The Tomorrow Children

 PlayStation 4
User Score
5.8

Mixed or average reviews- based on 91 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 42 out of 91
  2. Mixed: 13 out of 91
  3. Negative: 36 out of 91

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  1. Alecj
    Sep 14, 2016
    4
    Tomorrow Children seems built from the ground up to be a cash machine. The game play loop is centered around resources, most of which need to be gathered in a tedious process. The carrot is the ability to make it less tedious with better tools, skills, etc-- the stick is the real money you need to spend in order to access those game saving items.

    I found the initial few hours    Tomorrow Children seems built from the ground up to be a cash machine. The game play loop is centered around resources, most of which need to be gathered in a tedious process. The carrot is the ability to make it less tedious with better tools, skills, etc-- the stick is the real money you need to spend in order to access those game saving items.

    I found the initial few hours interesting and the act of discovery of "dolls" (a very important resource which adds citizens to your town) enticing. Soon after, though, it was clear that the frustration of a tiny inventory, long bus rides, and monotonous activities were going to far outweigh the interesting introductory phase of the game.

    You will get no where without spending real money, and even if you did plop down some bucks and get yourself some quality pick axes, what was it all really leading towards.....

    Overall, Tomorrow Children has some interesting ideas, but its focus on the menial without a worthwhile goal, and its lopsided balance towards real money players, makes it a failed experiment....just like the socialism it playfully mirrors.    … Expand
  2. nufrequency
    Sep 13, 2016
    0
    Pay to skip tedious grind, thats the name of a new genre this title would fit perfectly ! By the way whoever came up with those **** SLIDING PUZZLES mini-games at the crafting table should be castrated... The only purpose this mechanic was designed is to ANNOY THE **** OUT OF YOU and eventually open your wallet so you can skip them.
  3. ali-polo
    Sep 11, 2016
    6
    Basically and in three words, it is Communism: The Game.
    What does that mean? The game will be Free-to-Play in the coming months, you're part of the society and start working as soon as you start the game. There is a town you live in alongside others, you'll get to work daily, gather resources, transfer material, store material for the benefit of the town. Everyone in the town will use    Basically and in three words, it is Communism: The Game.
    What does that mean? The game will be Free-to-Play in the coming months, you're part of the society and start working as soon as you start the game. There is a town you live in alongside others, you'll get to work daily, gather resources, transfer material, store material for the benefit of the town. Everyone in the town will use the same resources to build town buildings, housing, and defense weapons to contribute to the wealth of the society. Monsters will attack the town and you with others should help defend the town. Your ultimate goal is to build the town and have the maximum amount of citizens.

    There will be thousands of towns, you can create your own, but the only thing that matters is how the society (other players online) work together to build it. Since Earth is no more, you all live in the void, and the ultimate goal is to rebuild society.

    I like the idea a lot, and the game deliver it well, so well that it feels boring and repetitive. The gameplay is the same and nothing changes. Mine resources, transfer them back to the town, get your Ration Coupons (Game Currency) from Ministry of Labour to buy equipment so you mine resources and so on. It will be fun for few hours but I'm not sure what else will make it last longer.

    Graphics are unique, the characters are wooden puppets (A great euphemism if you ask me) and the sound design takes everything from the Soviet Union, it makes you feel you're part of it and creepy at times.

    Lastly, it is going to be Free-to-Play, so you can play it for an hour or two and decide for yourself. I recommend it, it is going to be fun for a while. *Disclosure: A paid version of the game was provided by Sony Interactive Entertainment for review.

    *Disclosure: A paid version of the game were provided be Sony Interactive Entertainment for review.    … Expand
  4. ijukeu
    Sep 10, 2016
    6
    Not a terrible game. Keeps you entertained for the first 10-20 hour 'honeymoon' period while you're still learning everything and finish your first town. After that you realize theres a complete lack of depth or hook to want to continue playing.
  5. SWERY_51
    Sep 7, 2016
    9
    Absolutely lovely. Choose a class, do your job to help build and protect your town in a very stylish environement. It's an unusual coop game with an excellent art style, atmosphere and soundtrack. This is supposed to be F2P, but for the moment it's only paying early access (so be patient if you want to try it for free). It's very enjoyable, you can mine, build, terraform, find improvementsAbsolutely lovely. Choose a class, do your job to help build and protect your town in a very stylish environement. It's an unusual coop game with an excellent art style, atmosphere and soundtrack. This is supposed to be F2P, but for the moment it's only paying early access (so be patient if you want to try it for free). It's very enjoyable, you can mine, build, terraform, find improvements and buy things like weapons, tools, accessories... Oh and by the way, be careful to score i give to this game because i did actually enjoy No Man's Sky - so be warned.… Expand
  6. J_R_Taylor
    Sep 10, 2016
    2
    When I first heard that this game went to F2P I was angry, I wanted to buy a physical edition and support this unique, quirky little game. I settled for the Founder's Pack instead.

