It’s not by accident but by impeccable design that the person writing this preview was born into a lower-middle-class family in Kerala over 30 years ago. Kerala ranks among the top states in India in terms of annual per capita consumption expenditure on alcohol. As fate would have it, my hometown of Pala is all the more renowned for its meme-worthy obsession with alcoholic beverages. You can probably guess where this is going. All the men in my family have kept a close relationship with the devil’s drink, some more than others. Couple this with my academic interest in medieval-early modernity Europe and you can bet your sweet behind that a beer-brewing simulator/tycoon game set in a 15th-century Roman monastery would be right up my alley. I am the target demographic…
If I haven’t made it clear already, Ale Abbey has been on the top of my wishlist ever since its initial announcement last year during the PCGS, and the hype kept getting unchecked with each new community post and its Steam Fest demo. Summarized as “Monastery Brewery Tycoon”, Ale Abbey is all about taking control of a Roman monastery whose sole purpose is to brew the finest beverages in all of the lands. The monks and nuns of the aptly titled “Fermentine Order” toil away day and night to make this dream come true. +1 for gender equality. The dusty cellars of a ramshackle monastery will one day birth the most heavenly drinks ever known to man.
After putting in around 4 hours in a single stretch, I concluded that Ale Abbey is not a full-blown Tycoon simulator but a very accessible management game, similar to the likes of Fallout Shelter. This proved to be a blessing for me as my reptilian brain completely shuts down under pressure. I was there for only one thing – to brew the finest ale in the most layman’s way possible, and Ale Abbey gave me just that. As explained in the tutorial by the monastery counselor “Brother Maltus” (*ahem*), the objective of the game is to make brewing history. It’s going to be a team effort.
If you’re a novice in these types of Management Sims, the tutorial of Ale Abbey doesn’t do a good job of laying out everything it has to offer. Sure, it teaches you the basics of brewing but a lot is left to the player to learn on their own, especially the UI elements. I first played Ale Abbey on the Steam Deck and the current control scheme as well as readability leaves a lot to be desired, leading to a sour first hour. But the developers have promised proper Steam Deck compatibility down the line, which is nice because this game should do great with the Deckheads (yes, that’s what we Steam Deck owners call ourselves these days). I then hopped over to my laptop and it was smooth sailing from there. It took me a while to figure out the mechanics but hey, if a dum-dum like me can do it, so can anyone!
The gameplay loop of Ale Abbey is pretty simple once you get the hang of things. The monastery is divided into several rooms, all of which serve a particular purpose. The current Early Access build includes various rooms like a Library, Brewery, Cellar, Rectory, Dormitory, etc. In Fallout Shelter fashion, players can eventually expand the monastery to build more rooms. But rooms aren’t alone. Who will brew the ales? This is where the nuns and monks of the Fermentine Order come into play. You start out with just one of each but can hire more as the situation demands it. Each nun/monk has various stats and needs players will need to pay constant attention to. For example, forcing a monk to brew the same ale over and over again will piss them off, resulting in them slacking off at work. Some monks and nuns are good at specific things and it’s up to the player to play to their strengths. Moreover, they need to be well-fed, and well-rested and special care has to be given to monastery decorations and hygiene. Monastic Poverty has no place in Ale Abbey and no one prefers to work in a dark, drab room.
Like any good sim, there are upgrade paths for the monastery and its inhabitants. After all, you don’t want to be stuck in an endless loop of making the same, flavorless Light Ale. While all the core mechanics are in place, Ale Abbey is still an Early Access game. What this means is that the current build features 5 different markets and 11 beer styles to brew. New room types, more Markets to access, and more Styles to brew as well as an expanded variety of player actions, more varying monks and nuns behaviors, and more Fermentines management tools will follow.
But what about the brewing process itself? After all, isn’t this what the whole game is about? Like most other mechanics in the game, ale brewing in Ale Abbey is easy to understand but hard to master. It’s a pretty involved but accessible process, all things considered. To brew an Ale, the player will need to have researched the recipe using existing beer styles or experimental ones. Rest assured, it’s not as involved or cumbersome as Alchemy from KCD but instead is more about adding, removing, mixing, and matching various ingredients to balance an ale’s flavor, color, strength, and foamness. The Ale can then be mass-produced over a few days and can either be sold off in markets or stored in the cellar to be used by the monks and nuns. Rinse and repeat, all through a few button clicks. There’s even a nifty speed control panel in the upper right of the HUD that basically makes the game incredibly convenient and relaxing to play – your game, your pace.
With the basics of brewing at the monastery’s disposal, players will be able to fulfill specific requests, complete quests, expand the monastery by building more floors, and rooms as well as decorate them with an assortment of…decor and, micromanage the mood swings of the worker bees. If the player blocks themselves into a corner (which is kind of impossible to do unless you’re really aiming for it), they can just start over with newfound knowledge and gain back the lost progress in no time. I know this because I’ve done it. I never said I was any good at management sims now, did I? All in the hopes of making that perfect batch of holy fervor!
INITIAL IMPRESSION
I’ve been playing Ale Abbey non-stop before taking an hour’s break to write this preview. Despite the Early Access tag, I can see Management Sim enthusiasts easily put in more than 20 hours into the game at the very least. The developers seem to be very active on Steam Forums and are eager to take feedback, give tips, and generally be a jolly bunch. My most hyped wishlist turned out to be what every Early Access title should strive to be; a polished, feature-rich experience that’s worth the asking price right off the bat. If you’ll excuse me, I have some Liquid Courage to brew.
