Folk Emerging

Very fun light 4X game. I enjoyed my first playthrough so much that I won before becoming a proto-civilization and was sad to find I couldn't keep continue playing. If there's one poignant criticism I could give, it's that the game perpetuates the unfortunate myth of Neanderthals as dull-witted, brutish savages and not the clever, resourceful near-humans anthropological research has since discovered them to actually be. I understand that they're eventually supposed to disappear, but the way they're depicted here is very disappointing.

The theme is great, but the execution is clumsy. Gathering food becomes kind of trivial pretty fast, the AI is garbage, the world is small, and the actual gameplay elements you have are very limited. There's a skeleton of something interesting here, but it's far from realized. Check back in 2 years.

This game is a gem and worth checking out if you have even a passing interest in Civilization-like or Old World-esque games. Folk Emerging turns a lot of the usual 4x tropes right on their heads : you start as a nomadic tribe, which can move around, influence its local ecosystem, lay claims to its territory, build certain structures depending on terrain characteristics, bump into other tribes, etc. Without spoiling anything, in the late game, things can change a lot from there and become very interesting for all tribes involved. The game implements typical 4x mechanics, but in interesting ways or with a twist: the food system with its complex inter-relied food web, the auto-battler system reminiscent of Super Auto Pets where even if you lose a battle it’s not the end of your tribe, each tribe member being uniquely simulated and the ability to assign roles to them, your tribe being able to eventually become sedentary, an event system that keeps you on your toes, etc. It takes a lot of mechanics familiar to the 4X player, but pushes them to new boundaries, while still keeping them in a format that will appeal to fans of classic 4X games. I think Folk Emerging is the kind of game that pushes genre boundaries forward, even though it can still firmly be classified as 4X. Like Old World before it, I think it has redefined a lot of 4X tropes we take for granted. Do yourself a service and try it out. I have put many hours into the playtest, then the demo, and now I'm very happy to be playing through the full game.

Loving it. This is a classic "just one more turn..." game. It has the familiarity of a game like Civilization, but the nomadic aspects are a really fun twist. Food webs take a little getting used to, but if you're moving a lot you're not really in danger of exhausting any food source anyways, and by the time you want to settle, you probably either have farming figured out or have increased your foraging capacity well ahead of your food spent each turn. I'm still figuring out the different ways a tribe can evolve into different "proto-civilizations," but it feels like there's a good amount of replay value here.

This is a great game with discrete, meaningful choices keeping you engaged and enjoying your tribe's development all the way to the endgame. There are interesting strategic decisions such as how much you try to settle down vs. move around, how sustainable you'll be with your foraging to preserve the food webs in the ecosystem, the technology path you will research first, which cultural norms you will adopt, and so on. Your choice of tribe and band will impact these strategic decisions, and you can work towards synergies and other benefits (like special items and ores) that further amplify your approach. Yet there are also interesting tactical decisions such as whether to forage, or collect resources, or build goodies for your band; or how you're going to set up your army composition. Rewards and incentives abound, so you're constantly making meaningful choices that make your tribe better and stronger in different ways. Combat itself is automatic, meaning it's not tedious in the least. Instead, it's automatically resolved step-by-step so that you can see how the result emerges. Your efforts are to train up your troops, arm them, and position them beneficially - plenty of decision space yet not too onerous (i.e. no micromanagement). For example, "shields" troops in front of "clubs" troops makes for a powerful combo, but there are lots of interesting permutations possible, and available troop types (to deploy) are given by technology and rolled probabilistically (at the cost of training) - i.e. try out the daggers and slingers combo if that's what you rolled. Each game lasts 3-5 hours, and the variety of choices available will have you keep coming back to try out a new tribe, a new clan, a new strategy. It successfully captures the "one more turn" feeling, as well as the "one more game" feeling! Overall game length is not that long, so you can see the results of your efforts pretty quickly, not to mention that the game is concluding just when you'd maybe want to move on to the next one and try out a new strategy. Yet it's not too short either, as you feel like you're actually building up your tribe and benefitting from choices you made earlier in the game. On top of being a very enjoyable 4X, it's got an endearing, immersive and consistent theme. As well, the developer is very engaged and responsive to feedback. This game is definitely worth playing and is lots of fun.

Great game, but Dev... Seriously.... On the next update it is MANDATORY for you too give us the option to keep playing after victory conditions have been reached. Edit 30/08/26 One day later the Dev added endless mode, so nothing but praise from me now. What a fun and interesting indie gem.

This is a lovely Indie game that has A LOT OF research and thought behind it. I really adored the representation of the food web, how foraging impacts the ecology of your surroundings, the existence of debt and reciprocal obligations as a model of hunter-gatherer economics and the overall feel of developing from a tribe into a proper civilization. And most importantly, the game *really* requires you to consider your environment and choose accordingly. You want to settle down in the Savannah? You better spend a lot of time in the region to get your climate XP up. Thinking about becoming the Sumerian Civilization? I hope you remembered to research the Wheel & Urbanization. Wish to get better at gathering berries? The more you gather them, the better your food production will be. Instead of choosing a civilization and building your game plan around it, Folk Emerging will have you choose your civilization based on your surroundings and you must always remain adaptive and on guard. If you ever wanted to know how it would actually feel like to lead a Prehistoric Tribe, this game is for you!

I wouldn't recommend buying this... currently. It needs a better tutorial and a clearer UI.

Перед вами 4Х стратегия, которая отыгрывается через управление первобытным племенем от момента его выхода из пещеры (скорее даже до первого входа туда) и до создания доисторической цивилизации. Сначала игра обрушивает на вас кучу циферок, но благодаря понятным обучающим сообщениям и нескольким часам игры всё быстро встаёт на свои места и становится понятным. Каждое племя состоит из 3 кланов (всего 7 стартовых племён с разными сочетаниями кланов), каждый из кланов состоит из некоторого числа обычных людей (мужчин, женщин, детей и стариков), каждый из которых имеет ряд параметров (харизма + 3 других, уважение в племени, возраст и здоровье). Племя передвигается по рандомно генерируемой карте из шестиугольников, каждый из которых представляет собой отдельный биом (например, саванна-холм или саванна-равнина), где живут определённые виды животных и произрастают определённые виды растений. Указанные животные едят друг-друга, растения, а почти всех из них может есть ваше племя. Пребывание племени в биоме даёт ему опыт адаптации к биому, что, очевидно, приводит к появлению специализации и адаптации к нему (перки). Если охотится на одних и тех же животных, то их можно истребить и это повлечёт за собой изменение биоразнообразия в биоме. Если вы пробились через предыдущий абзац, то просто примите, - в этой игре всё влияет на всё (по чуть-чуть) и это - очень интересно! Малые изменения в начале, ведут ваше племя к специализации и чем дальше, тем вы сильнее начинаете отличаться, не только от других племён, но и от других групп своего племени (люди рождаются же и со временем их становится слишком много). В итоге, если в начале вас было 25 и главными проблемами было где чего пожрать и как бы тебя соседний лев не съел, то через 100 игровых ходов твои кочевники на колесницах уже начинают устраивать групповые набеги на другие племена, чтобы отобрать у них золото, свиней и кур или даже уничтожить их целиком или пленить! Отдельно хочу отметить очень интересную мини-игру - автобаттлер сражений между племенами. Это действительно глубоко продуманный элемент игры, который, что приятно, занимает (за счет автобоя) мало времени. Самое удивительное в этой игре, что её сделал - один человек. И уже на релизе в ней всё работает без багов. Всячески рекомендую к покупке каждому любителю стратегий!