Reviews

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  Solon64

  Aug 24, 2016

  I can't really recommend this game. I admit, I haven't played it for the 15 hours or whatever is the accepted standard around here for a review to be credible, but it is my opinion that first impressions are everything. And my first impression with this game is not good. You control a tribe of stone-age villagers and take care of them, building shelter, collecting resources like wood, furs, and food, have them make tools and weapons to defend themselves from neighboring tribes and make their lives easier, etc. The premise is good, where it falls apart is the execution. I'll confess, the whole time I've been playing the game, I was thinking to myself "This is essentially Dwarf Fortress or RimWorld, but with far less variety in things to do." And that's what this game is to me, more simplistic Dwarf Fortress, or Gnomoria, or Towns, or Stonehearth, or whatever village-simulator game you play. The graphics for this game are, to put it simply, terrible. 2d sprites that bounce around the screen and bounce off each other to simulate fighting. And yes, I play Dwarf Fortress, which has NO graphics to speak of, but in my opinion that allows one's imagination to fill in the gaps, whereas this half-hearted attempt at graphics is depressing, everything is either a dull shade of green, or blue for water. The UI is a lot like Gnomoria or Towns, which aren't very good as far as user interfaces go anyway, not much to say there except theres a lot of digging through menus to get to the thing you want to do. The pace of the game is very slow, and villagers never seem to get around to doing something that you want done quickly. There doesn't seem to be a "priority" system in place, and your food will sit on the ground rotting whilst your villagers shamble over and collect that 500th piece of long grass that just HAS to get collected now. Combat in the game is very simple, make sure your villagers have stone spears (more menu digging to make sure of that!) and then enter combat mode, right click on target, and they go and kill it. Your villagers don't typically lose to animals, especially if they team up on them, but the animals seem wildly aggressive, how often do you think a giant sloth goes sprinting into your camp attempting to murder everyone? Yes, giant sloth, sprinting, you read that correctly. The TL;DR version: save your money. Dwarf Fortress is way more in-depth, has graphics packs that look way better than this game, and is completely free. This is a knock-off that dares to charge 9 dollars for the "privelege."
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  Cinderella

  Aug 24, 2016

  This is only a first impression. Dwarf Fortress Light with heavy micro management. The interface can be a bit clunky, but the AI of your tribesmen is very transparent and easy adjustible, since the tribesmen just go to the next task on the list. The game feels well-priced and overall I'm satisfied with what I got. Bear in mind that I've only tried the early game so far.
• 

  Angry Trash

  Aug 25, 2016

  This is my first review on steam, because most games that I find noteworthy either flounder without comment or get a trove of people giving feedback within a few days. [h1] What it is, what it isn't [/h1] Tribe of Pok is a simulation game about controlling a primitive tribe, and whatever that means to you. They can starve or prosper at your whim, or by your ignorance. That being said, like many modern simulation games it is made in a popular niche of the genre. The most similar, currently popular, game in my opinion that is in this same niche is Rimworld. That being said, there are several more established games that it bears similarities to, such as Dwarf Fortress, that I won't put in the same bag because they have been around for a long time and have a huge establishment of fans and supporters who help update it and make it accessible to new players. So, going back to Rimworld as the most apt comparison ; [b]It isn't.[/b] Rimworld had a [u]very, very, very long[/u] pre-beta/pre-alpha (Not really because then it would typically be unplayable but that's the common marketing language for "not finished") phase before it came onto steam, which immediately marks it as unfair competition. It was shown to the public before widespread release, and got feedback before hitting major sellers. So, on the developmental scale it is not a fair comparison. The popular Rimworld that most people know is far past Tribe of Pok, and was by the time most people got it. An apt anology would be if someone showed you two tapes of basketball players, but one was from the NBA and the other was from their nephew's middle school. Yes, they're both basketball players. Yes you got them presented to you in similar time. But they were not given to you at the same time in the player's progression, you know that the NBA player had to have had middle school experience, but you didn't see it and you didn't look for it beforehand. So now that the development and gameplay comparison is out of the way, compare the graphics between Tribe of Pok and Rimworld ; [b] you can't [/b] or at least not [i] fairly [/i]. Games are a largely artistic medium, granted they're an interactive one but they're one regardless. As such you can't hold them in the same standard based on your views. I can't say that red is a bad color because my favorite color is green. The two games did [b]not[/b] try to have similar graphics, and so they can't be compared. You might like one, you might hate the other, oh well that's subjective. I personally find both charming for different reasons, Rimworld is more sleek, but Tribe of Pok feels more cutesy in its simplicity. This, in my mind, makes me expect more from my colonists in Rimworld and berate them when they fail, but I end up cheering for the tribespeople because they feel simpler. Most people get a feel for the world by the graphics, and if the world looks sophisticated I want sophisticated behavior from the people. [h1] Tribe of Pok by its own merits [/h1] I have approximately 4 hours in Tribe of Pok at the time of writing. I didn't delay on the menu or pad my time artificially, this was all in play time. That being said I only JUST finished the base tutorial, I'm right at the diplomacy unlocked point. I could've beelined the tutorial but I spent a lot of time not making shirts and instead building up a larder and digging trenches to collect rain water. In these four hours I have not noticed any issues, everything I tried to do I could do without an issue on the game's part. What Tribe of Pok tries to do, in my opinion, it does well. It doesn't try to make you build a giant fort with the expectation that you are willing to lose a hundred times just for the one time you survive your first month in game. It doesn't expect you to build a giant wall and cower inside of it until your stomach growls. It expects you to want to guide a tribe of neolithic people, and be almost directly responsible for the story that unfolds. On that part, it succeeds. [h1] TL;DR [/h1] Tribe of Pok is not like similar games in the genre when compared in context. It simulates a lot of things in a very narrow scope, instead of few things on grand scale. This narrow scope means that the developers have no choice but to notice any glaring bugs and stomp them out before an update, and fine tune minor features later. What it does, it does well in my opinion.
• 

  Cardassia Did Nothing Wrong

  Mar 17, 2017

  I like the setting of the stone age immensely so I expected I'd love this more than I would the same type of game but set in a different era, but, sadly, truth be told it's just an incredibly shallow game lacking anything close to progression. Shame, I was really, really looking forward to liking this but it's just so boring and easy. It needs a lot more variety and complexity because it's shallow simpleness make's it so that you can experience the entire game in like half an hour.
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  gashbash

  Aug 14, 2017

  I'd rather save my 5$ for a different game. I do feel bad for those that pay 10$ as there aren't enough features for it to be worth such to me. And no im not new to this genre.
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  JoezOrange

  Sep 24, 2018

  I like this game it show deep protencial of the game but Why you not update it? Please keep update and add more content in the game.