Review: Before We Leave
If you’ve ever wanted to get into some video game world building and the likes of Cities: Skylines or the Civilisation series were too complicated for you, or maybe at the other end of the gaming complexity, you found Islanders too simplistic, then Before We Leave could well be the game you are looking for.
The latest game published by Team 17 from developer Balancing Monkey Games, tasks you with rebuilding a world after a major catastrophe nearly wiped everything out, and starting with just the bare essentials to get your survivors up and running, it’s up to you to decide what to build, where to put it, and what tasks should be prioritised amongst the many things needed to keep your ever expanding population alive.
Despite such a mighty weight resting on your gaming shoulders, Before We Leave is a relaxing experience in both its visuals and its gameplay.
The small spherical world is represented with colourful and visually pleasing graphics, with a day/night cycle that draws you in further to the believability that you really are helping out tiny digital people.
The lack of enemies (except for a large one which I’ll leave it for you to discover) and warfare means that all your concentration is focused on creating the best possible (and most efficient) world that you can, all helped by an easy to understand HUD that presents information in a logical and easily accessible way.
Right from the beginning it’s easy to place huts, build roads or plant crops, with no real ‘wrong’ ways to do things, just ways that will make your progression that little bit more difficult or lengthy, which then makes keeping your citizens happy that little bit more tricky too.
Once you find what works for you as far as the placement of resources goes, then there is a little repetition involved, but never to the point where it just becomes a mechanical exercise.
As you discover more planets you’ll come across more challenges, as well as new environments to tackle, all which take advantage of the lovely graphical style in this game.
Before We leave is an engaging and not too taxing world builder that could well get you hooked on the genre before moving up to the more complicated and established titles.
Review by Dave (on Xbox).
