Timberborn 1.0 launched globally on March 12, 2026, marking the official release of one of Steam's most beloved indie city-builders. The Polish developer Mechanistry surprised players by slipping a major feature into the 1.0 update that had not been publicly announced beforehand: a full automation system inspired by games like Factorio.
The game has maintained an "Overwhelmingly Positive" rating on Steam with over a million copies sold. Following almost five years of updates, the game has now launched in full form alongside a massive update which adds everything from automation features to Steam achievements.
Logic gates and engineering puzzles
The update adds over 20 new objects to the game that work together, allowing players to control how their city functions by itself using sensors, counters, timers, and relay logic to automate operations of buildings, choose where water flows as conditions change, customise the power grid's behaviour, and decide when parts of the city open. The launch update adds twenty new buildings designed to act as logic nodes so players can programme structures and objects to operate independently, ranging from simple levers to logic relays, flow sensors, power metres, and even weather stations, alongside more specific logic nodes such as detonators for setting off explosions and fireworks.
The feature reflects developer ambition during early access. The studio described automation as "a true cherry on top" and expressed pride in managing to pull it off in time for the 1.0 release. The system scales from basic operations, such as automating when floodgates open based on water levels, to building fully autonomous settlements run by networks of relays and valves.
Expansion of an already substantial game
The full-scale launch adds the Earth Recultivator, a massive end-game Wonder, while new two maps called Pressure and Oasis were specifically designed to test the new automation tools. Interactive objects can now be found across maps, including unstable cores that explode after some time, seeping water sources to survive droughts, and even human-built structures from eons ago.
The game puts players in charge of a post-apocalyptic beaver colony tasked with rebuilding civilisation after humans have destroyed the planet through drought and toxic waste. Survival depends on engineering water systems, managing resources, and planning for periodic disasters. The two beaver factions, Folktails and Iron Teeth, have distinct technology trees and gameplay styles.
Mechanistry, a Polish developer, has been vocal about its gratitude towards early access players. With seven major updates and the 1.0 mega-update, Timberborn is a better, bigger, deeper, and prettier game, exceeding anything the team hoped for when they started working on it eight years ago.
Owners of the early access version receive the 1.0 update automatically for free. The game is on a 20% launch discount until 26 March, bringing the price down to $28 (£24).