Pros
- Decent graphics.

- Animation when buildings are being constructed is neat.

- Citizen walking paths develop roads.

Cons
- The start can be brutal for new players, though less now since there is a tutorial. You can put yourself in a lost situation if you don't build a logging camp immediately. You can lose families if you don't get all the houses built by November.

- AI behavior is annoying and based on profit. If you don't have enough people in your town, low profit jobs will be ignored for higher paying. This can be alleviated by making every job the same wage but it's a little annoying to keep finding my work buildings empty because I built a higher wage building elsewhere.

- All the maps have crappy terrain that limits growth. This can be aggravating when trying to create bridges in spots but the terrain is too low. This forces you to build the bridge somewhere else, much farther away at times. I'd like to place things where I want them.

probably the most rigorous settlement building game

Ostriv is captivating and beautiful game with just the right touch of roughness for reality. I love the family tree feature, where you see when the family moved to the village, how much money and stored produce they have, all the family members and their current professions etc.

Some of the houses can have small gardens. At first, it wasn't really clear to me, that you can buy the surplus produce farmed in these gardens from the residents. Then, of course, you can resell it back to the other residents (at higher price) in the market stalls. Another option is to use the produce as pig feed or sell out of the village. Even in this smallish feature, you have real options depending on the needs of your town. Finding this sort of precise touches, are the gem-like moments not many games have.

I cannot wait for the game to grow. Definitely recommend.