Little Kitty, Big City
Little Kitty, Big City
Game
Game2023
Goblins of Elderstone
Developer Outerdawn, Lost Goblin
This Goblin Tribe Simulator brings a challenging blend of chaos and creativity to the city-building genre. Build dwellings, manage your resources, defend your goblins, and grow your tribe, and please the Gods! Do you have what it takes to control the chaos and rule the unruly? From the Steam store page
184 reactions from 3 sources (Steam reviews, Lemmy, Bluesky) · newest Sep 13, 2026 · last updated Oct 8, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
69
Fresh
122 positive · 56 negative
95% range 61–75%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 122 | 56 | 0 |
| Lemmy * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
6 newer reactions are still waiting for a label.
Steam's own rating
Mostly Positive
293 of 403 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What people are saying
Summary pending — the reactions are listed below.
Reactions
60 of 184 · most liked firstPicked this up because i was craving a colony sim. Saw that this one just "released" into 1.0, and it had a small sale and it was cute. Out of all the options I was looking at for colony sims most of them were still in early access, and the allure of having a game be fully released and completed made me choose this, however, the game doesn't feel worthy of being out of early access. First and foremost the biggest issue I have with this game is it feels like there is zero consideration when it…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game has some allure to it but lets get to the glaring problems I have seen. The player has no agency over combat. to the point that auto chess games feel more intuitive. The AI controls all beings in the game, while you only set rules for limited behavior. Pray your defenders don't lemming their way into death beyond your immediate territory. Along with combat... issues. This game gives players very little room to vary their game play as there are so many requirements to be successful…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →its not a full game yet. So many obvious bugs. The Ai is also not advance enough to excuse no direct control over gobbos. Iv'e gotten to a point where half my goblins wont work because they dont have things they want but to make the things they want they need to work. Also i keep getting pawn errors where they wont pickup random drops on the ground and wont take resources to the places they need to go to make more stuff even though i have like 14+ peons and have set job rules to make sure there…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's cute, the goblins and their terrible buildings are cute, and there's clearly a lot of heart put into the game but the game itself hits a wall after your village gets to a certain size. Some issues I encountered: After you get to about 50+ goblins, the game starts to go into a death spiral. More goblins start needing more and more materials crafted for them. Which require more goblins to make those materials. Let me break the production chain down: Everything starts with peons, which are…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I want to love this game so very badly. The theme, the art, the story, the world, all the sorts of things I want from a base building game. Unfortunately it is missing some very basic management tools so maintaining a simple functioning base is extremely difficult. I feel bad giving this a thumbs down, but it's so frustrating trying to maintain production chains that I cannot recommend this game. --------------------------------------------------------- Good: + Theme is fun and well…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →yet another unfinished game on here.... im fed up being a beta tester for all these companies I miss the days when people would work on their OWN GAMES then put them on the market now a days we the consumer are also the beta testers and game designers IM DONE WITH IT
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →a city builder that doesn't allow you to build roads. instead you just hope that they will happen. a city builder that doesn't allow you to build basic food production. instead you just hope that it'll happen. a city builder that doesn't allow you to limit production. instead you have to juggle work force constantly. a city builder that requires your workers to have items which in turn require materials that said workers have to produce. and no, the game doesn't provide initial amounts of said…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Goblins of Elderstone, a goblin colony management game, releases their 1.5 update titled "Return of the Burrows". [Steam store page](https://store.steampowered.com/app/693580/Goblins_of_Elderstone/)
unlabelledView post →This game is actually really great. I can't think of anything I don't like about it. It's cuter than you would imagine. The goblins are adorable. The mechanics are intuitive for the most part and there is a really good tutorial anyway, You can just start playing until you exhaust yourself. It's that kind of game. Super good for mind numbing, which is why i needed the game. Enjoyable and fun. Try it! It's on sale right now, too. xo
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I absolutely love and adore this game! This has scratched the goblin itch i've had for a long time now. One major issue I have been having is with the AI. They won't pick up tools even though I have an ample supply. This was especially the problem with the haulers, who would haul the tools, but never pick them up and use them. Eventually they rebelled because of this... In short AI needs help, but still a good game. Also goblins freeze to death when hiding in their homes even with firewood?…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I see the mixed reviews so I feel inclined to post that I had a positive experience with this game because I really like it. Pros: The systems are very intuitive, the game runs very smooth, the art style is very endearing. the building aesthetics are exactly what I want from a goblin city builder. Cons: A lot of the gripes that people have are valid. Some of the systems don't work when you need them to. Resources not being used or allocated properly, goblins getting mad about not having…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The best possible Goblin Simulator. Pros: * Sticks * Rocks * Frogs * Gobbos bein' little guys all over. Cons: * Dwarfs * Skellingtons * Cold Winters This is the game you were looking for when you clicked on this page, worth its price tag, even not on sale.