Project Zomboid
Project Zomboid
Game
Game2026
Timberborn
Developer Mechanistry
Timberborn is a city-building video game developed and published by Mechanistry. Players help a colony of beavers survive resource shortages. From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
538 reactions from 4 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Lemmy, Mastodon) · newest Nov 5, 2026 · last updated Nov 5, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
91
LovedLoved
372 positive · 35 negative
95% range 88–94%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 372 | 35 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 39 | 1 | 55 |
| Lemmy * | 8 | 0 | 11 |
| Mastodon * | 6 | 0 | 11 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Overwhelmingly Positive
25,169 of 26,209 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
90% recommend · 250 yes, 28 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 278 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Overwhelmingly Positive (40,420 of 42,117 positive).
Players find Timberborn highly addictive, often losing track of time while playing. [1][2][3] The water mechanics and vertical building are praised as unique and engaging. [1][4][5] Some reviewers note a lack of clear objectives or endgame goals. [6][7][8]
Liked
Representative posts
- [14]
"Removed Sluice, this time for good." This patch note fundamentally shifts the game's direction and alienates players who loved the original design. While deeper automation is a great addition, completely removing the Sluice artificially raises the game's complexity floor. Instead of allowing players to build and relax at their own pace, the game now forces everyone into complex puzzle-solving or resorting to …
- [1]
I just uninstalled it. I'm in my fifties. I'm too old to stay up till the middle of the night playing games! Timberborn is a dangerous game. The combination of approaching season changes and building projects reaching complation makes sure you always have "just one more thing" to do before you finish playing for the night. Then another thing, and another thing and suddenly it's two a.m. It's a brilliant …
- [6]
If you like Colony Sims at all, this is easily one of the top in the market for what it is doing. The worst thing I can say about this game is it does leave you lacking clear objectives other than, "Survive and get Bigger." I had hoped the 1.0 release would do more to build out some more targeted achievements for specific maps or other victory outcomes. Instead, the player is kind of left to decide for themselves …
- [4]
As a beaver in real life, I must say this game depicts beavers very accurately. 📝 Main Pros, Cons, and Suggestions, followed by the Review: 🟩 Pros: + A tutorial which teaches by doing + An addictive ‘just one more thing’ loop + Creative freedom thanks to building verticality + Gameplay pacing is smooth and you never truly feel bottlenecked + The engineering aspects of water are much deeper than I expected + …
- [15]
Do NOT play this game!!! This game is worse than crack. Worse than opium. I've lost my job, my house, my car, my wife, and my dog because I can't stop playing. 20 hours a day, 7 days a week. I only stop when I pass out from exhaustion and need to poop. This game will ruin your life just as it did mine. 10/10
Summarised from 34 of the 395 public posts collected about this game; every point cites the posts behind it ([n] opens the post) and the split is counted from the posts’ own ratings. Updated Oct 11, 2026. How summaries are made
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
Timberborn sits at 91% positive across 407 opinionated reactions from 4 sources. Fresh or rotten — where do you land?
Critics, per Wikipedia
Timberborn received positive reception during its Early Access period, with critics praising its distinctive water-based city-building mechanics and the steady expansion of gameplay systems through major updates. Its combination of survival management and engineering-focused design was frequently highlighted as a standout feature within the genre. Upon its full release in March 2026, the game continued to receive generally favorable reviews. Critics praised its expanded systems, improved faction differentiation, and the depth of its water simulation and infrastructure mechanics. Some reviewers noted that while the game offered substantial strategic depth, its onboarding and early…
From the “Reception” section of Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Critic context only — not part of the audience score.
