With so many simulation games currently being enjoyed on Xbox (especially with members of our podcast team) thanks to services like Xbox Game Pass, and the fact we have our own resident woodsman (looking at you Redders ;) ) - I was really looking forward to getting my hands on another simulation game focusing on something other than cleaning and bus driving! Lets see if Lumberjack's Dynasty from developer UMEO Studios and publisher Toplitz Productions can scratch that itch for me.
"I'm a lumberjack and I'm OK. I sleep all night, I work all day" - Lumberjack Song, Monty Python. Lumberjack's Dynasty sees you take over a run-down logger camp which you get from your aunt and uncle and slowly work towards bringing it back to its former glory. You need to work hard, rebuild and make the business profitable again. If you have ever played another simulation game and enjoyed it then you will definitely feel right at home here. It's a nice change to have more of a storyline backstory weaved into this game over just being thrown in at the deep end and makes you want to try and improve the families business situation - the game even opens with a cinematic which you don't usually get in this genre of games.
"I cut down trees. I eat my lunch. I go to the lavatry"
The gameplay on offer here is decent and is slowly introduced to you, bit by bit. You get the basics explained to you with decent instructions on how to carry out your required duties. However there are so many different things you need to do you will probably forget exactly what your doing at any given moment. Your able to accept tasks from the locals in a way to make money and thus use that money to improve the business. The simulation side of the game is very in depth with a huge amount of features including:
Gameplay that adapts to your burgeoning dynasty - offering new tasks to complete as your lumber empire grows
Skill system – learn and improve your skills to become better and more efficient
A dynamic economic engine with different products and varying prices
Control heavy machinery and vehicles - licensed vehicles from major manufacturers are available for you to purchase, use, maintain, and repair
Manufacture and sell logs, planks, bark, and other wooden products
Repair, rebuild and expand your home and buildings
Earn social points and money to expand and develop your business
"On Wednesdays I go shopping. And have buttered scones for tea"
It's not just the hard working life on offer in Lumberjack's Dynasty. You can take a break from cutting down trees and take part in other activities such as fishing, growing vegetables, collecting fruit, harvesting honey and cooking delicious meals and you can even find the love of your life, get married and raise a family! The amount of content on offer here is extremely great and varied. One problem I did find was the need to make sure you eat and rest when needed. It just made the process pretty tedious needing to go back and forth all the time.
Presentation wise it's not the worst looking game. It's not going to melt your console with its graphical superiority but it does the job and it does feature a large open world to explore. It does however suffer from pop-in and graphical bugs now and again but nothing game breaking. The background music and audio is fine but the voice acting is pretty terrible and keeps going in and out of sync which gets frustrating.
All in all Lumberjack's Dynasty does tick all the boxes required to be a decent simulator game. It has a good quest driven story line with a backstory that gets you committed to your role, all the simulation activities are spot on and there is so much to keep you busy. Unfortunately its let down by some niggling issues like bugs, graphical pop-ins and poor voice acting. There are also some parts of the game that get pretty repetitive and can be a drag but I feel like fans of this genre of game will find plenty to enjoy and will get tens of hours of enjoyment out the game despite the issues.
TOTAL SCORE: 6.5/10
Lumberjack's Dynasty was released onto the Xbox store on the 30th June 2022. The game is playable on Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S and is priced at £24.99. You can buy the game HERE. A copy of the game was provided for this review. A huge thank you for that.
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