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is SUPER cute, but the gobo AI is too stupid to live, and the resource needs balance is pants-on-head in big floppy clown shoes levels of ridiculous. I will recommend the game if the following issues are ever resolved: - Whatever balancing issue causes you to need like half the population cutting wood and making kindling. Seriously. Stop. All they do with all that kindling is set the city on fire and freeze to death anyway. - Whatever balancing issue makes you need the other half…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is good, tho it has some growing to do. The devs seem very dedicated and I fully expect the issues that do exist to be remediated. The bad: - Pathing isn't always so smart - I want more impact from the "Story" of the goblin tribe you're starting (good, neutral, evil or trade, war, faith, etc.) - Goblins come with traits and there seem to be a few (namely one, "Insomniac") which are too common and extremely annoying. - There seems to be a weird prioritizing issue. You need peons…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game was clunky and weird, but cozy and fun. 2.0 - made it POS. Levle generation is broken (it was broken before, but now it sucks, you should really think about in-game\in-map re-generate button, starting new game, saw badly randomised map, exit, repeat to see even worse generated map - it is frustration, not fun. Mount biome - is flat, there is not enough relief diversity. Congrats, devs, you broke your own game. Sadly, gobblas are fun fellows.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →So hey! Didja know I'm a video game character now? Folks at Lost Goblin (the Devs behind Goblins of Elderstone) were kind enough to make me a hero in their game a year or two ago! All as thanks for the support and content I've been giving and making of their game since early betas.
unlabelledView post →Goblins of Elderstone is a game that has its charms and unique features, but it falls short in several key areas. On the positive side, the game's cute visuals are endearing, and there are some interesting spins on the colony-sim genre that help it stand out from similar titles. However, the music is forgettable and unremarkable albeit not a drawback either per se. Unfortunately, the game's AI pathing and logic are subpar, even compared to some mobile games. The simplification of the stat…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I love goblins and this game hit the spot on their quirky/rascally personalities. Had a lot of fun building the bases too! The graphics are cute and well done and very charming imo.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →So after 230 hours of gameplay I am sad to say that I am putting this game down. This recent update was the deciding factor. Now this game has always been on the hard side and I have always been able to make it to the trekks and a little beyond, but now with the new update it is impossible to make it out of the beginning/middle stages of the game. Here's why: 1) The starter map will load without certain resources (i.e. frogs, herbs, ect.) 2) The tutorial is out of order and makes you use…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game has progressed allot since the last time i played this but it still need allot of work. Its pretty hard to keep the goblins happy as resources you need are spread all over the map and workers killing them selves by freezing to death in winter or walking into hostile creatures over and over again or just killing each other because they are unhappy. You have very little control and it spirals out of hand easily as you grow and their needs get bigger then what you can provide them with.…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I wish I could recommend this game, I really do the charm, art and concept I absolutely love. However as a game it fails almost completely. The game is missing an extreme amount of content, has pathing/AI issues and (incomplete) feature bloat as well as consistently crashing (A new problem that has arisen since official release). To combat this the game uses artificial difficulty to keep players from burning through the content in three maybe four hours and to obfuscate incomplete features.…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Love this game, I love how it flips the trend that you can't just build up exponentially indefinitely you have to actually care for the gobbo's you have, if you expand too quickly you won't have enough wood or food for everyone in winter and have to make tough decisions on who gets those life saving provisions. Also cute goblins are cute, the random events are definitely my favourite part. In my gameplay I had to make a political decision on if trespassing was an executable crime, reluctantly I…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is charming, cute and bursting with potential. BUT: - It's poorly optimised? (my 2080 ran it a 90% usage... not normal for a game that look like this) - The game lacks basic features like zoning for your goblins. Because if one of them happens to walk near a worg/wolf den and die, all your hauler goblins are going to rush to their death trying to get the stick he dropped. This is a game ending thing that can't be countered until mid/late game. My 30 goblin village was reduced to 10…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a first impressions type review i really havent seen all of what this game offers by any stretch of the imagination but unfortunately to my mind there is a fundamental failure which if unaddressed will always prevent this game being what it wants to be, The problem is that resources are undervalued, what do i mean by that? Everything costs like 10 or 20 of something and there isnt enough labour added value to the commodities. Ok? Why does that matter, why is it such an issue? Well…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →122 hours played, I would have recommended it before 100%, not now 1. The immersion is not longer there, they just drop you into it, before you could chose your gods try to get a map you want but now you can't. 2. It feels like I don't have a choice, I know not all games give you a choice but now it's play how they like mainly one path and its broken. 