A pleasant little distraction to while away some time. Worth a look if you like the idea of peaceful city building, if you don’t mind not having a grand finale to work towards.

Before We Leave represents an unusual and very charming approach to the city-builder genre. The game is a pleasure to both watch and play, with some minor interface issues here and there. [Issue#303]

Creating a grand interplanetary civilisation is one thing, but managing the needs and supplies of the subjects is tough work. Before We Leave makes logistics an easy, streamlined process through an intuitive UI and readability across its design. The fun lays in ironing out the kinks in your immense system and achieving a sustainable economy, all to overcome impending doom. While there is some underlying mundanity, the overwhelming joy and optimism the game extrudes from the player cannot be understated. And hey, if you grow tired of the system, you can always sabotage it from the inside to try and teach your Peeps to live free and naked.

If you’re looking for a meditative city builder and enjoy resource management and problem-solving, you should absolutely give Before We Leave a go. But if you’re accustomed to some of the bigger 4X alternatives, you might feel as if what’s here is a little lacking by comparison.

A city builder that is a completely different animal compared with the regular games on the genre. All you have to do here is know the basics and build a better world, without the risks of being attacked. An engaging experience that is also pretty entertaining but sometime feels shallow and doesn't have enough replayability.

It’s such a shame that that serenity is broken by frustration when trying to plan roadways and neighborhoods. This may not seem like much of an issue for some, but for someone who finds odd satisfaction from having complete control of how my society will look, it kept me from falling in love.

Before We Leave's a surprisingly well-optimized, visually pleasing, and refreshingly relaxing city builder that excels at making players feel like reclaimers of a massive, interplanetary empire, but it has many gameplay issues to iron out in its full release before it can live up to its own ambitions. The gripes noted herein are all present in an alpha build, so it's possible that Balancing Monkey already addressed these and other concerns between then and now. If not, though, the subtle makings of a personality may not be able to atone for the fact that its mysterious, mellow tone is undermined by frequent annoyances.