Reactions
60 of 538 · most liked firstmy wife is not and has never been a video game person but she saw one of you talking about Timberborn on here and thought it sounded neat and now she is happily learning how to build a town for beavers and it's adorable
positive · AI labelView post →I just uninstalled it. I'm in my fifties. I'm too old to stay up till the middle of the night playing games! Timberborn is a dangerous game. The combination of approaching season changes and building projects reaching complation makes sure you always have "just one more thing" to do before you finish playing for the night. Then another thing, and another thing and suddenly it's two a.m. It's a brilliant city-builder, and the water mechanics brings it a flavour and gameplay quite its own.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →[Disclosure: Game provided by publisher] Hey folks, adding Whiskerwood to my curator page with a big thumbs up. It's another survival city-builder in the vein of Timberborn or Against The Storm, except this time with mice under the thumb of colonial cats. store.steampowered.com/app/2489330/...
neutral · AI labelView post →Game has been 1.0 ready for awhile, always have fun but it isn't too easy. Honestly a better city builder then CSII. No DLC trash No creator streamer stupidity and overselling Not a jank Paradox dlc trap scam 2 very different factions that inspire creativity and management A large selection of maps by default Full Steam Workshop support that already has some awesome mods & maps I have crashed 1 time in 50+ hours 8.9 / 10 Just a fun game that makes time fly
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →"Removed Sluice, this time for good." This patch note fundamentally shifts the game's direction and alienates players who loved the original design. While deeper automation is a great addition, completely removing the Sluice artificially raises the game's complexity floor. Instead of allowing players to build and relax at their own pace, the game now forces everyone into complex puzzle-solving or resorting to copying online guides just to progress. The Sluice could easily have remained as an…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is just like that one game, Timberborn I think it was
neutral · AI labelView post →Not sure I understand the glazing for this. This is a crowded field and there are so very powerful heavy hitters. Maybe the cutesy factor is tilting peoples opinion, or maybe the things I don't like are actually what make it appealing to others. No sound effects is extremely odd. No wood sounds, sawing, gnawing, nothin. There are environment sounds like some birds and a little breeze. The beavers say "hi" when you click on them, but they build and gnaw in silence. The soundtrack seems…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →1,500 hours and counting. Not sure what else I could say that would add to that. edit: I have been accused of not writing a helpful review. "mick Nov 3 @ 9:25pm well you could leave an actual review. that might help." So I thought I would edit my review to add more information. Here we go... Timberborn is a game about Trees.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →16. Timberborn Timberborn came out of Early Access this year, and is such an enthralling survival citybuilder. It's a tremendous delight. Build homes and industry for your little beavers, farm crops and pump water for them to survive the dry seasons. Get stressed as you run out of resources, oh no!
positive · AI labelView post →While I'm not known for my landscape pieces, I'm pretty happy with this one! made for the excellent peeps from Mechanistry, for their #timberborn game update! Still wild to see my own artwork on steam staring back at me from time to time, but it feels really nice. Hope you like it, cheers!
positive · AI labelView post →BUT (and this is important): Timberborn comes out today store.steampowered.com/app/1062090/...
neutral · AI labelView post →So this is super flattering, I got nominated for being one of the best Timberborn streamers of 2025 ❤️ store.steampowered.com/news/app/106... If I win the vote I get a custom named beaver in the game going forward (and also a cash prize)
neutral · AI labelView post →If you like Colony Sims at all, this is easily one of the top in the market for what it is doing. The worst thing I can say about this game is it does leave you lacking clear objectives other than, "Survive and get Bigger." I had hoped the 1.0 release would do more to build out some more targeted achievements for specific maps or other victory outcomes. Instead, the player is kind of left to decide for themselves how far they want to go with it. Nothing wrong with that, there is a fine…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's perfectly well made, but I don't find it fun. It falls onto a trap that way too many games in this genre fall into: once the player has a basic survival setup, the game proper is over, everything left is a sandbox. The player is in full control of expansion rate: beavers only reproduce if there are empty houses, and there's zero pressure to increase your population. Once you have a basic loop going, you can probably leave the game on max speed running for 10 thousand years and nothing…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This city-building sandbox is an enjoyable game. In my opinion, the only but serious problem is that it doesn't give you a goal. I will probably play this game, which is actually quite pleasant, for a while longer and then quit. Even though the gameplay is fun, doing things for no reason starts to bore me after a while. In fact, I should say that I wish I had continued without turning off the tutorial. The game was more fun even when it was just showing us objectives while teaching itself. The…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I bought this game few years ago and finally have time to play the 1.0. This game could be good, but I would not recommend it to anyone who has never played a sandbox city builder before. - No story or campaign mode: You do not get quests from the beavers, and you do not care whether they live or die, there are zero interaction you can do with your beavers. - No sound effects: Unlike most building games, this title is in version 1.0 but still lacks basic audio. There are no sounds for…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Timberborn out of Early Access.
