Survival city builders are quite a daunting genre. Just check out some of the big names in this field - FROSTPUNK is as unyielding, brutal, and unforgiving as it gets. ENDZONE tend to be a sprawling thing that will ask you for countless hours of your time to see a scenario completed. Even much more condensed, roguelike AGAINST THE STORM will squeeze you well when it comes to the challenge and time needed to get everything to work for you. And so it happens that it would be great if someone, somewhere, spent their time working on a light version of this experience. Some kind of delightful introductory title, that has all the similar bells and whistles, but doesn't require players to burn their days away to enjoy the experience. Something like DAWNFOLK!
Conceived in the mind of Darenn Keller, DAWNFOLK is a dark and minimalistic survival city-builder. That's, at least, what's written on the tin, and it does describe the experience well. It is a city builder shorn of bloat and complex systems. There are only a few resources to track and no grand economic push and pull to follow. Every day you just produce resources based on what structures you have in your tiny kingdom, and look out for adjacency bonuses for more advanced structures. Easy. There is not technology tree or research, but you still get Science Points which you spent directly on a tile to raise to to a more advanced building with better benefits. It is all very simple, and straightforward to pick up...
And comes with a cool twist! Plenty of actions on the tiles are interactive, microscopic minigames. Collect light from prayers by moving a jar to catch the shooting dots. Use a bow to hunt down deer in the forest to gain food. Defend against the encroaching darkness by swinging a sword in four cardinal directions in time to cut down incoming projectiles. These little interruptions in the flow of laying down tiles and scrounging up resources are a great way to keep the gameplay fresh and engaging - there's always something small you can be doing! It never grows tedious, and is a welcome reprieve in times when we just need to roll a few days on to gather needed resources for the next big thing.
The survival part of it comes from the darkness surrounding us on every side. This created another fun system - to have more land, we need to expand by bringing back light to the tiles. Smart choice of where to go is as big a part of the challenge as proper resource management. Not only because tiles offer different building options and benefits, but also due to the spawning mechanic for the dangers of the dark. They only can appear on darkened tiles, so the bigger your illuminated zone around your key structures, the more time you'll have during a crisis to counteract the spreading miasma of shadows. But as you need your precious light to combat the threat in the first place, it is a balancing act - you need to spend the light to expand, but still save enough in the bank to overcome the next hurdle.
DAWNFOLK sort of strips the finery and dressing from the genre to show us what we always knew deep at heart - the complexity of city-builders mostly hides the simple fact, that they are puzzle games at their core. It's a matter of assembling the pieces to find a solution. In here we can see it clear as day, as no systems are trying to dilute it, obscure it, or hide behind the veneer of complexity. To even emphasize it, you can always unlock and play PUZZLE mode, where a given challenge require a particular solution, or play at harder difficulties. And another fine bit, is that there's plenty to unlock in the game, with different modes and more demanding scenarios you should find a solid bit of consumed evening just with DAWNFOLK as your source of fun.
With cool tunes, a chill vibe, and a solid sprinkle of challenges. DAWNFOLK is a superb little-big title! With simple systems, easy-to-grasp mechanics, and a great art style to match the mood and the unfolding story, it makes for a splendid title to bite into after a stressful day. And while it might be simple, it is nonetheless quite rich in content, making sure you have lots of hours of fun ahead with the title open for you at your leisure.
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