Nearly 4 years into early access, Timberborn makers say they’ll take ‘as much time as we need’

You may have heard of Timberborn, the beaver-themed city builder that was launched in Early Access in September 2021. That’s because it’s sold over 1 million copies already, and has a fan base dedicated to the wholesome, multifaceted game. Despite its success, developer-publisher Mechanistry hasn’t announced plans to release the 1.0 version nearly four years after it launched to the public.

I’ve only logged (sorry) a few hours in Timberborn so far, but it’s fair to say I’m charmed by the cute beaver citizens and their innate productivity and efficiency. As communications manager Michal Amielanczyk told Polygon on a video call, the species’ behaviors lend naturally to the cadence of a sandbox game — beavers build, prepare for winter, live in commune with one another, grind their teeth to sharpen them. In update 7, out May 8, Mechanistry added to the repertoire of construction options like farms and fire pits with long-distance transportation options: ziplines and “tubeways.”

“Especially after update 6 and update 7, the number of people telling us that in their opinion the game is ready for 1.0 — that’s skyrocketed,” Amielanczyk said. “But honestly, we are going to take as much time as we need to make the game worthy of that 1.0 label.”

I told Amielanczyk and game designer Adrian Bociek that the game felt complete to me. It’s a city builder as complex as any other, and it’s filled with wacky features devised by the dev team and the dedicated fans who hang out on Timberborn’s Reddit and Discord server.

“It’s a formula that allows us to test out some ideas with the community and iterate upon the reactions that they will have to that,” Bociek said. “Because sometimes people use tools that we give them in ways that surprise even us, and we just make that an even stronger part of the feature.”

In this sense, Bociek and team use Early Access like a tool, and a mutually beneficial one at that. They get more time and bandwidth to work on perfecting the game, and players get more features they enjoy or want.

“It’s not like we are still in the Early Access because we are not able to make the game playable,” Amielanczyk said. “There’s just our desire to make it as good as possible and ensure that the ‘Overwhelmingly Positive’ rating that you mentioned stays right there when the game releases into 1.0.”

I asked Amielanczyk if the team planned to move on after Timberborn’s full launch, whenever it happens. He told me it’s too early to talk about it.

“Timberborn is our first and only game at this point, and that’s probably one of the reasons we are being so cautious,” he said. “I don’t we’ll be ever ready for 1.0 in a true sense. It will have that mystery feel to us until it eventually happens.”