A downloadable Wildborn

Playable Prototype – Neolithic Survival Game

Hello, I'd like to introduce you to Wildborn, a prototype survival simulation game set in a prehistoric context, the Neolithic period.

Why this game?

I'm someone who really enjoys survival games, and I sometimes feel like I've exhausted the genre. Most so-called survival games are either building games with a hunger bar and a health bar, like Minecraft or Enshrouded, or they are true survival games, but often in a modern or supernatural setting like Project Zomboid (my favorite), Don't Starve (my second favorite), The Long Dark, and Green Hell. There are few games I know of that combine the depth of simulation with survival in a historical wilderness devoid of fantasy. I say there are few because I only know of one, and that's UnReal World, a survival game set in a very specific Finnish historical context. I tried it, but I had trouble persevering due to its very 90s-style interface. Which is a shame because I'm sure it has interesting mechanics.So I thought that to alleviate my frustration, I would try to make this game myself.

Therefore, the goal of Wildborn is to create a simulation of systemic survival in a prehistoric context.

What is actually available ?

(Working on it)

Why this prototype?

This playable prototype is an early experimental version of Wildborn, focused on the core survival mechanics. It’s not a full game yet, but a solid foundation.

I’m sharing it to gather your feedback, suggestions, and impressions. Every comment helps me improve the game, fix bugs, fine-tune mechanics, and create a survival experience like no other.

Thank you for trying out Wildborn.

Discord server : https://discord.gg/7jXbvwt2KA


Wildborn Controls

  • Use W, A, S, D or the arrow keys to move.
  • Hold Shift to run.
  • Press B to open the build menu.
  • Press C to open the craft menu.
  • Press G to toggle the grid display on or off.
  • Press I to open or close the inventory.
  • To interact with an object (like a campfire or a construction site), stand next to it and right-click to open the context menu.
  • Press R to rest for a short recovery.
  • Press T to sleep and recover over a longer period.
  • Press Esc to open the pause menu.
  • Time Controls:
    • Press F1 for normal speed.
    • Press F2 for double speed.
    • Press F3 for triple speed.
  • Press 1 to interact with left hand
  • Press 2 to interact with right hand


Download

Download
Wildborn-P10-February 2026.zip 56 MB
Download
Wildborn-P11-March 2026.zip 56 MB

Development log

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Comments

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Hello I tried your game and I gotta say it's a really interesting project. There were  somethings that didn't work like the save system, world generation and whatever adjacent tiles are supposed to do. These of course are systems that are difficult to build so its understandably if not all works in the prototype. But more pressing I think is the scarcity of resources and the difficulty to get them. Since it is so hard to get basic gear I think most players might be put off by it.

I used a bug that allowed me to save and load to get back the resources I just took. It allowed me to craft the backpack. My idea was to try to get the extra slots so I could carry the items to craft an axe. But of course my progress got halted when I tried to save and load with the backpack and it disappeared. Whenever I dropped items by right clicking and pressing the drop option it dropped every item in the stack as one item. Making me loose all except for one. At first I was a little confused on the controls and didn't really like the movement system. But I got used to it eventually. However you might want to consider making it feel good and responsive.

You have a lot of interesting biomes that might be fun to explore. But again the generation of resources are far too scarce to be fun. I think personally that you should do some kind of harvesting mechanic where everytime you pick something up it doesn't need to be just the one but might pick up mutliple.

Starting out with only two slots forcing you to make a backpack to craft anything else is kinda limiting. Tools should be the first thing you get like in any survival game.

The UI was hard to find until I realised that the keybinds where in the pause menu. I think you should have them also be accessible through buttons in on the screen like in project zomboid. It also felt like project zomboid was the kind of UI you were trying to make. But the windows were static and in awkward places especially the crafting window. Maybe you could make them draggable like in project zomboid.

And as a side note. Forgive me if I'm wrong but I get the feeling that a lot of AI was used both for the game and this page. Not that there is anything wrong with that but you should clean it up to look more neat and human.

Lastly I naturally found many bugs, some minor and some game breaking. But I honestly think this is a really cool and interesting project. It makes me think a lot of games like project zomboid and ark despite those games being lightyears away, this defininitely has potential and if anything you should absolutely continue developing it.

(2 edits)

Hello, thanks for your review. About the craft system, I know it's not explained at all but you can craft with items in adjacent tiles of the player. The adjacents tiles are juste the tile 8 tiles arround including diagonal and the one where is the player. I am working on a basic tutoriel to explain properly.

Also, only the grassland biome is really playable. If I remeber ce other biomes doesn't even have item for now. I think I will remove them for the moment, because a one biome good experience is already a lot of work

And also, it's good that this project reminds you project zomboid, because it's my favourite game and my main inspiration.

(3 edits)

Yea I used AI for the Main menu image and this page to make it quick but I certainly need to rewrite it myself and also the itch capsule. English is not my native language, I will just use AI for traduction.

(3 edits)

For the bugs I am sorry, the january version is very buggy, because it's the first one to introduce stack of items in hands it doesn't work properly. Maybe I will stop to public version each month and post a new version only when all is fixed. Because actually, my game is an constant construction and rénovation, and it's a bit of mess. Not on the code but more on the element implemented. Fixed some of them in the february version. But there is still probably many left.