Dawn of Man

 PC
User Score
7.4

Mixed or average reviews- based on 90 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 54 out of 90
  2. Mixed: 24 out of 90
  3. Negative: 12 out of 90

Review this game

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
    • 10
    • 9
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 5
    • 4
    • 3
    • 2
    • 1
    • 0
    • 0
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
view
per page
  1. Diamondgirl
    Mar 4, 2019
    9
    Engaging village simulation with pleasant noncartoony art and a novel setting. More like 'Dawn of Northern Europe,' so don't expect to sack Mesopotamia in chariots, but with satisfying gameplay and a promise for more content to come, I can unhesitatingly recommend this to sim fans.
  2. RustyJames
    Mar 3, 2019
    8
    Not bad survival city-building strategy overall. Non-trivia time period, good in details. Decent graphics and music. Balance is OK after some hours of gaming.
    Good price and great potential.
    8/10
  3. danskmacabre
    Mar 3, 2019
    9
    An engaging City builder set from the Paleolithic period to the end of the Iron Age.
    It's a relaxing game to play. You're not in a BIG rush to get things done, but it IS engaging and somewhat challenging at times.
    Graphically quite pretty, certainly good enough for the price and size of the studio who made it. It's a sort of game with lots of re-playability, which is good, as I can    An engaging City builder set from the Paleolithic period to the end of the Iron Age.
    It's a relaxing game to play. You're not in a BIG rush to get things done, but it IS engaging and somewhat challenging at times.

    Graphically quite pretty, certainly good enough for the price and size of the studio who made it.

    It's a sort of game with lots of re-playability, which is good, as I can see myself "finishing" this game, meaning reaching the end of the Iron Age within several hours.
    However it has several "Challenges" and different areas that have varying levels of difficulty.

    A great game and certainly worth the price they're asking (About $30 AUD).

    The studio is saying they intend to add more content as the game progresses too, so I'm looking forward to that and definitely DO listen to the community.    … Expand
  4. vaurne
    Dec 24, 2020
    7
    A survival city-building game in a novel setting that hasn't been properly explored yet. I believe this to be the best of it's genre, mostly due to it's aesthetic and how well it delivers it's approach.

    The progress in this game is intuitive, the mechanics are unexpectedly interesting, the art style and the world fit beautifully, and the gameplay is ultimately intriguing. I think this    A survival city-building game in a novel setting that hasn't been properly explored yet. I believe this to be the best of it's genre, mostly due to it's aesthetic and how well it delivers it's approach.

    The progress in this game is intuitive, the mechanics are unexpectedly interesting, the art style and the world fit beautifully, and the gameplay is ultimately intriguing. I think this is exceptionally wonderful for nature and animal lovers, as this hits all the good spots, with all the animal and landscape designs done perfectly. It focuses on exactly what it needs to and provides a very relaxed gaming experience where you enter another world.

    I rate it this low due to the lack of storyline, purpose or narration. It leaves a hole in the experience that is necessary for me, though most if not all the games in this genre do the same.    … Expand
  5. boredboredbored
    Aug 2, 2019
    7
    I love the stone age. I've been to the museum more times than I can count, and I always spend hours at the stone age exhibits. I reckon Farcry: Primal is the best FPS in the world. In other words: I really wanted to love this game. Now don't get me wrong, it's fun and great way to burn 10 hours or so, but without some serious expansion and ironing out of issues, it's not a fantastic game.I love the stone age. I've been to the museum more times than I can count, and I always spend hours at the stone age exhibits. I reckon Farcry: Primal is the best FPS in the world. In other words: I really wanted to love this game. Now don't get me wrong, it's fun and great way to burn 10 hours or so, but without some serious expansion and ironing out of issues, it's not a fantastic game.

    There's no strategy for combat, it's just a blind rush of all your guys against all their guys. Building structure is infuriating as the terrain must be perfectly flat and it almost never is. Tribesmen always decided to go on marathon-long hunts in midwinter and end up dead unless you corral them like errant sheep. There's serious balance issues with domesticated animals and straw production. The camera controls are annoying and you can never get a good angle on anything. And there are UI issues with getting information on your settlement and the surrounding land.

    That said, if you're as keen on the stone age and ancient man as me, definitely get this game. If not...well...maybe wait for a Steam sale.    … Expand
  6. Fantuska
    Mar 22, 2019
    8
    After 22 hours.
    I'm kind of disappointed. It should be survival game but i don't see how I can die. After very nice tutorial I already knew everything I need to know to go through game. There vere no suprice or challange what so ever.
    If I compare it with Forrest Village where I died three times before I finaly find out how to survive and succesfully develop village. Dawn of Men become    After 22 hours.
    I'm kind of disappointed. It should be survival game but i don't see how I can die. After very nice tutorial I already knew everything I need to know to go through game. There vere no suprice or challange what so ever.
    If I compare it with Forrest Village where I died three times before I finaly find out how to survive and succesfully develop village. Dawn of Men become boring very fast.
    On the other hand manging of works is well made, graphic is nice, loading time is very short and i didn't meet any bug.

