Colony-building simulators are one of my favourite genres in gaming, especially when they allow you to put your little guys to work. Tribe: Primitive Builder, an indie title, is a perfect example of the unnecessary need for a big studio budget to make something incredible. A collaborative effort by three Polish studios: Polyslash, Space Boat Studios, and Baked Games, and published by Polyslash, Tribe: Primitive Builder is a wonderful, relaxing title that I could not put away.

After seeing visions of apocalyptic destruction brought upon your people, you are banished from your Tribe who believe you are a bad omen from the Gods. Tied up and thrown onboard a raft, you wash up on the pier of an island inhabited by tribes of other exiled individuals. Here, these tribes see you as their Savior, chosen by the Gods during a time of impending doom.

The story of the four Tribes on the island is delivered to you through quest lines. After being set free from your binds by a lone fisherman, you are pointed in the direction of the nearest tribe elder, simply named “The Elder”. He agrees to help you get your strength back, and in return, you help grow his tribe and manage the day-to-day of gathering resources and food through job automation and supplying the tribespeople somewhere to rest their weary heads after a long day – but you will always have the looming “elephant in the island” hanging over you – a catastrophic volcanic eruption is imminent.

The map is large, broken up into four lands, each of which has its own unique resources and is the home of a different tribe to help. Throughout your journey, you select prefabricated blueprints to build – fishing huts, sleeping huts, woodcutting huts, and storage expansions are just a few examples of what you can utilize to keep things running smoothly, all the while, managing your own hunger, thirst, and energy. The more you do for your tribes, the more you level up your 6 skills which center around hunting, gathering, and building. Unlock new tools, blueprints, and fast travel points by performing Rituals at your local Altar, which sits in the shadow of a beautiful willow tree.

Resource gathering can start to feel a little tedious, not necessarily the work itself, but I found myself searching for that “sweet spot” I needed to hit with most resource nodes I came across. Some trees liked it if you stood a little bit away before allowing you to chop it down, but others preferred it if you were practically standing on top of it. If I couldn’t figure out what the pixels required of me, I’d simply move on to the next one as the nodes were in abundance.

Nodes aside, my only significant gripe with this game is my own mobility. The movement of my character is fine, running without depleting stamina is something I hugely appreciate, but there is no climbing. It’s crazy this guy can build entire villages on his own, but he can’t jump or climb over a 1m obstacle, in turn, leaving me to continuously sprint in circles around boulders or hillsides trying to find somewhere I can shimmy up to access the clearing level with my own eyesight. In saying that though, playing on a keyboard and mouse (this game does not support controllers on PC), the controls are easy to get used to with the help of a short tutorial quest line at the beginning of your adventure.

The art style is beautiful. Created on Unreal Engine 5, it’s a view into how a small, uncontacted island should look if you were to dream about one. The grassy meadows, the views of the leaves on the tallest trees shivering in the wind, the glass-like water flowing down the rivers, and the sea crashing onto the shore, each sight as beautiful as the last. I found myself stopping and watching the birds fly overhead and the rabbits running around in tall grass.

Even the desert area on the map was beautiful, the way the different yellows and oranges bounced around each other almost made me feel warmer (though it is mid-summer in Australia). These visuals coupled with the sound of twigs snapping beneath your feet

and the drums in the backing soundtrack have created a wonderfully immersive world that you just don’t want to stop exploring.

To wrap up, I love the premise of the game, and I found myself engrossed in the plot when I wasn’t just out exploring looking for new unfound areas. The mobility and node physics could be worked on a little, but it doesn’t take away from the full experience as much as you would think. Tribe: Primitive Builder is a relaxing, immersive gem that I can see myself coming back to in the future.

Written by: Emily France