Imagine waking up on a small island in the middle of the ocean. Your first impulse might probably be to escape by grabbing some wood, building a boat, and sailing away. You are stranded on a small island. Why not build a thriving town on the sea and just live there?
Colony builder demo Haven Dock feel a little like survival game raft: I’m standing on a few small wooden squares with water around me, and I need to grab floating leaves, wooden planks, and fish from the ocean to use for resources. , instead of moving through the water, my base is anchored to a small sand island that I wake up to. Also, unlike most colony sims, I’m running around as a character, as opposed to a god-like being looking down from the sky.
Soon you’ll be able to build more sections of the dock that stretch out over the waves, and the space will quickly fill up with crafting stations and equipment. We installed a water pump to pump seawater to the dock and a water purifier to make it drinkable. I build hives to gather feathered visitors and give me the seeds of my farmland. They will feed you raw fish in return. (Don’t tell the friendly birds, I also made an iron trap for capture. Wrong Harvest birds for feathers and bones. )
They burn charcoal to power grills and cooking stations, and use research tables to pave the way for new technologies such as smelting. With leftover timber scraps, you can expand your dock further to create more space and pave the way to other small islands and structures in the distance. You will see a small hut with chickens by the water. I must have those chickens. You can see the lighthouse on the other side. I build my way there too. On another island, a large penguin is lounging. I need to know why. A glimpse elsewhere in these oceans keeps me enthusiastically collecting and building.
It won’t be long before a curious survivor comes to my growing town on a small raft. This little NPC is interested in joining my colony on the condition that they build a house first. I don’t have a house yet, but I’m going to research a new building and add it to the dock while he waits. So when he settled down, I assigned him the worst job in town: pumping up and purifying seawater. This is one of Havendock’s best things about him. You can let the settlers do all the chores you don’t want to do yourself.
Soon, I have five settlers living on a sprawling dock and letting them do everything they don’t care about.I put ore and sand into my forge and hammer it into shape. I have another settler on seed duty so my small farm can grow fresh produce without me having to oversee it. The other person carried the luggage and piled it up in the storage area. This is a very good system. You can collect all floating resources and build docks and bridges without getting bogged down with other chores.
I was struck by lightning in my damn head during a rainstorm.
Not all is smooth sailing. Some of the settlers were injured on duty and I was struck in the head by lightning during a rainstorm. Herbs and medicines suddenly became important research targets. Because most people are limping, unhappy, and everything slows down. When I finally made the potion, I kept it for them, but they don’t actually use it, even though I can see one of them holding the bottle. By the way, medicine is for me, and what the colonists really need to heal is a feather-filled mattress. The limp will continue for a while until I sort it out.
Making hamburgers in the garden. Hamburger completed!
Havendock has a fun sillyness to it. When I need raw meat, I don’t raise and butcher livestock, I grow burgers in my garden. Hamburger completed! Buns, cheese and everything grows out of the ground like Ooblets. It doesn’t make sense, but it’s so cute. And the game is full of charm, from busy little people, to giant goldfish leaping out of the ocean, to all the chunky little crafting stations dotted around a growing dock town.
Despite the wounded crew, my small sea village has achieved considerable renown. is ready. Traders have boarded boats and now swing regularly with offers to trade goods with me. This would help with my mattress shortage, but could improve the lighthouse to attract more vendors in the future.
There’s a lot more we haven’t seen yet: the full game includes an underwater system to pump oil and generate electricity, a rowboat and a submarine to explore outside of town. Flight. I’ve been enjoying Colony Builder a lot so far, and was particularly impressed by the work of solo developer his Yeo Ying Zhi (aka YYZ).
Haven Dock will enter early access in the second quarter of 2023, but in the meantime there’s a free demo to keep you occupied.If you enjoy it (you will), you might too Join Closed BetaIf you’re looking for more colony management sims, check out what’s for sale. steam base builder fest.
