It turns out that while we weren’t looking, the smart beavers that will succeed us as the dominant life form on this planet have developed functional robots made of wood and steel. These, of course, are designed to perform menial tasks so that their hairy, flat-tailed masters can more easily relax in hot mud baths and contemplate whatever philosophies beavers ponder.
I am of course talking about the beavers of Timberborn (opens in new tab), a city building game in which these clever creatures use their mastery of water to turn the climate-ravaged planet we left them with into a beautiful green paradise. They are vertically stacked cities and tower dams, not to mention clever constructions extremely cool. (opens in new tab)
The last (opens in new tab) update remade the beavers storage system into something easier to manage and modular, and revamped the beavers buildable helpers into Beaver Bots, with models for both the Iron Teeth and Folk Tails factions. It’s been another arrow in their quiver ever since back in 2021 (opens in new tab) the developers decided that the beavers should have powerful pumps to raise the water.
“As in the best management games, succeeding in Timberborn is all about a good juggling act. You need to make sure there is a steady supply of wood while also providing adequate housing and storage, while also progressing in toward more usable buildings. Picking the right time to invest in flour production or reforestation is vital,” says Sam Greer in her look at Timberborn (opens in new tab) just after its release, she said she had “a damn good time”.
Puns aside, the addition of mechanical and increasingly complex beaver ingenuity to the game has taken it to a new level. Quite literally: where beavers were good at toppling mountains and carving channels for their diverted floodwaters, the bots can actually muster the strength to make good earthen barriers.
It’s a cool addition to a chill city builder whose main attraction is playing with your beavers’ environment. You can find Timberborn on the Mechanics website (opens in new tab)or buy it Epic (opens in new tab), GOG (opens in new tab)and Steam (opens in new tab) for $25. It’s a smooth 20% off most of those places, just $20, while their winter sale lasts.