    My god, am I glad I didn't buy a retail version of this game, HUGE buyer's remorse. The game is a clunky mess but more importantly, it's filled with so many stupid design decisions that I simply don't    When I first heard that this game went to F2P I was angry, I wanted to buy a physical edition and support this unique, quirky little game. I settled for the Founder's Pack instead.

    My god, am I glad I didn't buy a retail version of this game, HUGE buyer's remorse.

    The game is a clunky mess but more importantly, it's filled with so many stupid design decisions that I simply don't understand. It's like they didn't even playtest this game and just decided to throw a bunch of sh*t at a wall to see what stuck.

    To say it has the depth of a puddle would be giving it too much credit. After literally 30 minutes you've already done everything that can be done and then you're stuck in an endless chore simulator while random people pop in and carry your mined resources away to claim tickets. Getting on a bus to visit an island that has basically been mined dry is always fun...

    The developer seems to think he has laid a golden egg with this game and that because he's spent 5 years working on it we need to be grateful for this shallow mess of a game. Sorry mate, your game looks pretty, the gameplay however is terrible.

    Final words: Wasted potential. I genuinely don't think updates can fix this, it's just poorly executed from the ground up.    … Expand
  7. Greysteel
    Sep 11, 2016
    6
    The game clonks along with a sort of jarring formula of under cooked build and survive, married to an under cooked requirement to roam and explore. At first, while everything is shiny and nothing is repetitive, The Tomorrow Children passes as quite a unique little gem of a game. That is until you realise there is nothing beyond the first time, nothing new comes to life and you're doomedThe game clonks along with a sort of jarring formula of under cooked build and survive, married to an under cooked requirement to roam and explore. At first, while everything is shiny and nothing is repetitive, The Tomorrow Children passes as quite a unique little gem of a game. That is until you realise there is nothing beyond the first time, nothing new comes to life and you're doomed to repeat one of three routines for all of the rest of eternity. It's cheap, it's cheerful, but without some intervention it's going to die a very quick death.… Expand
  8. Methusalah
    Jan 9, 2017
    8
    Definitely likely to be a divisive game. I was worried that the gameplay would become stale and tedious quickly, but I've found it to become increasingly more engaging as you discover everything there is to do in the game. I very rarely find myself spending more than 15 minutes at a time working on any one task. It's better to jump from harvesting, to unloading trains, to building, andDefinitely likely to be a divisive game. I was worried that the gameplay would become stale and tedious quickly, but I've found it to become increasingly more engaging as you discover everything there is to do in the game. I very rarely find myself spending more than 15 minutes at a time working on any one task. It's better to jump from harvesting, to unloading trains, to building, and then to defending against monster attacks as needed than it is to grind away at one of those tasks for an extended period of time and it's more fun too.

    The combination of satisfying, if a bit simple gameplay mechanics, incredible atmosphere and art design, and memorable music should have earned this game far more praise that it received from critics. This game is about atmosphere first, gameplay second, which, if you're the right kind of person, is absolutely fine. More than fine, actually, it's refreshing and worth experiencing.

    Most of the negative reviews seem to be from reviewers who expected this game to be something it isn't. It isn't primarily a city building game since progress is inevitably lost once a city is completed. Ongoing growth comes in the form of character stats that you can carry on to the next town you work on, not in the form of a long lasting village. Villages don't need to be carefully laid out and planned, they just need to be functional and easily defended. You're trying to thrive in a harsh wasteland with nothing but discipline and hard work to keep you going with the ultimate goal of restoring what's left of humanity from the void that consumed it. Becoming invested in a single village is a mistake. The thematic goal is much bigger than your character alone, or the success of a single village.    … Expand
  9. FistfulOfRupees
    Sep 6, 2016
    8
    6 hours in and it's holding my attention firmly, which is more than can be said of Hello Games recent Marmite-esque game "No Mans Sky" which left me cold after only 2 hours, if the PlayStation Network wasn't down for maintenance I'd be playing The Tomorrow Children right now, I think I've got withdrawals from toiling away already, I need to get back for to make better glorious nation of Mulbinsk!!
  10. DrugsAreGood4U
    Sep 7, 2016
    10
    Great game, good fun.

