You don't mind trial and error
* You find games that are both difficult/complex but also extremely chill and easy to play up your alley
* You care more about a game's experience and originality than it's ... I dunno hours of playability that people seem obsessed with

I'm not going to give you reasons not to play it, you can do that. I waited until the game went on sale, but would have been happy paying full price for it.

Man was I super excited for this. I mean, my girlfriend just started her first ever play-through with me and she was excited to play more after a tough day at work. So we hop on and....our versions no longer match because she's on PC and I'm on Mac. I get that Linux/Mac aren't priorities, but what the hell kind of reason is there for pushing an update that wrecks multi-OS multiplayer? So yeah, this is a huge dislike, not only because I don't get to use it but because we literally can not play together now.

Okay so there's finally an update on its way. There have ben any changes, and any bugs along the path, but the fact is the game is a good time with friends, especially if you're a bigger fan of crafting, scavenging, and building than simply looting and shooting.

So yes, the game is buggy. It seems like once Asmodee got involved, it was just left as-is. That said, Obsidian support does their best to overcome what they can and most of the bugs can be worked around. But the game is fun nonetheless. Get it on sale and enjoy a living card game!