Timberborn is a welcome relief in the midst of the city builder game drought that we've been in for the last decade or so. On the surface you'll find base mechanics similar to ANNO but they're not very deep and they're not what the game is truly about.

Timberborn is really a very sandboxy game, the closest you come to an objective is surviving but once you learn that, the real game is taking each map and shaping the unfriendly environment into something your beaver population can live and thrive in. You do this by redirecting and controlling the flow of water throughout the map from each map's water source with the use of dams, reservoirs, floodgates and terrain modification (dynamite). The challenge is that the water source goes through periods of drought so you have to learn to store your water to survive these droughts in various ways. It's extremely satisfying seeing the water flow physics and your water systems at work.

Oh and the other thing this game has going for it is that constructing buildings and structures is also quite sandboxy - you can build stuff on top of other stuff, you can make mansions and water vertical constructions out of many of the blueprints at your disposal. Stick giant beaver statues on top of your towers, make rooftop lounges, connect rooftops with rope bridges and create multi-level street layouts. There's a lot of room to experiment and it always comes out looking gorgeous.

Not only is this game unique but it's also virtually bug free even in its current early access state. The balance is already quite good and though some more factions and maps would be cool by full release, there's plenty of content to play here. If you like city builders you won't regret this relaxing take on the genre.