Edge Islands

I tried the demo initially and ended up only playing for like an hour maybe less and gave up. It was a bit frustrating for controls and know how to get things started. After it went on sale and seeing a big update adding crafting weapon and armors I decided to give it another go. At first I thought I would give up again but instead pushed a little further and found the game is really great. I highly recommend giving some time in really learning the mechanics and it does work. Honestly for an early access game in the cozy base builder and dungeon crawl genre this is great. Once set up right your base runs pretty smoothly. But again it took some time to really unpack the mechanics as there arent many guides or web pages with all the details (and maybe thats not bad?).
I hope for great things for this project and I love supporting small dev teams (or people).
Good luck and happy hunting!

Pros: Fun Game love where its heading!
Cons: Early Access
Beyond the game itself, I had a fantastic personal experience with the developer. I ran into a Game breaking bug, reported it, and to my surprise, the developer went out of their way to communicate directly with me and push a fix in less than 12 hours. This level of dedication to their community is exceptional and speaks volumes about their passion for their game!!

Honestly this game is great. Like may people have said I played the demo and didn’t like it. So glad I gave it another chance. It’s a combination between medieval resource management city builder and almost an xcom type combat system when manoeuvring, cover and backstab make or break battles. Highly rate it.

Been having some fun with the full purchase of the game, even in its current status. I played the demo for about the same amount of hours as I have listed for the thus far full game. Building is fun, combat is fair as far as I can tell. Im sure there will be a bit more polish and improvement to the game before its full release. I would highly recommend an "upgrade" option for walls and building and such though just for QOL.

UPDATED REVIEW 25.04.2026:
This game seems to be doing many things right, but there is still some lack of clarity in what each job does, what runes do (in terms of what exact bonuses do they give, per rune, when applied to an armor or a weapon) and some jobs don't seem to be performed properly after a while.
- Some bugs only seem to appear several hours in, like water not getting grabbed, or pawns cooking and making potions non-stop (not even sleeping).
- Runes and and wood are a constant bottleneck, and the trading system is punishing rather than enjoyable. As soon as you try to sell stuff, the time required for trading explodes exponentially. At least there is a lot of wood to be bought, but the Runes remain a massive bottleneck since they cannot be bought.
- Some mobs seem to be overpowered for their level. There needs to be better balancing on this front.
I think the game still needs some time to cook, and I am glad the developer is keeping the game updated.

This game combines a few of my favorite genres in a fun way to design and pass the time

Short version: 8ish out of 10 right now. Some of the design options hinder your ability to start a new colony and make you feel like you can't create something sustainable until you begin running the dungeon. This leads to many initial days that feel pretty grindy.

Long version:
Combat: 5 out of 10, up to 8.5 out of 10 later. Initial combat in the game is basic to start. Shoot or hit this person, use potions, and pray you come out on top. There is some strategy with positioning, but often that's not the deciding factor. Later, you unlock facilities to unlock skills, which gives you more options. The idea of training makes a lot of sense, but the facilities are restricted to higher-level resources. So you find yourself grinding levels, which don't feel like they contribute a ton, until you can finally start to train.

While I like the idea of training to gain skills, having more skills available to make the combat more interesting would be good. Special skills could only be unlocked after you have trained, making training feel valuable, but right now, it's the only way to do it, and so leveling doesn't feel great. Later in combat, having some skills lets you roll combos. An archer can set up an overwatch, and a templar can smack something, forcing movement and provoking the overwatch. I think these are great ideas, again, they take forever to reach (especially if it's your first time creating a colony).

Colony sim: 9 in ideas, 7 in execution. The ideas behind the colony sim are excellent. Build a colony, make it sustainable, defend it, train, recruit new adventurers, repeat. This is great in theory, but there are still some pretty hefty challenges.
1) Twine - This is the most annoying mechanic in the game. You can technically get it from spiders, but the quantity isn't enough to do anything tangible. This means going into the dungeon. However, if you go into the dungeon to just farm, your adventurers come back angry because they couldn't complete the dungeon. So you have a loop of not enough twine, trying to build things that would make the colony effective, then you can finally start building your colony. But the dungeon can be challenging, so you can't immediately access it. This may blend into combat woes also, but something like a spider cave you can clear out, or something that lets you engage in combat without your adventurers hating the experience. It just arbitrarily slows the game down.
2) High priority - This sort of works, but some things are hard to keep going. For instance, a feeder needs to be refilled. This can be done with an auto-feed mechanic, but your adventurers don't seem to prioritize it. Having apple trees and just apples on the ground does a much better job than the feeder. Something similar to RimWorld's right-click to force your adventurer to prioritize a task would be constructive, as some of these higher-priority tasks could be done as needed.
3) Basic vs advanced items - Right now, it feels like the game has you run at 20% of the colony sim, then you get access to the dungeon, and you're up to 95%. There isn't a real steady progression right now. If access to twine is easier, you are steadily progressing. Otherwise, as soon as you finish your first dungeon, you come back with gold, ingots, twine, and other materials that immediately open up a ton of craftable furniture, the job board, and other items.

In short, a lot of good ideas here; this probably needs another six months to a year in the oven before the progression feels really good. Some additional skills, easier access to twine, and the ability to order an adventurer to complete a task would quickly enhance the game, smooth progression, and make it a more enjoyable experience.