izigame.me

This is a game in the middle of its development. - When it first came out, it was merely a project based on a concept to have a city-builder themed with beavers. It had a bunch of buildings and systems that weren't fully thought out and needed more development. Four major updates in and it's getting somewhere, but it's still really not much more than that.
First thing to take note of is that this game is NOT actually based on how beavers live or anything like that. They're very humanized and the whole beaver-thing is more of a theme or a skin. They might as well have been humans as there's little inspiration taken from beavers, other than buildings being made of wood (though, it quickly moves on to metal, like any old city-builder) and the use of water (but then also wind, cause beavers). - Other than that, they live on land, they build on land, they eat human foods, they use human items like paths, stairs, houses, showers, books, and so on, and everything is very mechanical, to the point that they even make robots. - How much more can they resemble the human race? - I generally just don't agree with the approach or direction they've taken, but that aside for now.
As for what IS there, it has nice ideas, but not everything has been executed that well (while things can still change). Building, for example, varies from simple to tedious. Placing the main buildings is mostly simple enough, but then hooking up power (if needed) can be a whole mini-project in its own right because of the tedium of the system. Things like that could (easily) be improved, if they find and implement the right ideas. But for now, as much as people might want to think different, it's very much an unfinished project in development that needs a lot of work.
There's no real objective like a campaign or even a goal, unless you come up with one. - There just no variety in gameplay. Yes, there is a whole other faction of beavers with their own characteristics and items to play the game in a slightly different way, and you could turn up the difficulty, but that's not quite enough.
The same counts for the maps. While there are a handful of different ones, and you can get/make custom ones, the world just consists of dirt that's either saturated with water or not, depending on water, with trees and bushes. - There are no threats but drought, no other animals or anything like that you have to protect your beaver-humans from. There isn't even different weather like rain or snow/ice (though I assume that might get added).
Water is also tedious to manage, effectively because landscaping is tedious, which beavers don't dig out but blast out with TNT (cause why not).
The music is also very repetitive. It's nice, but there's just one main track, and another one during drought, which will go back and forth, and if you play it for many hours, it will get stuck in your head. - I wish their composer would just make some more or perhaps the music wouldn't play on a loop endlessly. (I'd suggest only once, when the game starts and/or when the drought ends.) - But as it stands now, I suggest players to put the music-volume at 50% or turn it off and perhaps play something low-level in the background themselves.
Because if it weren't for the music, the game would be very quiet. Yes, there are some wind-effects and you'll hear the buildings and water and such when you zoom in enough, but even at medium distance there isn't much to hear.
There is a very barebones tutorial that doesn't tell you enough and ends abruptly. - Sure, you can fairly easily find out what everything does through experimentation and by looking at the information, but I'm just saying that the tutorial is underdeveloped at this point. (Though, to be fair, the game isn't finished, so they'd have to keep changing it when anything is changed.)
Currently it just feels very experimental because of the lack of objective. - Yes, you can make your own objective by just building more and growing and surviving, but I wouldn't agree that is a good purpose. It's just trying out all the mechanics and features the game has to offer, nothing more.
It's basically an endless sandbox, which is the problem with a lot of these games that have been coming out over the last decade or so, while it used to be that they came packaged with a campaign or at least objectives to fulfill. - Though, again, that might still be in the works.
I know what you're thinking: "Why did you play it so much then?" - Well, I just like to try out new games and experiment because I'm a creative individual. But every time there is a point when I realize there is no point, no purpose, and the game has a long way to go to really have a reason to exist or be played. - This happens every time I've built most things and perhaps a few districts. It's not that it's bad, it's just rather simplistic and not nearly a full game. You just unlock and build stuff for the sake of it, not for any purpose but to fill out the maps and geek out over it. It also keeps feeling grindy, even when you have a lot of resource, and it doesn't feel rewarding or purposeful.
Bottom line for now...
If you want a more complete game from this, I would suggest to wait another year or two, or at least a bunch of updates, so that it will be a more developed product, if they actually have a goal that is. - I'm just being honest and suggest you only play this game today (in 2023) if you, once again, want to be a play-tester and follow a game's development.
And while I initially decided to not jump on this game for this very reason (jumping in during Early Access), I couldn't help myself when I found a good deal, and now I kind of regret ending up a tester again, even though I don't mind helping out. - That said, it's probably the way to go for these developers, as it's of course helpful when a product is actually out there being tested.
It is technically sound, however, and it even runs on Linux unofficially, without stutters or crashes, which is commendable.