A deep, ambitious strategy game with some big problems - TFM: The First Men Quick First Impressions

TFM: The First Men is a strategy simulator enriched with character-driven base building, party exploration, and tactical real-time combat. It offers strategy gameplay and immersive civilization-building mechanics that are equally complex and entertaining. However, these elements alone are not enough to outshine some brutal flaws.

THE STORY

The First Men is inspired by the story of Adam and Eve. However, instead of the biblical narrative of two humans created and dropped into an idyllic garden, I had to choose one of three campaigns that explore alternate storylines across different worlds. Whichever campaign I chose, I needed to achieve either one of two objectives: escaping that world through a waygate or boat, or settling down, populating the place, and slowly establishing an empire.

TIME PLAYED

I played The First Men for five hours. Although I didn’t manage to complete a full campaign, I spent nearly two hours learning the game’s fundamentals before I actually had any fun.

PLATFORMS

TFM: The First Men is currently only available on PC via Steam in early access form. The only small issue I encountered was a gameplay bug where some characters would occasionally get stuck in between structures or other villagers, which led me to forcefully destroy buildings, so they’d be freed.

WHAT’S AWESOME

• Civilization building. I struggled to understand The First Men’s core mechanics, but once I got the hang of the fundamentals, I found myself having a lot of fun building structures, populating my village, and exploring areas around my settlement. I particularly enjoyed The First Men’s strategy gameplay, where I could teach my villagers different life paths. They could learn to be gatherers, artisans, hunters, and many more specializations. Spending path points to purchase those upgrades also allowed my villagers to learn how to build unique structures, catch different prey, or gain passive buffs. The variety of different routes to progress my civilization down made for an engaging experience, especially compared to everything else the game has going on.

WHAT SUCKS

• Tutorial. One of the most frustrating issues with TFM: The First Men is its tutorial. I was taught the basics and given access to a simple manual accessible via menus. However, neither of these sources did a good job of fully explaining many of the game’s more important elements, like how my villagers could learn and create more structures, where I could acquire quests and even the distinction between status effects and paths. I spent nearly two hours playing The First Men, figuring out most of the mechanics on my own and forcing myself through painstaking, boring gameplay because I didn’t have enough guidance to understand the game properly.

• Aesthetic. Call this nitpicking if you must, but I didn’t particularly like The First Men’s visual design and aesthetic. Most of the characters looked bland and the visuals on the whole come across as unpolished. If the game was free-to-play or made ten years ago, I might have felt differently. Considering that it’s a 2022 release and costs $24.99, I was disappointed.

• Pacing. It’s no surprise that civilization builders and strategy sims require patience, but TFM: The First Men’s sluggish progression makes gameplay feel a bit torturous to journey through, even with the option to accelerate time. I found myself wandering off from the game but leaving my computer running, because it’d take too long to build a structure or defeat an enemy. I desperately wanted to be immersed, but the excruciating slowness drained my excitement before The First Men could gain my interest.

SHOULD YOU PLAY IT?

No. Unless you live and breathe strategy games and civilization sims, The First Men will probably disappoint you in the same way it did for me. It’s only just entered early access, and developer Gathering Tree says it intends to be in early access for at least two years, so maybe it’s worth checking back in later and seeing how things have progressed. For now, though, the game has subpar visuals, excruciatingly slow pacing, and a steep learning curve. And even with intriguing and complex strategy gameplay and civilization building elements, a lot of work needs to be done to make The First Men slightly more enjoyable.

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