Dawn of Man

A good game, that could have been great...

Dawn of man has many interesting features and it provided me with many hours of great fun. However, the longer I played, the more obvious it became that while the game is definitely a lot of fun, there are some omissions that preventing it from becoming the great game it could have been.

While I personally enjoyed the milestone based technology system, it is almost completely lacking any social changes within society. I wish I had been able to shape how my citiziens organise, what kind of religion they choose, what kind of hierarchy or lack there of, division of labour. These things are not so relevant at the beginning, but the further you advance the more obvious it becomes. There is no research of even rudimentary medicine - if your people, crops or livestock gets infected or sick, you just have to wait out and see if they die. I am not expecting Egyptian cranial surgery, but at least give me something! The social aspects also would have greatly helped to flesh out my society. At the beginning you feel for every loss but once you hit the 50 or 100 people mark, your people just become numbers. With a social system, it would have allowed to move the identification from the individual to the societal.

Dawn of Man goes to great strenghts to allow you to automise collection of resources, which I personally feel is a neat feature. By placing collection areas and setting a limit on gatherers and the amount of the specific resources within, it keeps things going without you having to organise everything yourself. My only clear point of critique is, that the banners for the collection areas are so far to the ground, that it becomes very hard to spot them among some of the landscapes features, especially trees. There is also no easy overview for all areas you set up. If you want that, you have to find a collection area, click on it, select the tab for all collection areas and once you click on one, the overview is gone again. Which makes it very tedious in the later game, if you wanna go through all your areas to see which ones are still worthwhile

But once again, the more the game advances in time, the more blatant some of the gaps become. If you want to send a larger hunting trip, for example to go after Mammoths or dangerous predators, there is no option to "draft". Unless you constantly keep a watchful eye over your guys, they will just run back after you send them to go somewhere (until you order them to hunt). If you wanna set up a hunting ambush or a larger group, which requires coordination and everybody being in the right place, this quickly becomes frustrating.

This becomes especially frustrating in fights. Although you have the option to sound an alarm, this means that the entire community is up in arms - even if you have almost a hundred and there are just 5 raiders approaching. Also, your people will come with the weirdest combinations of equipment - Bone Scythes they found in their grandpas attic together with iron armour and heavy shields. Here once again the lack of social features comes in. Why can't I designate "Soldiers", and specify their equipment. Also - why do you let me tame horses, but then only have them drag carts and ploughs. I want riders? Why can't I create a society of nomad horseriders?!

The biggest disappointment however is, that most of these things could have one easy solution: Allow the community to do modding. We could have so many different features and also explore other types of the world instead of the generic Central- to Northern Europe. Why can't we visit African Stone Age civilisations, or Asian, Middle East, the Americas? All with there specific environmental and biological features
Why are there only metals for tool use? Why can't I smelt silver or gold or use bronze for jewelry that makes my people happier, is a valueable trading good and attracts raiders. Why are the only environmental crisis Storm and my crops/livestock getting sick (that I can't do anything about except wait it out)? Why not have floods, blizzards, droughts, heatwaves, etc.? It would add so much so easily!

Don't get me wrong. I had great fun playing the game. Especially in the early stages, when every illness and every attack by a pack of cave hyenas can spell doom and you really feel for every one of your guys and gals. But the longer I played, the more I realised that while this is a fine game, it is lacking so many features that could have easily made it a great game - which could be still added by a modding community, if they were just given the option. I give a thumbs up, because ultimately the game doesn't deserve a thumbs down and it provides you with many hours of fun. Just be prepared to feel slightly disappointed about all of the missed potential...

Very relaxing game. There is nothing annoying about its interface, the tech tree, or random events. Quite contrary.
Somehow, it manages to stay in the Goldilocks zone, between being boring and inducing a dopamine overload.
This game is a good choice if you're in the mood to kick back and enjoy a few hours of base building, turtling FTW of the civilization.

100% recommend picking this up during a sale if you're into early human history or more easygoing sims.
I really enjoy city builder sims but I often get overwhelmed as they get too complex. Dawn of Man has a great "take it slow" approach, especially on standard difficulty. It hits a nice balance between big picture and micromanaging. While it's not particularly hard to succeed in the freeplay scenarios, some of the achievements are genuinely challenging and the scenarios pack a bit more of a punch. I'm also a big anthropology nerd, so I find progressing through the skill tree very fun. The game cuts off in terms of technology right where I usually start to lose interest in other games with tech trees, so I am happy with that. I've had this game for about 5 years now and I still come back and play it regularly.

A pretty solid colony simulator, a lot like banished. The only real issue I had with it is how when you reach the bronze age all the megafauna goes extinct regardless of your hunting practices. It really dissapointed me because the megafauna is what drew me to the game and made it feel unique, and from a gameplay standpoint it was fun to watch them when things were slow in the village.

I was pretty bored recently, I can not complain that I do not have games to play (to be honest, the list is pretty long), but I was looking for something a little bit different and entertaining. I saw Dawn of Man on discount and decided to buy it. Oh boy, that was one of my greatest financial decisions in the last few months.

The game is really, really good. It is not a masterpiece by any means, but it is a really complex, fun and polished strategy game with many interesting mechanics. It takes a moment to learn the basics and the gameplay is developing with playtime. The technologies, animals going extinct and growth of your village are only some elements you have to tinker with to achieve sustainability.

I really recommend this one, you will waste neither time nor money on Dawn of Man. It is a really fun strategy game that sunk me for many hours!

To me this is a nice entry into the genre. It is relatively simple compared to all the stuff you see on the market. It is also pretty fun and satisfying to play and see your village evolve over time.
It does lack a little in some key areas, that I think would've made it more fun. It doesn't really work so well in terms of migrating your people, nor in terms of straight up building a second village - two things that I think would've been very fun and kind of didn't expect to be so much of an issue.

Dawn of Man delivers a somewhat authentic experience of the struggle for survival, immersing players in the challenges faced by our ancient ancestors. The game does a commendable job in depicting the harsh realities of prehistoric life.
The game's pace is notably slow, which can be both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, it allows for thoughtful planning and strategy, but on the other, it can become tedious for players seeking a more dynamic experience.
A significant downside for me is the raid mechanics, which often feel repetitive and occasionally unfair. This aspect detracts from the overall enjoyment, especially when you find yourself dealing with the same predictable threats repeatedly.
The graphics are mediocre at best. While they serve their purpose, they don't quite capture the beauty or harshness of the environments as effectively as they could. One minor Feature i did like though is the ability to change the camera to follow settlers around, allowing you to immerse yourself in the settlement.
Despite these shortcomings, this is a solid survival game with plenty of room for improvement. It offers a unique glimpse into the past and a satisfying challenge for those who appreciate a slower, more methodical approach to gameplay and I had some fun with it.