Towers of Aghasba Reviews

The vision is there the world is very interesting. Very relaxing building farming game with a intriguing world. Gives me similar vibes to the world of kenshi in a way.

I love playing games in a similar vein to this one - open-world, sandboxy, with goals. The environments are gorgeous. The animals/creatures are my favorite thing in the game. I love that you can customize the damage you take, even putting it down to zero. Sometimes I like to have a more relaxing gaming experience and not worry about dying to some creature, so I really appreciate being able to have that experience. The story so far is fairly engaging. I look forward to playing more and to seeing how it develops until it leaves EA.

This is a beautiful game and a unique experience. That said there are a couple caveats to be aware of. * This game is early access - don't expect silky-smooth performance on the high settings, don't expect the settings menu to actually reflect reality or respect your choices. * To get it work on linux/steam deck you need to use proton-GE, the default does not work.

Early access game, definitely has some things to work out like the camera feeling so jittery. However there's nothing concerning that can't be fixed with a little elbow grease. The world is unique and the characters, plants, fauna are pretty unique for a game like this.

Overall a fun little game in early access. Couple bugs, but nothing I would call major by any stretch in the overall gaming experience. I read some of the complaints on inventory and such which made me hesitate alittle. Overall I decided games often have inventory limitations as a constraining factor. Once I got in the game though, I honestly can say I'm not sure what some of the complaints on that front are about. Easy to put storage down at each base, and teleporting back and forth is extremely easy and smooth in terms of loading screens and what not. If anything, my one concern is the longevity around the gathering, planting and what not. I feel like in this day and age, with technology what it is, there should be more AI or NPC management in the gathering and planting aspects of the game, which would give more time for combat and exploration. This may come with time, but thus far, I would say the game is completely lacking in any sort of AI/NPC management aspects. ...which for a game that describes itself as village building, it is something they need to add to the matrix or roadmap. ...just imo.

Its still unplayable and the coop dont work...

I have only got 8.4 hours at the time of writing this review so take some of what I say with a grain of salt. Simply - Do I enjoy this game / would I recommend it to others (if they were fans of the genre)? Yes In a deeper dive - The game is calm, relaxing, simple, easy to play without having to be deep in thought. From what I have played so far the game is like Palia meets Enshrouded (other survival games are available) with the world development of Planet Crafter. I think there are some valid "issues" with the game but I do not think they all warrant a negative review. For example, is inventory space very limited with a ton of resources available? Most definitely, but that does not make the game ill advisable. The game has a steady yet not sprinted progression system that is noticeable and satisfying. Sometimes getting from point to point can be a little tedious even with the provided speed up mechanics (avoiding naming anything that could be seen as a spoiler regardless of how small) but for the most part getting around isn't too bad. Quests from different NPCs give you a variety of gameplay options whether it be production-based, exploration-based or combat-based. That being said the combat is simple, it's no souls-like but it has melee, ranged and rolling similar to most survival games. I appreciate not having to constantly worry about factors like heat, hunger, thirst, to name a few, from other survival games and feel they actually depreciate the experience. In this game it's only health and stamina and that's enough bars for me to worry about. Taking into account what I have experienced in this game so far I think this game is a solid 7-8/10 within it's genre. It is fun and I am enjoying what I have played. I can put it down any time and come back any time and I know it won't be a whole new game or that I will be completely lost. I applaud the devs who seem to be working towards lots of new content that I am actually excited for, for example a fully co-operative game (not yet ready as of this review). If you made it here, thank you for reading!

Most survival crafting games are extremely similar with the exception of this game. You plant flowers, feed animals, collect ridiculous amounts of feces to feed monstrous turds, and cure the infected withered lands. If you ever wanted to fight a larger "thing" from the Addam's Family, well you're in luck. The nonsensical banter of the villagers fills my heart with joy. Just a chill game period end of story.

Love this game. So refreshing to be creating a beautiful environment rather than blowing one up. Is it early access? YES. Should we be patient with this? YES. Are the Devs putting out regular updates and patches? YES. Really enjoying playing so far. Looking forward to seeing how it develops with time.

