Continuing the Tales of Danger story, First Footholds picks up with the initial villages established on the uninhabited archipelago discovered in the first game in the series.
Players take on the roles of village leaders, each building a village on their own island. On each turn, they will assign the people of their village to gather building materials and food, provide defense, build buildings, store supplies, and respond to events. At the end of each turn, new people arrive to help for the next turn.
The game takes place over 6 turns, spread across a Prelude and 3 Acts, with game features added and removed for each Act. Points are scored on buildings, events, supplies, and a secret scoring goal for each player, and the player with the most points wins.
Gameplay is centered around worker placement and resource production and spending. It is playable solo, and also with 2 to 5 players.
—description from the publisher