    Edit:
    I just rise up rating.
    Big issue with lack of content is solved by using workshop. I prefer different approach but it could works. Also these contents can be made with bigger difficulty.    … Expand
  7. Daermon
    Mar 11, 2019
    8
    Chill and cool feeling, whit good management & gamplay, i like :)
    This is one of the best survival-rts.
  8. Vanchoppe
    Mar 24, 2019
    9
    This game just suddenly feels right. Starting with a bunch of prehistoric guys and two huts you step by step discover new technologies and keep vigilant to maintain some balance in time-management and resources. It is some kind of a mix of The Settlers (ah, I do miss the times) and Civilization, but with a more dynamic world. There are some downsides too, of course:
    1) Having some    This game just suddenly feels right. Starting with a bunch of prehistoric guys and two huts you step by step discover new technologies and keep vigilant to maintain some balance in time-management and resources. It is some kind of a mix of The Settlers (ah, I do miss the times) and Civilization, but with a more dynamic world. There are some downsides too, of course:
    1) Having some experience in RTS games I wish I had more possibilities for micromanagement. Not only setting some building production to high priority, but to order the concrete guy to work in a concrete building. It was often frustrating when I'm low on food after winter and they leave half of the grain on the fields during the fall.
    2) After discovering all of the possible technologies the game kind of lacks a goal. All you can do is keep watch so u still have food and tools. The scenarios are not quite interesting to my taste.
    Still, in overall, I really did enjoy Dawn of Man and strongly recommend it.    … Expand
  9. Rrichard
    Mar 1, 2019
    10
    Absolutely outstanding. If you're a fan of Civilization, you'll love this. Gets the level of detail and challenge just right. Very intuitive, minimal micromanagement, no bugs. Best new strategy game since Frostpunk. Well done to the creator.
  10. Arod_
    Apr 13, 2019
    2
    The game offers very little variety, no real events and it is full of bugs still
    For example, your villagers die of thirst or hunger and you have plenty of food or water in your storage and even very close to them.
    In case of attack, some people wait first and then take up arms. You have almost non control in one of most critical points of game: combat You also have almost no control if    The game offers very little variety, no real events and it is full of bugs still
    For example, your villagers die of thirst or hunger and you have plenty of food or water in your storage and even very close to them.
    In case of attack, some people wait first and then take up arms. You have almost non control in one of most critical points of game: combat
    You also have almost no control if villager or house animals get sick.

    Game is basically based on collecting the food and surviving the winter.
    Amount of crops harvested and food collected is based fully semi-working AI.

    Everything is done basically automatically you can just adjust proportions of work time spent on each task and this is not working always very well.

    Basically, you play just one longish stage, after that everything else s quite boring and repetitive. No real playing value after you got first level 10 milestones.

    This is so far my worst 20,99 spent in Steam store.    … Expand
  11. kaanelif
    Mar 1, 2019
    9
    •Awesome potential.
    •Best price for a new game.
    Game offers discovery and survival. If you like tycoons, survival, city building games etc. Dawn of Man suits you!
    Starting with nothing except tents and little knowledge. After two hours, you just did small things. Game offers you long hours to have fun.
  12. MetaCthulhu
    Apr 5, 2019
    10
    Very intriguing game about prehistory that is keeping me engaged for more than 20 hours now. For that price an awesome buy. Check it out!
  13. Shadow1234
    Mar 7, 2019
    3
    I had my doubts about this game from the get go. However after seeing all the positive reviews on various websites I thought why not I'll bite. Boy was I wrong!

    This game seems to be in Alpha in my opinion and is very boring all you do is literally hit speed x8 and watch. Occasionally throwing down a new building when your tech level reaches said building. It is also an extremely    I had my doubts about this game from the get go. However after seeing all the positive reviews on various websites I thought why not I'll bite. Boy was I wrong!

    This game seems to be in Alpha in my opinion and is very boring all you do is literally hit speed x8 and watch. Occasionally throwing down a new building when your tech level reaches said building.

    It is also an extremely short game with an actual achievement to finish the tech tree in 5 hours or less, and doing that is basically beating the game. Of course you still watch and build more but there is nothing else to unlock.

    I got a refund on this one. Wait for a deep sale and then it would be worth the purchase for the shallow content.    … Expand
  14. jaipersaga
    Mar 6, 2019
    1
    I give this game a One because of dishonesty at the core of this release although the game is barely engageable. Do not trust the rave reviews and watch the repetitive comments change with real inconsistency. Actual factual players find themselves confused at reading about successful mechanical cycles and encountering a laundry list of psychographic fails.