    It's very unique and the art style is awesome. It's sort of stoic and creepy in a refreshingly cool way, if you're into that. I would wait for free to play release comes out. I bought it because I was able to get in on the closed beta and liked it when I got to play it back then. It does a little bit of a better job than in the beta when it comes to explaining    Great game, good fun.

    It's very unique and the art style is awesome. It's sort of stoic and creepy in a refreshingly cool way, if you're into that. I would wait for free to play release comes out. I bought it because I was able to get in on the closed beta and liked it when I got to play it back then. It does a little bit of a better job than in the beta when it comes to explaining things a little better.    … Expand
  11. TurboScraim
    Sep 13, 2016
    10
    One of the best 2016 games i played Fun gameplay Good Graphics GOOD soundtracks An amazing game Minecraft+Fallout=The Tomorrow Children Recommended But the Problem is That you have to keep changing towns You will Know why when you play it
  12. mixiladall
    Sep 8, 2016
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. good graphics,gameplay excelent,almost silv eleuter vron kirem fiom qoajdin bbiausr quals ied+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++… Expand
  13. buck17
    Oct 29, 2016
    3
    It's free to play but they constantly ask for money. It's two separate games if you pay or don't pay. Things take forever if you don't pay. This is more like a mobile game in their pricing model than a playstation one.
  14. Nel
    Jun 29, 2017
    1
    I was looking forward to play this game, but it falls plat on its face being just another f2p victim, where you literally have to dig to china or spend ,99 cent for an item that you will use once. It's just not worth the time or the effort, good idea, but bad exectuion
  15. The_BlueRose
    Feb 6, 2017
    6
    A good experiment about the social cooperation to achive a common target.

    The atmosphere looks great but the fact of repeating the same tasks every time ends in boring and the feeling of reward lacks.

    A good experiment but not a good game.
  16. Ramzaonline
    Mar 29, 2017
    7
    Why the hell do I keep playing this? HELP ME!!! Play entertaining but quickly loses meaning and becomes repetitive, even so it is highly addictive, you do not need to invest money to be able to go on at all so I do not consider it a free to play as it is.
  17. Lydera
    Jul 31, 2017
    5
    I had high hopes for this game, but after spending some time with it, it's not really a game. It's a dystopian simulator with little to no fun to be had. It simply feels like a chore. The only redeeming quality is the art style. Outside of that, it plays like a game, looks like a game, but it's ultimately a test of patience before you uninstall. On a positive note, it didn't crash.
  18. koll2000
    May 23, 2018
    10
    Игра очень интересная и захватывающая своим миром и историей мы являемся клоном который должен вместе с другими игроками спасти город от безжизненной пустыни войда
  19. MarcoItaly
    Nov 26, 2020
    10
    This game is one of my favorite games I've ever played, it's so addicting, unique, the atmosphere is eery, the music is awesome, it feels so satisfying to play this. This is a brilliant masterpiece and I really want to play it again, please bring it back.
  20. HarryGordon
    Aug 26, 2021
    9
    Simple and fun, if you're into these types of games. Mining and collecting resources for your town with others online is something I never though I'd love doing in a game.

    I'll gladly spend more money on it if it was released again.

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
54

Mixed or average reviews - based on 49 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 49
  2. Mixed: 33 out of 49
  3. Negative: 13 out of 49
  1. CD-Action
    Dec 12, 2016
    55
    Apart from its great art style, I honestly don’t know why I should choose The Tomorrow Children over a crowd of similar survival games. [12/2016, p.58]
  2. Game World Navigator Magazine
    Nov 18, 2016
    63
    What’s the point of building socialism in a lifeless world? [Issue#214, p.47]
  3. Edge Magazine
    Nov 15, 2016
    70
    It doesn't willfully withhold information, but it takes some time to acclimatise to what you're supposed to do. [December 2016, p.118]
See all critic reviews »