Townscaper, where you do nothing but paint yourself an idyllic little village, was one of my absolute favourite games of 2020. And that was when it was on the PC. Now that it’s coming to phones, meaning I can play it anywhere, I am in serious trouble.
If you’ve never played it, it’s a city-builder but also a paint program, dropping you onto an empty space of ocean then giving you the tools to build a settlement. Thins is, you don’t have to worry about anything. There are no systems here, so you don’t need to find everyone jobs, or feed them, or run out of money.
Just build whatever you want! And LISTEN TO THIS POPPING SOUND:
It’s coming this summer to Switch and mobile, but the announcement also says this coincides with the “full release” on PC as well (I have only just realised it’s been in early access this whole time, because it is already perfect).
DISCUSSION
This toy rules.
Not trying to do weird gatekeeping of what is or isn’t a game, which it definitely is - it’s just also a great toy. It’s therapeutic just to plop buildings down, fun to mess around with for a while, it gives you pretty pictures real easily, and it doesn’t ask anything more. It's great!