neutral · AI labelView post →Gamers of Lemmy, how do you mouse on the couch?. I'm not a gamer, but I like some casul games from time to time, like Timberborn or Shapez. Yesterday I wanted to start a game again, after a period of not gaming since february or so. I've been getting used to sitting in my comfy chair in the evening, doing some programming or some online ciurse. I would like to game in my comfy chair as well, instead of sitting behind my desk where I've been working all day. But games demand much more intense…
neutral · AI labelView post →As a beaver in real life, I must say this game depicts beavers very accurately. 📝 Main Pros, Cons, and Suggestions, followed by the Review: 🟩 Pros: + A tutorial which teaches by doing + An addictive ‘just one more thing’ loop + Creative freedom thanks to building verticality + Gameplay pacing is smooth and you never truly feel bottlenecked + The engineering aspects of water are much deeper than I expected + Workshop content for mods and maps adds a heap of replayability + Brilliant…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Timberborn is a game about hard wood and sopping wet beavers
neutral · AI labelView post →If you like your Timberborn modded, check out Emberpelts, the custom in-game faction created by Bobingabout. 🤗 These unorthodox beavers use clay and charcoal, and do not really like water! 🔥🦫🌊 ➡️ steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/... ➡️ mod.io/g/timberborn...
neutral · AI labelView post →Tried it yesterday afternoon, closed the game today at 11am, nice game
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →When first demo was shown as a part of Steam Next Fest, I tried it, and absolutely loved it. I really liked the aesthetic, the theme, the visual design, the mechanics, the vibe. A cozy game before the influx of cozy games. It felt like a really fresh take on "colony sim" genre. Soon after the game got into Early Access, I bought it. But then, the devs started to change it. And I don't like it anymore. First of all, the game really does not utilize the unique features of beavers. The units in…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Initial impressions of Timberborn: 1. This is a slow game; your expansion is limited by tech, fertility, and the need to terraform. 2. The topography of the maps immediately gets you thinking through huge engineering projects. 3.Spiral staircases stump beaver scientists. Harder than floodgates.
neutral · AI labelView post →"Hmm, I'm not sure about this game it looks both too complex and goofy at the same time" *3am* Oh. Yeah this is fun.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Shiver me timbers, I'm playing more TIMBERBORN! Come join me for beaver game, let's have a nice chill Sunday time together. As always, all the signal boosts hugely appreciated! LURKERS VERY WELCOME! www.twitch.tv/caseyexplosion
positive · AI labelView post →Timberborn out of Early Access. Went and bought it once it got out of EA. Pleasantly surprised by it being under 2GB.
