Before We Leave Review - LadiesGamers

Before We Leave is a new city-builder from Balancing Monkey Games that has recently released on Steam. It focuses on a non-violent approach to society building where you help your people rediscover what was lost and nurture your reborn civilisation on planets and even in deep space.

before we leave LadiesGamers — Welcome to your new world peeps.

Welcome Peeps

Set in space, in the middle of the universe after crawling out of a fallout bunker that has kept them safe for generations after a galactic calamity, it’s your job to help your little wooden peeps (yep, that is their actual name in the game) to learn to rebuild a thriving society from scratch.

Start from Scratch

The land you’re greeted by is covered in remnants of the old world which can either be repaired and reused or stripped down for parts. You can build primitive buildings such as huts, potato fields, wells, woodcutters and have limited access to technologies.

Construct buildings that will help you explore new technologies, such as an explorers hut and a library. There is a good skill tree with decent progression and the game is built in such a way that you cannot open all the technologies from the starting point.

Research Technology

Once you build an explorers hut the explorer can be used to find, investigate and gather ancient technologies. When the tech is collected your librarians can carry out research into how the Peeps who came before managed to survive on the surface.

From new food options, including tea to bump up your Peeps’ happiness, to new ways of harvesting raw materials such as metals, the continued existence and prosperity of your peeps relies heavily on this research and development mechanic of the game. The technology tree is the game’s only real method of progression mostly because it is the only concrete goal that you are given other than to expand around the globe.

Care of the environment

While Before We Leave may have a non-violent approach, there are still things you need to watch out for. As pollution is a real concern in developing your cities. Building houses by production tiles will make Peeps unhappy, but situating them by forests has a huge positive impact on their mood.

Keeping your Peeps happy is essential as their work productivity is hindered if they are unhappy. They will take twice as long to do any work and move about slower than when they are happy. Though the game is peaceful and more about exploration with no combat you can, however, perish at the flippers of vast planet-gobbling space whales that graze on your worlds and threaten your civilization. Watch out for the whales!

Hex Based Map

Before We Leave has a hex-based map, much the same as Civilization has. When you’re building, everything that is constructed in the game must be facing a road. Roads take up an entire tile to themselves. I found this hindered the construction of my colony. There were several times where I have had to remove a building or road and get creative with the layout. I expect this feature was added to add some strategy to city planning but it does get frustrating.

Exploration, expansion and exploitation of resources are the basic core mechanics around which Peep’s cultural development revolves. Once you have set out your base-starting settlement with a few huts, wells and potato farms, it is time to see what else lies beyond the island. Build a colony ship and set sail to colonise other islands and discover new technologies.

New Frontier

A spaceship can be found on a colonised island, once repaired it will blast off into space to discover new planets to populate with Peeps. This is the part of the game I enjoy most, discovering new planets. However, the choice of planets is limited. With a future update to the game, I’d like to see more planets added and a few more different environments of the islands. As they are now you can find a sandy dry environment, a snowy cold environment and a lush green environment, so the choice is a little limited.

Visuals and Controls

Before We Leave has a lovely soundtrack to accompany your building, it changes depending on the island environment you are on. The hustle and bustle of your Peeps can be heard while they go about their daily routine, sound effects are spot-on.

The game is controlled either by mouse or game controller and both work very well. I like how the game looks, bright and vibrant in places. With its little wooden peeps with no legs wobbling about the colony, I could watch them for hours.

Conclusion

The non-violent aspects of Before We Leave won’t suit every strategy fan, especially those who enjoy a good war strategy. For those that enjoy exploration and resource management mixed with some strategic thinking, Before We Leave fits the bill!

At the moment Before We Leave is a decent strategy game. With future updates to the game and the possibility for more exploring and juggling resources, this is one for strategists to keep an eye on.

Final Verdict: I Like It A Lot