Is Dawn of Man, Worth Playing?
Dawn of Man is no longer in development and this review is unlikely to be updated unless that situation changes.
Dawn of Man is a fantastic survival builder held back by developers who showed little interest in further development following its multiplatform release.

The Lowdown.

Product Details
Genre: Management
Developer: Madruga Works
Publisher: Madruga Works
Price: $24.99
Release Date: 1 March 2019
Supported Modes:

Organic Map Design.

Dawn of Man utilizes organic map design, meaning some maps are ridiculously annoying and force players to work around unfavourable terrain; however, this is part of the brilliance of Dawn of Man; early man would have had no choice but to work around such obstacles and villages would not have been perfectly laid out like a modern-day town or housing estate.

Overall I am very happy with the map design in Dawn of Man and wish other pre-industrial era games would embrace a similar design philosophy.

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Poor Optimization.

While moment-to-moment performance is fine, at the change of every season, the game will lock up for a few moments; this is particularly noticeable around wintertime, with the introduction of snow and its eventual melting in spring, causing up to 5 seconds of lag on even high-end hardware.

Extinction Mechanic.

Dawn of Man features an extinction mechanic, with entire species of animals going extinct at the start of each era; in addition, hunting a single species early in the year can result in a “temporary extinction”, with reduced herd numbers lasting until the next spring and if RNG is against you (such as two males or two females spawning in spring) even longer.

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Unbalanced Difficulty.

Dawn of Man is difficult until it isn’t, meaning the early game is significantly harder than the endgame, which borders on “boring”, with the raider mechanic failing to offset the reduction in difficulty brought about by innovations such as the plough and steel tools.

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AI Issues.

Dawn of Man suffers from serious AI issues, and villagers will starve to death while standing next to a food source. Raiders will attack a defended gatehouse, bypassing an opening in the wall and, conversely, attack a stone wall over a wooden gate, which is substantially easier to demolish.

Animal AI is better than villager/raider AI, and animals will stalk prey, human or otherwise, and migrate to greener pastures when food becomes scarce, requiring hunters to travel further from the village to secure leather, bones and food.

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Dawn of Man FAQ

Dawn of Man is a management video game developed and published by Madruga Works, it was released on 1 March 2019 and retails for $24.99.

Platform Availability.

Dawn of Man is available on the following platforms: PC, Playstation 4, Playstation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.

Are The Developers Active?


Madruga Works created an exceptionally fun city-building survival game that improved on the “Banished” formula in almost every way; launching as a full product and bypassing early access entirely, Madruga Works seemed ready to move on from day one and showed reluctance to continue developing Dawn of Man.

While Madruga Works did eventually release bug fixes and the occasional content patch, it’s clear in their minds Dawn of Man was already “finished” and did not require additional paid or free content.

In April 2021, Madruga Works announced they had moved on to a new title after a total of 4.5 years of development, and Dawn of Man would not receive any more content updates.

How Long Does Dawn of Man Take to Complete?

On average Dawn of Man takes between 15 and 30 hours to complete.

  • Main Story: 15 Hours.
  • Main + Side Quests: 22 Hours.
  • Completionist: 30 Hours.

Estimated completion times are derived from various sources and may vary based on the skill level of each player.

What Peripherals Are Supported?

The following peripherals are officially supported:

  • Console - Controller.
  • PC - Mouse and Keyboard.

Is There Any Mature Content?

Dawn of Man is rated PEGI 16+ and contains the following:

  • Violence

Final Verdict.

Dawn of Man is a great game, and players will easily get their money’s worth; however, it could have been even better if the developers had continued to add new DLC content, and their reluctance to do so is baffling when you consider how well Dawn of Man performed, with SteamSpy estimating it sold between 500k and 1M copies on Steam alone.

Is Dawn of Man Worth Playing In 2024?

7
Honest Video Game Reviews has given "Dawn of Man" a rating of 7/10, indicating that it is a good game, that is well worth playing, and while it may have a few shortcomings, the average gamer will enjoy it.

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