Timberborn FAQ

Timberborn is a lumberpunk city-builder developed by Mechanistry, set in a post-human world where beaver civilizations must survive deadly droughts and badwater contamination. Players build cities, engineer waterways, and research technology to keep their colony alive.

Yes. Timberborn left Early Access with its full 1.0 release on October 28, 2025 — after four years of Early Access development. The game is now available on Steam, GOG, and Epic Games Store.

There are two playable factions: Folktails (nature-focused, windmill-powered) and Iron Teeth (industrial, engine-powered). Each has exclusive buildings, housing, and transport systems.

Badwater is toxic polluted fluid left by human civilization. It appears from underground Badwater Sources, especially during Badtide seasons. Contact contaminates beavers, kills crops, and poisons water supplies. Players must use barriers, decontamination buildings, and clever water management to contain it.

Timberborn is available on Steam (store.steampowered.com/app/1062090), GOG (gog.com/en/game/timberborn), and the Epic Games Store (store.epicgames.com/p/timberborn).

No, Timberborn is currently a single-player game only. The developers have not announced multiplayer plans.

Timberborn supports 15 languages: English, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Ukrainian, Thai, and Turkish.

Folktails is generally recommended for beginners. Their Irrigation Tower simplifies crop watering, Windmills provide free power, and natural breeding means fewer systems to manage early on.

Build a Dam to create a water reservoir before the first drought hits. Stock water tanks, ensure your crops are harvested, and reduce your population's water consumption. Always check the Season Clock to prepare ahead.

Priority order: District Center → Builders' Hut → Hauling Post → Lumberjack Flag → Forester → Farmhouse → Small Pile/Warehouse → Water Pump → Dam. Getting food and water secured is always priority one.

Each beaver has need meters for food, water, sleep, shelter, and leisure. If needs go unmet, well-being drops, reducing work efficiency. High well-being boosts productivity. Build Campfires, Lidos, and Temples to boost social and spiritual needs.

Use Contamination Barriers to block badwater flow. Place them upstream from your water pumps. Build a separate clean-water reservoir fed only by clean sources. Use Bots for work in contaminated zones as they are immune to Badwater.

Badtide is a seasonal event introduced in Update 5 where Badwater Sources surge, flooding waterways with toxic fluid. It rotates with Droughts and Wet Seasons, requiring different defensive strategies than a standard drought.

The Gravity Battery stores surplus power by lifting a heavy counterweight using excess mechanical energy. When power demand exceeds generation, the weight falls back down, releasing stored energy. It's essential for surviving drought periods when water wheels stop.

Yes. Timberborn 1.0 is a polished, content-rich city-builder with 40–80+ hours of gameplay depending on playstyle. Its unique water management and dual-faction system set it apart from genre peers. The game holds an Overwhelmingly Positive rating on Steam and is available on GOG and Epic as well.

Yes. Timberborn has official macOS support. Both Steam and GOG versions include Mac builds. Performance is comparable to Windows on equivalent hardware.

Minimum: OS Windows 10/macOS 10.14, CPU Intel Core i5 (6th gen) or equivalent, RAM 8GB, GPU GeForce GTX 960 / Radeon RX 470, Storage 4GB. Recommended: 16GB RAM, GTX 1070 or better for large late-game colonies with hundreds of beavers.

Yes. Timberborn is a pausable real-time strategy game. You can pause at any time, issue construction orders, adjust work priorities, and plan your colony while the clock is stopped. Speed controls (1x, 2x, 3x, pause) are always accessible.

If your entire beaver population dies, the game ends and you receive a Game Over screen showing your colony's statistics — highest population reached, droughts survived, and days played. You can then restart on the same map or choose a new one.

Timberborn is an open-ended sandbox — there is no single win condition. Some players aim to complete Monuments (the highest well-being tier), others to survive a set number of years on Hard, or to build the largest possible colony. The game rewards self-defined goals.

Priority chain: Science Institute with 4+ researchers → Observatory (Folktails) or Numbercruncher (Iron Teeth) → Paper Mill → Library. The Library is the single biggest SP multiplier available and should be built as soon as Metal Working and Paper Mill are unlocked.

The Experimental Branch is a Steam opt-in beta track where Mechanistry tests upcoming features before they reach the main release branch. You can access it via Steam → Right click Timberborn → Properties → Betas → Select 'experimental'. Progress made in Experimental Branch saves is not guaranteed to transfer to main branch.