A code was provided, and many thanks to Jaleo.
Border Town: A Promising Challenger Enters the Scene
There’s no shortage of games in the sandbox adventure genre featuring survival elements, farming, and combat. Border Town is a new Early Access title entering the fray, hoping to make its own mark in this highly competitive space. At first glance, it presents simple but charming visuals and gameplay mechanics typical of the genre. However, after diving in, I was pleasantly surprised by how refined and engaging the experience felt. Despite its familiar elements, Border Town offers an open-world adventure that feels both welcoming to newcomers and rewarding for experienced players alike.
Restoring the Town
As expected in games like this, Border Town begins with character creation. You can choose your gender, hairstyle, facial hair, and even add small details like scars. Since there isn’t enough senior representation in gaming, I decided to create an old man character for my playthrough.
The game starts with your character unconscious in the wilderness. You are soon rescued by an elderly villager who drags you back to the ruins of Border Town, a once-prosperous settlement now devastated by an orc invasion. Despite suffering from video games’ most common ailment, amnesia, you are the beacon of hope that might restore the town to its former glory.
It’s a simple, to-the-point premise, and while not the most original narrative, it quickly throws you into gameplay without unnecessary delays.
A Guided Start with Room for Freedom
What immediately stood out to me was how smoothly Border Town introduces its many mechanics. As a sandbox game, it offers a vast range of features, including farming, crafting, exploration, and combat, but instead of overwhelming the player, it introduces them step by step through a structured, objective system.
These objectives serve as a tutorial but are clear and concise, ensuring that even those new to the genre can grasp the mechanics without feeling lost. For experienced players, they can be breezed through quickly.
After a few hours of play, the game’s main goal becomes clearer: rebuilding Border Town. To achieve this, you must craft a new goddess statue, restore houses from the ruins, or construct new ones from scratch. Usually, I find crafting and placing walls tedious, but Border Town makes the process simple and intuitive. Once a house is complete, a gleam of light indicates that it’s ready for someone to move in.
As villagers return, you can assign them tasks, automating activities you might not enjoy. Not a fan of farming? Have the villagers do it for you. Need an extra hand for an adventure? Bring a villager along. The game allows you to balance structured objectives with complete freedom, making it as guided or open-ended as you prefer.
Farming and Survival Mechanics
Farming in Border Town follows the traditional process seen in many games: till the soil, plant seeds, water them, and wait for harvest time. Once your crops are ready, you have a few choices: Sell them in town to earn money. Cook them to keep your hunger meter filled, or use them for further crafting.
Beyond hunger, you also have a stamina meter that depletes over time. If it runs out, you won’t be able to use tools or even run, forcing you to rest in a comfy bed.
As you progress, farming expands to include raising animals, with the added bonus of using some as mounts for faster travel.
Crafting: Essential for Progress
Crafting is essential in Border Town. It allows you to create tools, weapons, furniture, and even entire buildings.
Basic tools can be crafted on the fly through your inventory using materials gathered in the environment. However, more advanced items require workbenches or furnaces. Blueprints for new items are frequently unlocked through objectives or purchased from vendors.
The crafting system follows the familiar survival game formula: gather materials, refine them, and use them to create increasingly powerful equipment. The extensive variety of items makes crafting a constant and rewarding part of gameplay.
Adventuring and Combat
While you can stay in town, Border Town offers plenty of opportunities for exploration. Venturing out quickly introduces you to wild creatures such as blobs, wolves, and even huntable animals that flee when attacked.
Combat is simple, consisting of basic melee swipes and ranged attacks. While melee combat is straightforward, ranged weapons like bows require crafted arrows, adding an extra layer of resource management.
Exploration rewards players with treasure, materials, and new locations. The world is dotted with warp points, allowing for fast travel, useful when needing to return to safety.
For those who prefer a structured adventure, the Adventurer’s Guild provides quests and objectives.
Charming Chibi Aesthetic
Border Town uses simple but effective 2D sprites with a charming chibi art style. It’s bright, colourful, and family-friendly, making it appealing to players of all ages.
Despite combat being present, there’s no blood or gore; defeated enemies simply disappear in a puff of smoke, and hunted animals vanish into crafting materials.
Though the art style is minimalist, the game makes good use of its assets. Towns feel lively, with NPCs walking around and following daily routines, such as heading home to sleep at night. These small details help the world feel more immersive.
Final Thoughts: A Promising Start
The best part of Border Town for me was the freedom to explore and play at my own pace. The game offers a mix of familiar genre mechanics, but everything feels well-implemented and polished.
That said, there are a few drawbacks: Tools degrade quickly, which can be frustrating. The game is currently single-player only, though it feels like a natural fit for co-op.
Of course, since this is an Early Access title, the game is still a work in progress. The developers have already outlined a roadmap on their Steam page, showing their commitment to expanding the game.
Border Town doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it refines the genre’s best elements into an enjoyable and accessible experience. Whether you want to farm, build, fight, or explore, the game lets you carve out your own adventure. With continued development, it could become a standout title in the sandbox genre.
If you enjoy survival sandbox games, Border Town has the potential to become your next big-time sink. Plus, it’s Steam Deck compatible, making it easy to play on the go. Consider purchasing it or adding it to your wishlist to support the developers.
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