Dawn of Man

Review

It has been quite a journey for mankind to get where we are now in the year 2019. We have so many commodities that we can access at our finger tips whenever we need it.  We travel from one continent to another via boats or planes, and to be honest with you, we take it for granted. That wasn’t the case 12,000 years ago when our ancestors had to do whatever it took to build settlements and, of course, survive, struggling with everything that Mother Nature would throw at them. I invite you to experience first hand what is was like in the beginning, in Dawn of Man!

Dawn of Man is a city building/strategy/survival game developed and published by Madruga Works on Steam on the 1^st of March 2019. They are the same developers who brought you the fantastic game, Planetbase in 2015.

The game consists of two modes of play: free play and challenges (a few scenarios). I strongly recommend going through the tutorial before starting a new game.

In the free mode, there are three different maps to select from, but only two will be available to you on your first attempt. You will need to unlock the third map by achieving 10 milestones throughout your previous gameplays.  After selecting the map and choosing where your settlement will be based, it will be all up to you to help the first seven people in existence to survive and thrive on our beautiful planet.  The first thing you might need to do is to zoom out and study the humungous map you are in, and stop where you find resources such as flint and stones. There is quite a large quantity of trees, but you’ll have to start by collecting sticks first, as it will be impossible to cut a tree with your bare hands. The other important point is to spot where the different herds of animals are located within the map; it might be an idea to avoid any sort of confrontation with lions or mammoths in the early days.

From here it will be all about gathering resources to create weapons, clothes and food, as well as building your settlement throughout seasons and years, from the Paleolithic Era to the Iron Age. Each era has a certain number of techs to unlock to move on to the next era, with new buildings and items to create. For this you’ll need knowledge points, which you’ll receive by achieving certain outcomes, such as killings or specific numbers of a type of animal, creating tools, constructing buildings and even surviving throughout each winter.

The gameplay is very easy once you the get the hang of it. If you want to fish, move your cursor on the bank of a river or lake; wait for the yellow square to appear, then click on the fish icon and your jolly fellow will start fishing. Of course, you will need the tools of the day to do so.  Clicking on objects, resources or animals is pretty much how you decide what your people might do, including hunting, fruit-collecting and stone-gathering.

You will find yourself constantly moving the speed of the game; otherwise it would take ages to get anything done. I only decreased the game speed for hunting or catching animals, because I kept missing the animal, as it would speed from one side of the map to the next. The game will automatically go back to the normal speed when an unexpected event occurs. It might be a storm, or perhaps being attacked by raiders or scary animals, such as the mammoths. So make sure you keep producing spears, bows and other weapons to protect yourself.

Every so often, a trader will drop by your settlement to exchange goods that you might need or want to get rid of.

You can open tabs at the top of your screen to see all the management of goods in your settlement, as well as how happy your people are. Always have plenty of food, and be sure to erect megalith structures to satisfy your people’s need for spirituality.

Great graphics – I really enjoyed the camera focus, which I used every time a mammoth or other animal passed by. The interface is easy to use and it is simple to build structures or craft items. I must say that I had a lot of fun playing this game, even though I find the AI a bit strange at times.