izigame.me

So this game can trace its roots back to Little Computer People which came out all the way back in 1987. I used to play it on an Atari 8 bit computer.. Yes, I'm old, get off my lawn.
That being said though, Sapiens is in the same category of many games which can trace their DNA back to LCP. (Like Sims) What makes Sapiens different though is you control a village, and sometimes you don't have control. If you're imaginative enough, you'll come up with narratives for your villagers. They're born, they grow up, they get old, and they die. Some villagers you love, they don't get injured, they do what you expect of them. Other villagers are walking accidents, and you're actually pretty happy when they die.
It's that emotional attachment that makes this game good, and why I've binged it the last few days. Let me tell you of Sona...
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Sona was a bright, intelligent boy. Always helpful. He took on one of the more dangerous of childhood tasks, firemaking and ceramics, working with a hot fire. As Sona grew, there was no role he couldn't learn in record time. To his credit, he learned how to expertly do most tasks, but spear hunting was definitely his favorite. After Mammoth's began harassing the village, Sona used his tool making expertise along with the other villagers to create an arsenal of spears. After the village had 40 or so spears, Sona lead the attacks, beating the Mammoth's back until they harassed the village no longer. While Mammoth's do occasionally come through, they now know the village as a place of death, and mostly steer clear.
Sona had a postive outlook. If a villager was a pessimist, spending a few nights talking to Sona in his hut would clear their heads. Sona turned into an ear for the entire village. As with all life though, Sona got older, and slower. Even though he wanted to continue spear hunting, building, and mining, it was time for him to slow down and take a wife. At 64 Sona took Sema (42) as a wife, and they had a girl named Losi.
As they raised Losi, Sona continued to push the advancement of the village. Mining brought with it clay bricks, and soon thatch huts gave way to brick and tile. Sona, Sema, and Losi moved into the first brick house complete with indoor storage, private campfire, and a private workbench.
Sona's last gift to the village was cracking the code for medicine. For too long virus's had made the villagers sick, but thanks to Sona's mining, we had farm rows setup of all medicinal herbs and flowers. In addition Sona had the insight that "The Great House" where the entire village once slept passed the virus between villagers. It was Sona's quick building of thatch huts for each family that quickly stopped the spread.
When Sona died, the village honored him by turning his house into a shrine. Echinacea, marigolds, and all manners of beautiful plants were layed about his house. Sema and Losi had moved out, and the house was never again used as a dwelling. It was felt Sona's influence to the village had been too great, and he had to be honored for all time.
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See what I did above? That's the kind of stuff that runs through my head as I play Sapiens. It's what makes the game great. From the little I've read this is a single guy that authored this. Spent years developing this engine.
OK but now for some actual criticism.
The game is chock full of micromanagement. Micromanagement is OK in a fast RTS game like Starcraft, but in a game like Sapiens, I just feel it's out of place. One of the examples brought up is "My guy starved to death while he was sleeping next to food!"
I've been close to having this happen. A sick person will just lay down, and not eat. They'll be on the verge of starving, and you have to tell them to "Move" and make them get up, and go stand next to the food. Then they eat it. I just don't see how this is needed.

Final bits
I think a lot of what I'm looking for too is waiting for more to be fleshed out in the game. One of the interesting things about Paleontology I heard was a professor was asked, "What in the fossil record tells you when humanity had civilization?" The professor answered "A broken and healed Femur" saying that there was no way humans could survive this type of injury alone. They wouldn't be able to walk, hunt, or even use the bathroom without help. If Sapiens is supposed to be a mirror of early civilization, shouldn't there be some sort of "Nursing" role?
Taking this a step further, and from what's currently in the UI, I think there will be a point where skills and traits of children are passed down from parents. I also think Villagers will influence each other. (For example, one village might farm, another might do ceramics, another might mine, and another might hunt proficiently, and these traits are passed not just to children, but to fellow residents of a village)
There are many little things like that in the game that sort of make it feel unfinished. Despite being very Alpha, this game has good bones. Is it worth $22? (It's what I paid on sale)... I think so. I think when the game goes from version .38 to version 1.0 it's a $60 game. Likely more people would try it if it was cheaper, but it's still fun at $22.