positive · AI labelView post →[Timberborn] Love this game for beeing able to build stuff like this (credits in OP). https://old.reddit.com/r/Timberborn/comments/1klkucy/love_this_game_for_beeing_able_to_build_stuff/
positive · AI labelView post →This game starts every map as colony survival sim, evolving into a logistics management game and ends as a mega structure/terraforming sandbox. I've enjoyed every hour I've put into it.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Do NOT play this game!!! This game is worse than crack. Worse than opium. I've lost my job, my house, my car, my wife, and my dog because I can't stop playing. 20 hours a day, 7 days a week. I only stop when I pass out from exhaustion and need to poop. This game will ruin your life just as it did mine. 10/10
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you like Factorio do not install this game. It will take you and put you in ADHD coma that you won't be able to get out from nor sleep. Definitely reccomended.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Rating: 9/10 industrious beavers 🦫🌲 Timberborn is the kind of game that says, “Build a cute little beaver village,” and then six hours later you're frantically redesigning an entire river system because your population accidentally drank the last drop of water and now everyone is one bad drought away from becoming decorative lawn ornaments. The premise is simple. Beavers survived humanity. Nature is healing. Unfortunately, nature is also trying to kill you every few weeks with droughts,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I have injected politics into this game that wears its' environmental message on its' sleeve #timberborn
neutral · AI labelView post →"Wow, what a cute city builder with beavers!" No. This is a logistics and fluid dynamics game for true sickos. You're going to spend a lot of time managing pathing, distribution networks, balancing capacity, and eventually automating elements of your little beaver habitat. As a true sicko: It's great. And yes, you do build a city with some cute beavers in it.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Ah, Timberborn just left early access today as well, after a VERY popular 4.5 years of improvements. And Teardown updated with full multiplayer support. It's just one of those Too Many Games days, huh?
neutral · AI labelView post →We are lucky enough to have some in my borough who also expanding their own numbers but also everybody should play Timberborn www.gog.com/en/game/timb...
positive · AI labelView post →Timberborn's water mechanics and damming system set this sandbox builder apart from other games I've played and overall is a great addition. The only thing I truly dislike is the district mechanics, which needs to be either abandoned or completely overhauled considering that even in large maps, it's not worth using because it creates more problems than its worth. I'd rather have hangry beavers than mess with that system. My "Nice-to-have" list would be adding in scenarios with challenges or…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →one becomes more beaverlike the longer one plays. now several hundred hours in, I am deeply irritated by the mere sight of unobstructed streams. I have also developed a taste for wood.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Speaking of beavers being dropped into isolated meadows…have any of yall played Timberborn? It’s a city build/sim/survival game where you’re BEAVERS rebuilding society after humans basically destroyed the earth and died off.
neutral · AI labelView post →What city builders are you playing?. Timberborn is still my main game, but curious to see if there are other emerging good ones
positive · AI labelView post →PROS - Unique water management and engineering mechanics. - Deep and rewarding city-building gameplay. - Creative vertical building system. - Charming art style and relaxing atmosphere. - Highly satisfying progression. CONS - Can become overwhelming in the late game. - Requires a lot of planning and micromanagement. - Slower pace may not appeal to everyone. VERDICT Timberborn is a brilliant city builder that proves a unique concept can completely reshape a familiar genre. The combination of…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →What do you think of beavers? I was inspired by recent release of Timberborn game, and drew this man🦫 #furryart #art
neutral · AI labelView post →If you are looking at reviews to decide if you should buy this game. Buy it, you will not regret it. Timberborn is a top tier survival city builder with adorable hardworking beavers instead of lazy human citizens. The core mechanic is water storage but this mechanic is explored in many different ways from keeping crops irrigated and beavers watered, to building massive dams and reservoirs. The game progression feels natural, starting out with just a few beavers cutting trees and pumping…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I am sorry. I bought the game in early access in 2022 as it was promising. It really was a cute city builder with the novelty of drought threats. I played a lot in the early versions, then less and less. Indeed as the patches released, the devs kept adding features that made the game easier. The addition of badtides was nice but it is not challenging enough. It really just is a drought on steroids. They added more and more buildings, crops and leisure for the beavers, but never more gameplay.…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →As many others have said, this game has been 1.0 ready for quite some time, super exciting to see it finally hit an official release! If you like city builders and colony sims, this game will hook you instantly. Timberborn has a plethora of different maps to play on (also plenty in the steam workshop) and you have almost infinite solutions to a multitude of challenges you will face. Can't spend the resources for the games badwater cap? Just place a bunch of levees around it and seal the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Super fun game and a great way to decompress. 1000hrs in and Im sure there is more than 1000hrs ahead of me. I love the way trhe game is set up, I can plan way ahead of my beavers and then let them work away at it while I get chores done or while I watch videos on the other screen. Once I learned how to move levels, you can get very fancy with underground water networks.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great game but suffers from no building keybinds. How can you release a game in 2025 and have no keybinds for buildings?? You have to open the menu and click every time you want to place a path! It's so terrible and clunky. I like this game a lot but if the devs fully release the game with no building keybinds, I will not be playing.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's a pretty fun game with some really good design choices. The general concept of controlling water levels seems fresh and the water physics is pretty well implemented. It is cool that you can stack buildings on top of each other, both in terms of creativity and combating terrain sparsity. The game explains well what is happening on the screen so I never had to ask why is X happening and not Y. But there are also some problems, the biggest, from my POV, is the progression. It's just too easy…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Timberborn: 500+ Beaver Colony!. Haven't played in a while, pleased to see how well it runs a large colony now!