    No psychographic profile    I give this game a One because of dishonesty at the core of this release although the game is barely engageable. Do not trust the rave reviews and watch the repetitive comments change with real inconsistency. Actual factual players find themselves confused at reading about successful mechanical cycles and encountering a laundry list of psychographic fails.

    No psychographic profile exists for this release as every sales portal has only a few bad reviews and mostly saturated with flaming fandom. The game is claimed to be out of BETA. This game is still not adequately designed and thus should not be out of the ALPHA phase of development. The audience feels like the same person over and over doing separate different reviews to try and keep the positive vibe going for the first MAU month. For anyone unfamiliar with the acronym it stands for Monthly Active Users. Eleven positively misrepresented "Timmy" reviews and one brutally honest "Spike" review equals an astounding "Astroturf" game release.

    Lets recap:
    The game is released not entirely designed.
    No quality level of critical thinking is in the reviews.
    The community is spamming the hell out of the steam portal but not the discord one.
    The focus of this release is on obtaining initial DAU and MAU numbers. (Daily Active Users)    … Expand
  15. cableguy3333
    Apr 30, 2019
    2
    This game is so boring, it offers no challenge and you will be bored before you get to the end, trying to find certain animals that you own can be extremely hard to impossible sometimes. Combat is probably the worst I have ever seen in this type of game, just click on the alarm and that's it. If you want a base builder/survivor game with a challenge then go buy Rimworld
  16. BlackWidow
    May 19, 2020
    7
    I had this on my steam wish list for a long time, and grabbed it when the price dropped a bit. Been playing it for several days now. I'm not a huge fan of city builders, but this is a pretty good game, and it has more than just building structures. It's a fight for survival from the Paleolithic to the Iron Age. One great thing about the game, is the DEVS (Madruga Works) are listening toI had this on my steam wish list for a long time, and grabbed it when the price dropped a bit. Been playing it for several days now. I'm not a huge fan of city builders, but this is a pretty good game, and it has more than just building structures. It's a fight for survival from the Paleolithic to the Iron Age. One great thing about the game, is the DEVS (Madruga Works) are listening to fan suggestions and releasing patches every several months too add more features and content. My own personal suggestion would be to add a day/night cycle. It's a little weird having it light out all the time. Takes away realism. Other than that, I think the game is very solid. I give it a 7.… Expand
  17. nibblo
    Aug 19, 2020
    8
    This is way better than the user score indicates, not sure why people have scored it so low as it's a very good game. Basically like the old Rome city games but set in the Neolithic - Iron age period through a series of progressions.
    The AI is good, the graphics are very good and there is a brilliant weather system. I would put it just below the Rome games (which I would rate a 9) because    This is way better than the user score indicates, not sure why people have scored it so low as it's a very good game. Basically like the old Rome city games but set in the Neolithic - Iron age period through a series of progressions.
    The AI is good, the graphics are very good and there is a brilliant weather system. I would put it just below the Rome games (which I would rate a 9) because there is no trade system but it nearly makes up for it with the hunting/domestic animal system. If you like city building games in a new environment you can't go better than this.    … Expand
  18. Kezblez
    Jul 26, 2019
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Could have been a great game, and in some aspects it was there. The graphics were good and the concept was awesome however I feel that they dropped the ball in some regards in the delivery, especially in being true to anthropology. This is what I thought let the game down. There was no difference in the tasks that men and women performed. Women were hunters, and men were gatherers in equal measure. This is not how it happened. Men were the hunters and women, old people and children were the gatherers. In some cultures like the Scythian's women would take up arms when their men were away raiding, but that was the only recorded instance of this in prehistory. It really ruined the realism of the game. Also when we are first presented with horses, they are shown to be the same size as modern horses, this is inaccurate, early horses were about the same size as pigs and were domesticated to be larger over time. The creators brushed over these and many other facts and this ruined the educational/simulation component of the game, which I am assuming was it's original intended purpose. Also. Why can't I attack other villages? They can attack me, why can't I raise a war party and go get some plunder? Furthermore, when a resource would run out, the gathering post would remain, why? I feel like this constant need to check on minor processes made the game rather tedious at times. I would rather be building up a city than mindlessly clicking. Lastly, when does the game end? I got to the end of the technology tree and then it just goes on. They should have either allowed options to further improve and expand the city or finished the game.… Expand
  19. lord_raccoon
    Feb 23, 2020
    8
    I've enjoyed this game a lot. I think i was playing it like several days through. For small indie project it has unique setting, interesting gameplay and lots of amazing features. For such price it's a bargain.
  20. Ikarian123
    Sep 2, 2020
    10
    Fantastic complex game, Far Cry Primal as survival strategy. Everything you lack in FCP for building your tribe. Many challenges, graphics is fairly good and mechanics are wide. Recommend this product and its deserve more than 6.7 score.
  21. pdcmoreira
    Oct 18, 2019
    7
    This game has some issues with its AI, mainly with task assignment and priorities, which could be easily forgivable if the forced priority system worked correctly or if we were able to force a peasant to do a task.
    Otherwise, it's a fantastic game!
  22. mnesweda
    Dec 4, 2019
    9
    After several years without playing games on PC, I’ve got to see a demo of dawn of man and decided to give it a try. Very easy to understand the gaming mechanics, you don’t need to remember complex key combinations, so you can focus on the game strategy. A little overwhelming at the beginning, you can learn as you play how the humans evolved through ages, it’s incredible the amount ofAfter several years without playing games on PC, I’ve got to see a demo of dawn of man and decided to give it a try. Very easy to understand the gaming mechanics, you don’t need to remember complex key combinations, so you can focus on the game strategy. A little overwhelming at the beginning, you can learn as you play how the humans evolved through ages, it’s incredible the amount of information and facts you can find on the game, including extinct animals and even cereals and vegetables.

