Border Town
2P Games
Border Town is an open-world sandbox that blends survival elements with role-playing. After a brutal Orc invasion a once peaceful and tranquil town is left in ruins leaving its villagers scattered in fear. Play as a young hero and together with the soul survivor, a resilient old man you’ll restore Border Town to its former glory!
Border Town is celebrating its debut 1.0 release onto Steam PC and there’s A LOT to enjoy here. This is developer GoHoGames first game, but it’s being published by 2P Games, who have a long list of completed games on Steam from a range of development teams. Border Town has a dedicated team expanding the game with feedback from the community and thats always great to see!
This game is a open-world sandbox blended perfected with a roleplaying game, set in a fantasy realm with all the typical farming, crafting and NPC socialising we expect, plus, there’s a dark force threatening the lands that you need to stop!
Once a peaceful and tranquil paradise, Border Town has become a ruin. A full-scale invasion of Orcs destroyed the town, and villagers fled in fear for their lives. You awaken in the remains of the town after fainting in the forest, saved by an old man who stayed behind and hoped the town could be rebuilt. It’s a simple story and not one unfamiliar to the town-focused sandbox RPG genre, but I my opinion it doesn’t need to be any more complicated because the gameplay is rock solid.
Pros
Finding NPCs is fun
Unique take on some mechanics
Lots of items to discover and craft
Gameplay loop is enjoyable and addictive
Cute graphics
Good size world
Cons
No sprint
NPC relationships are basic (we need romance)
Combat is basic
No tutorials or wiki yet
Gathering resources, crafting and farming are at the core of the game. Players need to chop trees, explore the world to gather valuable resources, cultivate farmland, raise animals, craft tools and build houses. It’s an enjoyable and addictive gameplay that doesn’t get tiring. Exploring the ever evolving world, finding NPCs and recruiting them to the town makes the gameplay cycle feel a lot more unique compared to other games in this genre like Stardew Valley. There are different types of people and professions to choose from, with unique town benefits. So far, there’s a good amount of NPCs to choose from and find; however, the town buildings are a lot more limited. There’s clearly a lot of potential here, but the content for buildings and decorations needs expanding.
There are over 600 unique items in the game so far, including a variety of crops, tools, weapons, gear and materials to create or collect. There’s a lot of variation in this game. Players can also cook food and create various delicacies from the harvested crops. Crafting is also a critical part of the game, with the ability to create powerful weapons needed to defeat enemies. Combat is a necessity, though it is a little basic despite the variety of available weapons and gear already in the game. It does need some balancing as well, but this can mostly be treated as an occasional side task.
Overall Rating
