I tested the opening in v2026.1.0 (English, Normal, offline progress off) with Codex operating the desktop browser. This is a bounded instruction check, not the full hour-long playtest or a human pacing review.
I gathered 5 Experience and 2 Meal, researched Agreement, then applied and ran a one-step “Gather berries” program. The Sequence label and the working/free people counters made the one-shot execution clear. The draft also survived leaving and reopening the embedded game.
I hit a specific guidance gap at First steps 6/10: it asks me to research “Routine,” but the research screen shows only Fire, Agreement and Toolmaking by name; the remaining nodes are “Unknown research.” “Show me” takes me to that tree without naming the prerequisite I need next. An instruction such as “Research X first to reveal Routine,” or showing Routine as a locked named node, would give the next action without requiring a guess.
I’m building Turnfeed Kingdoms, where players delegate kingdom decisions to Codex, so the transition from manual work to automation is particularly relevant. Happy to compare a first-decision flow if useful; I haven’t tested later research or the Bronze Age economy.