Farthest Frontier Early Access Review – Find your pioneer spirit

The human desire to explore, build and expand is why the city-builder genre has remained a staple of the video gaming landscape. Whether we’re explorers, or a pestilence upon the earth, humanity is driven to survive, using intellect and ingenuity alongside the bountiful supplies of the world around us. Farthest Frontier from Crate Entertainment is a city builder that attempts to capture that pioneer spirit in its earliest, and purest form, with the result being one of the most engaging entries in the genre I’ve played in years.

Farthest Frontier is very clear about letting you choose how tough it’s going to be on you. Pioneer mode gets more resources, plenty of hunting and wildlife, and there’s fewer chances of hostile forces or healthcare issues plaguing your settlement. Trailblazer is your mid-range setting, balancing the difficulty, while Vanquisher turns all the support dials down and all the adversity dials up. There’s also Pacifist Mode for those who just want to focus on building and… well, just living.

Your settlement begins with a completed scouting report, and from the off you can see the resources and dangers in the immediate area. You need to place your town centre somewhere that makes sense; near enough to the resources you need, and as far away as possible from any predators that might be stalking the area.

Once you’ve set down some roots, you have to start harvesting, and in order to do that you need to select what resources you want your villagers to gather. It’s as simple as dragging a box across the landscape, with anything in its vicinity set to appear in your stores in the very near future.

Those villagers need somewhere to live, so you embark on the immediate expansion of your settlement. Positioning each building is as simple as selecting a suitable spot, with colour maps showing desirability levels for where they’d like to live. There’s a bevy of further buildings that those needy villagers require if you’re going to keep them alive when the winter sets in, with wildlife and other resources dwindling.

So far, so predictable. However, Farthest Frontier soon shows you that it’s not like other city builders. Farming and crafting take on a whole new aspect here, with more detail and degrees of nuance than you’ll have ever seen in the genre before. Firstly, farming requires the preparation of the land, which is no small task, and once you’ve furrowed the earth you can choose from ten different types of crops. There’s even a spot of Resident Evil-style inventory management as each crop takes up a certain amount of space, and you have to try and maximise your yield. Add in each crop’s different attributes – will it survive a frost? Will it draw all the nutrients out of the earth? – and you’ve got something that’s so much more than you’re probably expecting.

Crafting then fits seamlessly into the growth and expansion of your settlement, with a host of buildings and trades that you won’t have seen before. My favourite has to be the Soap Shop, whose wares will obviously keep your constituency cleaner, and in turn reduces the chance of them becoming sick. They’re all interlinking though, whether that’s crafting coats that will keep your villagers alive in the winter – and working harder – or smelting iron bars for construction. It feels like a living ecosystem, and it’s one that you’ll love nurturing and spending time on.

That’s helped by the soundtrack. Farthest Frontier boasts some of the most laid-back audio vibes thanks to some beautiful folk music that frames the settlement building perfectly. Each beat, each plaintive fiddle stroke, further emphasises the pioneer spirit that Furthest Frontier is seeking to evoke. You’ll certainly find yourself humming the melodies long after your settlers have retired for the night.

Farthest Frontier is a game about survival though, and there remain the brutal truths of our existence here. As the leaves turn to browns and oranges you need to ensure you’ve stored enough for your villagers to survive, with little hope of foraging or farming, and a vastly reduced number of animals to hunt as snow settles on the ground. Predators will become bolder as well, with wolves and bears straying further into your settlement in search of food. You must make sure you’re prepared.

There’s disease here too. While your villagers might get by for a while on herbal remedies, outbreaks of dysentery and cholera are true to the era, and just as potentially lethal. You have to hope that you’ve built a Healer House in time so they can assist with their formative medicine, or run the risk of it spreading throughout the populace.

Farthest Frontier is one of the most compelling city-builders we’ve seen in a long time. Isn’t it time you found your pioneer spirit?