3. The game is broken, before the randomizer was great, It help with unplayable map generation, now they just give you the map and you…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game is not your standard city-builder game. There are several key pieces of functionality missing to be a classic builder game, but that isn't a bad thing - just different. There are many QoL changes that should be made to make the game better (resource limits, dialog management, etc.) but overall a fun game so far. It seems like the devs are interested in making the game better, and I expect it will get better over time. They have already added new features and fixed major issues.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Goblins of Elderstone has a great foundation its a nice mix between a traditional 4X and a Colony Sim. The adorable aesthetic of the game gives it a unique charm and I've enjoyed the time I've spent on the game. I have got some issues but they mainly stem from managing certain aspects of the game being very limited such as happyness and ensuring certain gobbies don't leave defensable areas during attacks With active development on this game and future updates to AI and resource balancing…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I'm just a regular person like everyone else. So I see goblin game, I get.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I just really like goblins, I think they're neat.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I will not lie, there are a few things that I have qualms about and If they were fixed it would be a even better experience, but they will probably be fixed in a patch or update. That being said I love Goblins of Elderstone It is one of the few games that I have found in my life as a gamer that Portray's Goblins as actually likable vs the generic trope of "They are evil vile monsters, who commit horrible and unspeakable acts of evil, Kill them all and have no remorse for these malicious…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Gives me my Goblin fix and not a bad game. pretty good my one issue is that theres some bugs that need some fixing still Still good for an early game
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I really like the premise of this game, but its clunky in many of the aspects that make god games even playable. half the resources you need are far away, so you build burrows right? Well enemies now target those burrows, but priorities dont mean much in this game so you finally got the goblins to trek across worg filled lands, losing 10 goblins to build the burrows, but now enemies target it, tower or no tower your goblins dont go through the burrows to defend it, so the burrow breaks so you…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →You know how in these games there are 2 phase? The set up and the sustain? When you enter the sustain phase, GoE just sort of stops being sustainable. It was fun at first, but the more I played and the further I got, the more the game lost me.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →-- Long story short DO NOT BUY UNTIL FINISHED-- at least until they fix some major issues with the games core systems : It makes me very sad to say because fundamentally the ideas behind this game are extremely fun, cute and addicting. But in its current state I would not recommend purchasing due to some serious issues which im surprised made it into full release. : ISSUES : 1. Late game is stupidly punishing, as goblins require specific materials to be hauled around through peons or haulers…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A unique, whimsical, colourful, and funny city builder. I've played a handful of heavy and light city builders and I found Goblins of Elderstone as a nice middle point, which is something I appreciate. When it's your first time, the game can be a bit confusing and difficult. But as you learn from your mistakes, you get better and better and that sense of progression, achievement, and mastery has been very rewarding for me. I definitely recommend this game to people who love city builders, at…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It s kinda funny and cute in the Beginning which is a big plus. On the other Hand it does give you only like 3 Hours of Fun Gameplay. Meaning it gets Boring really quick cause u dont have to do much other than replace ur Goblins after they die of old age. Defending the city is very depressing when ur Guard Goblins dont go to the Guard Towers. So to sum it up it s not a complete Game atM and it lacks features, but it has potential. Assuming it is 4 years in early Access for me it s a big…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I LOVE ALL MY LITTLE GOBLIN CHILDREN
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Simple, fun and nice. But a bit annoying at times. Mid-esque saved by being goblin themed. If my human pawns where this violent and incompetent i would not have beared it.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →its a goblin city builder, need i say more? do sprites listen? occasionally. do they get lost sometimes and cant find tasks? yup. Do you have to convince some of them that now is not the time to sleep and maybe they should put out the raging fire? also true. Thats goblins though, while it isnt finished it has a great early game and a decent middle. cant wait to see the end game
