The Tribe Must Survive has just launched on Steam. In this construction survival game, you accompany a prehistoric tribe through the darkness. MeinMMO editor Benedict Grothaus, who considers himself an experienced survival expert, tried it out – and failed immediately.
The Tribe Must Survive is exactly the kind of game that the entire editorial team always says: “Yeah, this is something for Benedict.” Survival, construction, from a German indie studio, it doesn’t look like a worldwide success but rather like a cool gem. And that’s exactly what it is, and I’ve been playing it since release… with mixed feelings.
Actually, the game really doesn’t look like it could break me. But that’s exactly what it’s doing at the moment. In the new survival game, I must protect my tribe from the darkness.
All I need is to keep a fire burning while I slowly build the village, gather new resources, and provide my residents with everything they need. No problem, I’ve been doing this successfully in Against the Storm for hundreds of hours.
Of course, every survival and construction game has its own little tricks, but as a veteran, you generally know what to do. That’s why I play all the tutorials at least once, even if just in fast-forward. But I couldn’t get through the one from The Tribe Must Survive.
One mistake and it’s over
To be clear: The Tribe Must Survive is brutal. Yes, it looks a bit like horror, but not more than Don’t Starve or similar games. A little darkness, glowing red eyes, and shadow tentacles here and there.
But The Tribe Must Survive really punishes even the smallest mistake. At the end of the tutorial, I was supposed to somehow build two tents. They cost wood. I had that, so I built – right before nightfall.
Result:
- Wood gone, fire goes out.
- No one works outside the light circle, no new wood comes in.
- In just 5 seconds of complete darkness, all my villagers were swallowed by the shadows.
- Tutorial failed.
This is really awful and I rarely experience this in other survival games, usually there is some form of grace period. And it gets even tougher: In the next attempt, I built the tents, this time with enough wood as a reserve. And most importantly: lumberjack camps in the firelight.
The Tribe Must Survive rewards courage, so I thought: They can just keep chopping wood at night and collect in the light. But everyone was so exhausted that they went to sleep immediately. Result: Wood gone, fire out, all dead.
Ambition triumphs over disasters and curses
On my third attempt, I understood the game well enough to actually progress. The Tribe Must Survive has “acts” with a certain number of days. At the end of each act, there is a kind of natural disaster:
- First a solar eclipse, which logically requires a lot of wood for the fire.
- Then a flooding, where the flooded areas are just as dangerous as complete darkness.
- Then a locust plague, which destroys stored food proportionally.
With each attempt, I progressed a bit further and discovered cool new mechanics that I know from Frostpunk and similar games. My people form groups with certain philosophies, worshiping different gods grants blessings, and through research, I get bonuses.
Ultimately, even expansion is extremely important. Adjacent areas must be explored and then conquered, almost like in Manor Lords. Only there are further materials such as special medicine for rituals, artifacts, or ores. Additionally, there are always decisions that can bring temporary bonuses but also long-term consequences.
It’s really fun to keep progressing in The Tribe Must Survive and discover what else is out there. Even if every mistake means the end: Next time, you’ll know better and get further. However, there’s a catch.
Too little roguelite for such harsh penalties
The game is designed for repeated starts. Actually no problem, “Against the Storm” does it that way too. But in The Tribe Must Survive, there isn’t really a meta-progression.
For survival, you earn experience points and a meta-level, which unlocks a few new blessings or other bonuses, later also higher difficulties. But compared to “Against the Storm” with an entire research tree of upgrades, this is quite little.
Moreover, the start is quite slow every time. If the forest in the randomly generated map isn’t well located, it’s hard to reliably get wood – the most important resource for almost everything. Also, there simply seems to be a lack of a detailed ending.
There aren’t really many buildings, nor are there complex production chains. It is, after all, the Stone Age. However, many players also say in the reviews: The end game still feels incomplete.
I’m still not far enough to fully evaluate this and can imagine that there are still hidden advancements I need to unlock. Until then… I’m trying not to fail the tutorial again and finally make progress. However, The Tribe Must Survive will soon face some very exciting competition: A new survival game looks increasingly like a “pretty Valheim,” offering more features
