When you think of dwarves, perhaps you think of their glorious beards, but perhaps also their engineering prowess – that is what First Dwarf is all about, merging base-building tower defense goodness with sprinkles of action RPG colony survival elements. This freshly released Early Access title has you control a Tru, a dwarf if the title isn’t obvious enough, as he pilots his beloved mech on a mission to build a home for his Clan as the First Dwarf.

Tru isn’t alone in this, as a small dragon named Ragna accompanies him on this almighty assignment to build a civilization worth living in. You can also control Ragna! Set in the fantastical Driftland, a planet ravaged by the Mage War and reduced to Floating Islands – you would hunt resources to build a haven for your clan and protect them from the monsters of the night.

Mech-nificent

First Dwarf offers quite a variety of gameplay elements, from controlling Ragna or the Mech to Tru himself. Going through it one by one, we start with the mech as you will be spending most of your time in anyways.

Most of the main functionalities are tied to and only available while you are piloting the mech, such as resource gathering, combat, base building, and exploration. Technically, you can collect resources with Tru, but that will take a stupidly longer time than just using your mech. Of course, Tru will also be protected by the metallic armor of the mech during combat, so might as well stick with it to avoid getting decimated by monsters.

Speaking of combat, this game has a rather unique approach to battles. Unlike other action RPGs where players attack in streaks of combos by spamming buttons, First Dwarf expects you to engage combo with appropriate timing with indicators displayed above Tru’s mech during attacks. If you time it slightly faster or slower, your attacks will drain more stamina, causing you to run out of them quicker and rendering you not able to initiate the next attack. While interesting, we can see split opinions on this combat approach – either you enjoy the uniqueness or get annoyed by the timing requirements.

There is also the good ol’ Parry mechanic – a simple and effective way to stun enemies and open up opportunities to unleash your onslaught. Weapons are varied too, not just about damage, but also about utilities – changing the overall feel of combat.

Piloting the mech also makes exploration much more comfortable. As mentioned, the mech will protect you from enemy attacks, but you will also be more resilient to fall damage. Acquiring upgrades is also extremely useful, opening up more ways to explore the world. Mech Propulsion, for instance, allows you to jump higher and glide.

Tru, Tru is a Dwarf 

As for Tru himself, honestly, we don’t find any real benefits of playing him much aside from his interactions with certain quest mechanics and puzzles – which yes, are important parts of the game. He does help repair damaged mech, especially after a fierce battle, or you take a massive plunge from incredible heights.

Tru can initiate combat outside of his mech and share the same combo mechanic, but most times, you would rather be in his mech unless it’s forced by quest conditions or narrow environments.

That said, Tru can pet animals – no doubt tru-ly the most important gameplay feature of the game.

Ready for Ragna-rok? 

Then we have our valuable companion Ragna the little dragon. This fire-breathing critter is a crucial companion because you will be controlling it to search Points of Interest such as Forests and Quarries to build resource production facilities, enemy nests to destroy, or simply places related to missions and so on.

As someone with wings, Ragna can also reach areas inaccessible to Tru and his mech, such as floating islands of very high altitude, which usually have loot hidden in them. Its fire-breathing ability is a very important element of her, allowing her to complete mission objectives, set enemies ablaze, or access material nodes. Sure, fighting using the mech will do the job quicker, but the game does have Online and Splitscreen Co-Op Assist, so one player can be the dragon scouting around. Tru, Ragna, and the mech each have their own Skill Tree, thus you can choose and prioritize who to level up and what playstyle you prefer.

Rocking Base Building

Moving on to the base-building gameplay, this game reminded me of the vibe of old-school colony-building games, but with a simpler yet modernized system. Mana will be your main energy source like electricity providing power to houses and other facilities such as Defense Tower.

Wood, Stone, and Metal will be basic resources you will seek to collect manually or automatically via special facilities such as a Sawmill and Stone Mine placed on top of resource nodes. The aforementioned materials are important for building more structures, crafting upgrades, or various tools.

Buildings established have their own requirements to upkeep, with specific resources needed for consumption on a day per-day basis to stay active. All you need to do is connect the facility you want to activate with Mana Well using Mana Pipeline, and the resources will be automatically used. Some other new facilities and functions must be researched first at the Research Center facility or unlocked before you can construct them. 

For an Early Access title, the content offered in First Dwarf is surprisingly plenty, especially from the Luas map. There are 2 main islands and they are pretty humongous, each has its own mission where you can make it livable for your dwarven colony.

The bigger island will offer a different level of difficulty in the resource management section, you will think about placing colonies that are comfortable and close to the resources you need, but also have to improve the defense system for facilities located far from the colony because monsters may choose to attack that area rather than your main base area.

Verdict 

First Dwarf is one of the more interesting colony-building titles, fusing elements from different genres in creative ways, whether base building, tower defense, or action RPG – but it is still marred with flaws, especially how puzzles and quests are designed. A plus is that there is no long-winded tutorial, allowing you to enjoy the fun early on.

The split of functions between Tru, his mech, and Ragna is certainly quite interesting and makes us feel like the First Dwarf, who is expected to pave the way for new colonies to grow in this wild realm. The base-building system is simple but engaging, and we believe this is a great title for the casual audience who wants to play such a genre without the headache of complicated and excessive resource management.

First Dwarf is now available on PC via Steam Early Access and is in active development for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch.

Code provided by Epicsoft Asia.

First Dwarf

Publisher: 4Divinity, Star Drifters

Developer: Star Drifters

Release Date: 2024-06-20

PlayStation 4

If there’s one thing dwarves are better at than grooming their beards, it's engineering. Jump into your mech, build a base and explore the crumbled fantasy world in this immersive action RPG. Will you manage to survive its dangers?