positive · AI labelView post →Timberborn really needs it because the main game mechanic is maintaining robust employment while navigating TFP shocks caused by unpredictable seasonal changes.
neutral · AI labelView post →a really great, immersive game with an amazing modding community already. the only MAJOR flaw is performance absolutely falling off a cliff once you have more than a few hundred beavers/bots
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I’ve put a couple hours into the 1.0 experimental branch, and it finally feels complete in the best way. Not “complete because they stopped,” but complete because the game’s pieces fit together cleanly. Watching Timberborn over the last couple years has been awesome. It started as a clever idea with a funny hook (hydration-based colony builder with post-apocalyptic beavers) and it just kept getting deeper. Update after update, it went from “cool concept” to “seriously robust colony sim.” What…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I have played 45 hours of Timberborn so far and I have to say it is a VERY WELL made game, normally this type of game is something you like in “idea” let’s say, in this case the idea of an intelligent post-apocalyptic beaver civilization, but then in practice it ends up being monotonous or boring over the hours of gameplay and you end up dropping it, this is NOT the case with Timberborn, this game doesn’t get tiring, the possibilities the game offers are huge, beyond keeping your town happy,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Timberborn is a damn pretty game y'all
positive · AI labelView post →Great game with loads of depth, but the lack of a campaign or clear objective does not really work for me. I tried setting my own goals within the sandbox, but even on hard difficulty, once you overcome the droughts, it feels as though there is no point in continuing.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is an enjoyable game, but with no scenarios, it's primarily a sandbox. If that is your jam, you are all set, but if you want targets to build toward or solutions to find, you may be disappointed.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I really want to upvote this charming colony sim / building game. However there is no audio for beaver teeth chewing on wood when they fell trees. No construction sounds when they hammer on things. No sounds at all for any of their activities. The only sound you every hear from your beavers is some strange garbled speech when you click on them. It is a rather strange omission as there are many other sounds like fire crackling or birds chirping - just no beaver sounds. These wonderful colonies…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →!!FISHING MINIGAME RECAST!! Timberborn does not have a fishing minigame :(( (Reposting because that game has officially released!) #timberborn #indiegame #gaming #videogames #fishing #fishingminigame
negative · AI labelView post →So, with that out of the way, what's Corsair Cove all about? If you've played games like Banished or Timberborn or Whiskerwood (another game Hooded Horse sent me a copy of) it's that same general idea, but with pirates and absurd use of vertical space because you build on cliffsides.
neutral · AI labelView post →[GIVEAWAY] Simply because I wanna share the beaver game: Timberborn, it's GIVEAWAY TIME! I bet you all can cultivate the beaver community better than I do! For a chance to win 1 Timberborn STEAM KEY: ⭐️Follow ⭐️Like and/or repost this post ⭐️Comment Good luck~ (until 30 June) #promosky #giveaway
neutral · AI labelView post →
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