Normally I allow myself more time before even thinking about a review. But in this case, I just don’t want to play it anymore. It has a great mix of design and ideas. It’s just no fun in it’s current state. Towers of Aghasba tries to be a mix of ecological restoration, city building, survival, and role play game. While it contains some interesting concepts like the part where you have to balance your actions in order to get what you need while making sure that the ecosystem remains healthy, the game sadly is underwhelming in most parts and outright frustrating in some others. But let’s begin with the nice things. [u]The Good[/u] It looks rather fine. At least for me, there weren’t any visual issues other than that I failed to spot any fish to throw my spear at. They managed to create “that tribal vibe” without blandly copying existing cultures. Which is nice. I really like the concept of giving and taking. In order to restore life, you need to plant seeds and care for animals, to amass something called Amity. Whenever you kill animals or plants, you lose some of this. Usually less than what you gain, so staying in the green (haha, pun, nature is green) isn’t that difficult, but it gives you a sense of the fact that actions have impact, and you need to make up for what you do. And… I think that’s it. Honestly, I am surprised myself, since I usually really try to find good portions to point out. [u]The Meh[/u] Most of the game seems as if many people with decent ideas tried to smash all this together without much consideration about long-term fun. There’s so far nothing that binds the different aspects together, beside “yeah so the ancestors of the humans did a boo-boo and now you alone have to clean up the mess have fun”. While humanity surely has the ability to destroy nature, it seems unlikely that we are also the sole solution to all problems. Oh yeah there is some story about your lost capital or something. The main character is a child or at least teenager. You can’t change anything about them beside clothes and the mask they wear. Which they just wear so that the devs don’t need to give you a character creator. Honestly, I am so done with being forced to play children. Twenty years of Pokémon simply have spoiled this experience somehow. Even tho the game is (partially?) about restoring natural life, said natural life is rather… I don’t know. Weird? They fused different animals together. Which is fun-ish at first. But seeing those patchwork animals roam a landscape of randomly placed stuff dotted with the plants that you sowed… dunno. Not convincing. So far animals just run around. Sometimes they eat what you throw down for them. They poop. A lot. Some try to eat you. I think I can mount some of them, later on. Meh. The city building aspect seems interesting at first, but I quickly had to accept that regardless of what you build, it’s just decorative. While the objects are nice to look at, nothing is interactable. NPCs roam around, ignoring each bench I put down. Since the landscape itself can’t be changed, either you have to plaster everything with foundations, or you have stuff like rocks and ancient walls and whatnot clip through your stuff. Doesn’t matter tho, nobody cares as long as you can reach the crafting slots. Sadly, I don’t see any point trying to make it pretty. NPCs are purely decorative right now. I had the master huntress watch me being killed right in front of her. Trice. I like their designs, but they are just so meh. Nobody really reacts. “Oh yeah you grew that giant tree over there and now there’s life blooming around it? Who cares, please bring me the missing two fibers.” Some pop up asking for stuff I have no idea about. Gold dust. Dude, I am here, gathering poop for the tree, do I look like I know how to get gold dust? I don’t even know if the townies will EVER be useful. Like, if they work the farming plots. Or gather stuff. I fear that, in the end, it will be me doing all the stuff. Ugh. [u]The Ugly[/u] Not that much, honestly. It has been mentioned before, the inventory is so insanely small for a game that has you gather so much stuff. I don’t know if you can expand it. Half of it is filled with your tools and weapons. And stuff you need to make new ones. Add some health items (you’re a kid, you’re squishy), and ta-daa, you have four slots left for gathering stuff. Chests exist, but they are not magical, and you need to remember what you put where. Having a building project far away is an odyssey, since your journal doesn’t tell you what a quest needs. And since there’s so little room in your pockets… you get the idea. Managing your stuff is one thing, interacting with the UI the other. At least to me, it’s very clear that console players were the original main target. Buttons. We have a hot bar, but putting your spear into that requires that you select it, press a button, and then the number you want it to be on. Picking it up and trying to drop it onto the quick bar will simply drop it on the ground. Believe me, I lost more spears on this than on actual fighting. Sadly, there also is little consistency regarding buttons. Sometimes, ESC closes a window, sometimes it’s E. Q and E are – like in many games – used for rotation. But when selecting the amount of stuff you want to craft, it suddenly is Q and T? Lastly: Many things take so much time. Build the farm. You get 3 farm plots. “Craft” lettuce. One lettuce costs three seeds. Takes I don’t know five minutes? Other things take ten. The tree that I have to grow to make the other tree happy enough to grow some more needs a full hour to progress. Add the fact that you die often and can’t carry much, the whole resource gathering is an exhausting and time consuming mess. [u]Summary[/u] It has potential. But it feels like it has been thrown onto the market far too early. I won’t refund it, but wait a little longer to see if things improve. For now, I would like to give a solid “Meh” vote, but since Steam doesn’t have those, it’s thumbs down. Sorry, folks, but it really needs much more cooking.