    Not a full ten as some pop up menus overlap too much the main menu, slowing down the search for the action to be completed, and because as soon as you achieve a certain stability, you are just passing years waiting for the Iron Age to arrive!

    Have fun!    … Expand
  23. RandomDragon
    Feb 4, 2020
    8
    A great resource management/village sim. Having now completed the game, there was a lot more strategy in how to advance quickly than I had at first thought. This game focuses mostly on teching up and resource gathering and there is not much in the way of tactical combat (combat is basically set all villagers to fight on/off) and if that's what you're looking for, this game is not for you.
  24. MadCat120
    May 9, 2020
    5
    The concept is fun, but the AI is terrible. It's not polished yet so don't bother. You can build a city for hours, then all of the sudden there's literally 0 animals within a seasonal walk. Your workload can be 150% because your people won't build a sledge in winter, because they are queued to work the farm in the summer.
    They won't feed your animals, because they need to gather a log    The concept is fun, but the AI is terrible. It's not polished yet so don't bother. You can build a city for hours, then all of the sudden there's literally 0 animals within a seasonal walk. Your workload can be 150% because your people won't build a sledge in winter, because they are queued to work the farm in the summer.
    They won't feed your animals, because they need to gather a log from across the realm, to put it near the stockpile, not even in it.
    They will not fish, because they need to walk all the way across town, to move an empty sledge to the transport post 3 feet away from it's resting position.

    However, if you like to extremely micro-manage each and every action of 100 people, this game is for you. If you like to watch your people queued to hunt an animal within your town, and it takes 3 seasons of not doing literally anything else, and that doesn't anger you. This game is for you.    … Expand
  25. YigidOx2
    Mar 17, 2021
    8
    It is definitely suitable for improvement, but it is also beautiful as it is. Maybe a little more age. It's also nice to play in primal ages, though.
  26. apokalipto
    Aug 13, 2023
    9
    Very good game. I enjoyed playing this game a lot. I strongly recommend this.
  27. redmist456
    Nov 4, 2021
    7
    The overall setting is unique in that it takes the city-building genre to a whole new niche. The AI Management is alright, though it could use more fleshing out. The tooltip definitely needs to be reworked, especially for beginner players of the Survival/City-Building Genre. Things like Thunderstorms, Morale, Farming, etc. could be fleshed out even more. Going blind into the game, I had noThe overall setting is unique in that it takes the city-building genre to a whole new niche. The AI Management is alright, though it could use more fleshing out. The tooltip definitely needs to be reworked, especially for beginner players of the Survival/City-Building Genre. Things like Thunderstorms, Morale, Farming, etc. could be fleshed out even more. Going blind into the game, I had no idea how to counter morale loss, or how to counter infections. This game definitely feels like late-stage beta at the moment.… Expand

Awards & Rankings

94
#94 Most Shared PC Game of 2019

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
74

Mixed or average reviews - based on 9 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 9
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 9
  3. Negative: 0 out of 9
  1. Wccftech
    Nov 3, 2019
    70
    Dawn of Man is a competent city building game set, as the name explains, during the dawn of mankind. Moving through the ages, the slow progress early on leaves a real sense of achievement, made possible thanks to a strong resource system and the way knowledge is gained, working with the rest of gameplay to create an enthralling gameplay loop. Sadly this does falter towards the end of any game, even becoming boring at times, but for the most part Dawn of Man is one city building game that fans of the type won't want to miss, despite any flaws it has.
    Read full review
  2. Games.cz
    Apr 5, 2019
    80
    Hunt mammoths, cultivate the land and bake bread in an educational and fun gaming experience about the dawn of human history. Just be prepared for some rough edges.
    Read full review
  3. Multiplayer.it
    Mar 18, 2019
    60
    Dawn of Man is a good city builder, which is limited by its own concept.
    Read full review
See all critic reviews »