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I can't in good conscience recommend this game at least for now this has been the only game i've played where it's possible to fail the tutorial For starters the good: The ability to choose your level such as good, neutral or evil is very cool, Art style wise the game looks great and i'm a big fan of it and I would definitely say it's pretty basic to understand not in a bad way but accessible so that both new and veteran Colony sim players would enjoy it The Bad: Back to my previous point…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Cute but hard at times.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Game looks like fun, everything worked, lovely details and I prpbably need to start from scratch again because I watched the Goblins for too long doing their daily business and didn't take care of the actual game. I feel like the negative reviews were created by people that didn't consider the price this game costs. Its not trible A, some more tutorials would be great and as it sounds some balancing is needed for the late game. Definitely nothing that would lead to a "don't recommend"...…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →although cute and fun, the game still has problems with AI. No crash though. in my case the goblins will stop harvesting and then died by starving one by one although I still have 100 berries ... wait until they repair the AI.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Goblins are cool. Graphics are cool. Having no control over any troops and only being able to press a panic button and hope the crappy AI doesnt run your king into a horde of undead without any backup not as cool. Goblins still cool.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I don't mind when a game is hard, but Goblins of Elderstone is hard for the wrong reasons. Good difficulty is when the player's skill can be used to overcome challenges. Bad difficulty is when the player is not given enough information to overcome obstacles, or even to know what's going wrong in the first place. Goblins will randomly stop working, regardless of traits or mood or any other discernible cause. The game will tell you a goblin is freezing or unhappy or whatever, but all you can do…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A Charming Game I Really Wanted To Like. I really wanted to like this game but it can be tedious at best and rage inducing at worst. The TLDR is that the ai is far too stupid for the very limited amount of control you have over it. The Long version is the bare bones priority system just doesnt work. You will have an important building labeled as the priority(no values just its THE priority or its not), have no other buildings under construction, and have all the resources ready and your…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →First impressions of the game is good, I like the whole aesthetic of the game and the goblins themselves are pretty cool. the systems at play are a lot more in depth than I thought and there is still a lot of things I dont know, but what I do know, is that I hate elves
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →one of my friends bought this for me, and I love it! The graphics are cute as heck, the audio is fantastic, and everything about it is so much fun! i end up hyperfocusing on colony sim games every so often, and this is definitely gonna be one of them! 10/10 still dont like the skeletons -_- they're MEAN!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →stumbled upon the same glitch twice where i couldn't produce any planks its a very fun game but that one glitch destroyed everything please i'm begging someone to fix it!
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Goblins of Elderstone, goblin village management games, release a major Update 1.4 - The King’s New Clothes with a focus on balance and QoL improvements. [Steam Page](https://store.steampowered.com/app/693580/Goblins_of_Elderstone/) Have about ~20 hours in this game, it's a unique take albeit 1.0 was somewhat flawed in the late game. These updates seem to address a lot of the feedback from players.
unlabelledView post →Bring glory to your gobo tribe within this colony sim game!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →😈GOBLIN CHEWSDAY!!😈 🔥IT IS GOBLIN CHEWSDAY EVERYONE!! Gonna be playing a Goblin themed game we haven’t played for a while, Goblins of Elderstone! Its had a new patch and i'm very excited to try it out!🔥 🔗in replies!~ #Vtuber #ENVtuber
unlabelledView post →Its a fun and cute game, great time killer too xD
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A cute/challenging little time sink full of goblin shenanigans. Has great potential with a few bugs here and there, but overall a nice distraction from life for a few hours. P.S. Don't forget to gather frogs.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Love the little touches with the goblins in the game! The language is fun to listen to while they're complaining, chatting, or yelling in terror while fleeing from enemies. They'll change clothes based on their job with some pretty adorable and thematic outfits. There are some nice effects such as the goblins leaving furrows in the snow drifts they walk through and the buildings lighting up at night with fires. I like the visual style of the various buildings in the game as well as the gods who…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →There's a resource called "shinies." It's rare and you can't mine it. You have to raid for it. Do I need to say more? Lots of charm. Lots of theme. The economic need to raid is interesting (more than just the shinies--eventually your settlement can't sustain itself without raiding) and it's an extension of theme. Different approach to roads that I like. Again, sparks interesting choices. I do have questions about the endgame but isn't that always so with city builders? I'm enjoying my…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Finally got through the learning curve. Then my King ran out to 1v1 a Skeleton King later in the game and the game ended. Nah. Why cant you manually control your King to at least stop him from doing stupid stuff like this?
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great chill 4x with goblins. Has a very unique charm to it. Fun to play, with different build paths. With plenty of replay ability. Game is easily worth 25$. Everything is fine and dandy till the king starts to riot! For the current Price this game is a steal, period. Pick it up, enjoy.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Digging the cute low poly art style :)
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you enjoy city building games, you will like this game. You just have to stick with it long enough to learn how to play it because you will pretty much be teaching yourself. And I don't find the UI to be completely intuitive. However, it has a fun and cute flavor to it with the city belonging to goblins. Now that I have played about 40 hours of this game, I am again at the point of frustration with it. In the beginning of the game, it is the first winter that is a serious challenge to get…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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