Review was published as of v1.0.4 (most likely the final update, but mentioning just in case).
Theme: Game development. Very well utilized, as while the layers are not necessarily about specific game parts (Story, Gameplay, Graphics, etc.) they are related to game devving and what comes with it (Updates, Experience, Cash, School, Fame, etc.) and their upgrades/buyables/challenges fit perfectly.
Gameplay and core mechanics: At first, the only layer is Updates. You have to accumulate hours of work, then publish the game to get updates. Once you have enough updates, you can start over for Experience or sell the game for Cash. Since your hours of work steadily go down, resetting for Experience to delay the productivity slowdown is vital. Also, one thing to note about the game is that layers are only reset among branches, so you need to decide when to reset which layer and that it may be best keeping the ones that are unconnected at a decent level. Quite unique and encourages strategic thinking, instead of just resetting to get the newest resource, but doesn't punish less experienced players.
Balancing and difficulty: Not too easy, but not too hard either. Some parts will require thinking to get the best setup or not spend the resource immediately, but the game's generally quite fast and there's a steady feeling of progression. One endgame challenge has been admitted to be poorly balanced by the developer, and I agree (get ready to wait for a while, even if you know what you're doing). One endgame resource also gets the biggest boosts from a specific buyable (hint: its effect is applied to a layer in row 2).
Content on offer: Average length, at least a few hours. There are 11 decently fleshed-out layers.
Polish and miscellaneous additions: The style is unlike anything that came before (and would serve as basis for the Nordic theme in Profectus by the same developer). There are descriptions for each layer that flesh out the lore (it's not some breathtaking story, but it's there). Your hours of work are compared to a greater amount of time (really gets absurd after a while)... If there's one thing that's worth nitpicking about, it's that fans are not calculated well (the game writes them like 1e8e30 regardless of whether you have e8e32 or e8e33, which can make judging the precise number difficult, but at least the productivity multiplier helps and it overall won't matter much in the grand scheme of things).
This is, in my mind, the ideal game for beginners to The Modding Tree. It really shows what kind of highs you can see in games made in the engine, is very open and forgiving, but still requires thought, and has just enough content to intrigue potential players without being intimidating.
VideoGame The ideal game for beginners to The Modding Tree (v1.0.4)
Review was published as of v1.0.4 (most likely the final update, but mentioning just in case).
This is, in my mind, the ideal game for beginners to The Modding Tree. It really shows what kind of highs you can see in games made in the engine, is very open and forgiving, but still requires thought, and has just enough content to intrigue potential players without being intimidating.
Overall Rank: A (Awesome)