Paragon Pioneers

One reviewer's title for their write-up of Paragon Pioneers says most of what needs saying: "Anno series plus orcs!" That's the comparison this small game earns consistently across its equally small Steam review base — 28 English-language reviews in total, every one of them read in full for this piece rather than sampled, because there simply isn't a larger pool to draw from. What that small sample describes, though, is a genuinely well-regarded game with a devoted following rather than an obscure disappointment.

Anno, slowed down and idled out

The pitch: discover and conquer islands, build supply chains to keep a growing population fed, housed and satisfied, and optimise your layout as your colony expands — all running on a relaxed, real-time pace rather than demanding constant active attention. "It's an island/colony management game," reads one review. "It's easy to learn, but hard to master. The building layout planning is a nice challenge." Another draws the same comparison from a different angle: "This is a beautiful and absolutely addictive game... Anno series meet Idle games the right way." The developer, Tobias Arlt, draws specific credit from multiple reviewers for staying engaged with the community: "They seem responsive on the various platforms the game is on, have taken feedback well and implemented feature requests," reads one review from a player who otherwise didn't connect with the game.

The pacing complaint

The consistent criticism in the small negative sample is about speed, and it's a real structural choice rather than a bug: building production and exploration run on real-world timers, with no option to speed them up. "Slow building production and long boat times severely limit the amount of time you can actually spend playing the game," reads one negative review, "which made me quickly lose interest after the first couple islands." Another puts it more bluntly: "The game would be fun, if it had 100x speed. Now its just waiting for days (real life days!) before you can get things done." That's not a universal complaint — several of the most enthusiastic positive reviews specifically frame the slow pace as the point, describing the game as something you check in on briefly once or twice a day rather than sit down and play — but it's the one consistent thing separating this game's fans from the players who bounced off it.

A handful of reviewers also flag a technical oddity: the game apparently runs uncapped, high framerates for relatively simple 2D visuals, with one specifically asking the developer to add a frame-rate cap "my RTX 4080 could save some watts if it stopped trying to hit 2000 fps all the time." It's a minor complaint in absolute terms, but a real one given how little the visuals otherwise demand.

A small, real audience

The extraordinary playtimes some reviewers report — 627, 1,324, even 2,617 hours — are worth reading the same way this library treats any background-idle title: as evidence of a comfortable, long-running habit rather than active engagement across all those hours. What they do confirm is a real, if small, base of players who've stuck with this game for years since its 2022 release. The achievement data supports a gentle, welcoming curve for the basics — 93.5% for the first population milestone, over 50% for several early construction and discovery goals — consistent with an approachable game that mostly loses people to pacing rather than difficulty.

6.5 out of 10. Paragon Pioneers is a well-made, charming idle colony builder from a responsive solo developer, genuinely loved by the small audience that's found it, and priced cheaply enough to make trying it a low-stakes decision. Its slow, no-speed-up pacing is a real and consistent limiting factor for anyone wanting an actively-played city builder rather than a background hobby — know which one you want before buying.