▼ Not recommended
19 hrs
I feel bad not recommending this game, because it's not a bad game. I just don't find it fun.
This is definitely a capital I Idle game, which sounds like a silly thing to say, but there's lots of idle games that are much more involved than this one. That's not a bad thing, just a matter of taste. I tend to play idle games more actively, which is probably part of the reason why I bounced off this one.
The game really forces you to keep your village small, to the point where it feels like I can't experiment or try out new buildings because that would use up space and capacity. Capacity, which you have to spend to place (non-decorative) buildings, rapidly became a huge kneecap for me, especially with how expensive it gets so quickly.
As I write this review, it will cost me 64.9k wood to get more capacity. My little helper can carry 55 wood in their backpack per trip. Ignoring the time it will take for them to fill up their backpack, they will need to take 1,180 trips to upgrade my capacity once. I have 9 (non-decorative) buildings placed down. That is absurd. At this point, gathering wood is pointless. Getting tickets and spinning the lottery wheel is the only thing worth focusing on.
Though I saw the lottery wheel on the store page, I wasn't aware of just how dependent the game is on it. I don't really like RNG in games, so I usually don't engage with RNG-dependent mechanics. However, since the lottery is the only way to get buildings and upgrades, tickets are the only thing worth collecting. It's the only way I can even consider gaining more capacity.
Because it's completely random what buildings and upgrades you will get (unless you spend 8 tickets to buy a single building, which is never worth it under any circumstance), it really doesn't feel like I'm making consistent progress, which is unusual for an idle game. Time spend waiting for a ticket may feel worthwhile or worthless depending on the result. Even getting new buildings often doesn't feel good, because I don't have the capacity to deviate from the most optimal strategy, and the most optimal building is usually the one that's already fully upgraded and I've built my island around. I'm just sitting there, waiting for a ticket, so I can spin the wheel, try to win a bunch of wood, and spend it on more capacity, so I can place more of the same buildings.
There's a couple other gripes I have with the game (for example, I think you should unlock the meadow cliffs when you unlock the meadow ground, the puddle when you unlock the stream, all the street layouts at the same time, etc.) but they're not what's stopping me from having fun. I'd like some freedom from the capacity shackles, and some way to spend resources directly on the things I'm interested in (again, ignoring the absurd 8 ticket catalog price). I'm not against having a lottery system, but I want it to feel like a bonus instead of a roadblock.
It's possible the game just isn't meant for a more active playstyle. It does encourage inefficiency on the store page, but there's a difference between encouraging inefficiency and making efficiency unfun. At first, I really enjoyed decorating while I waited, and built a huge island over time, but now it just feels empty. I've created all these spaces for buildings I want to place, but don't have the capacity to.
I think the most fun way to play this game is to, essentially, treat it as a fancy screensaver. Create a tiny island you like to look at, and then ignore everything else. Watch your little helper walk around the screen, but don't worry about what they're doing. Don't even think about the numbers for a second. That's not how I like to play my games, but maybe someone else does.
This is definitely a capital I Idle game, which sounds like a silly thing to say, but there's lots of idle games that are much more involved than this one. That's not a bad thing, just a matter of taste. I tend to play idle games more actively, which is probably part of the reason why I bounced off this one.
The game really forces you to keep your village small, to the point where it feels like I can't experiment or try out new buildings because that would use up space and capacity. Capacity, which you have to spend to place (non-decorative) buildings, rapidly became a huge kneecap for me, especially with how expensive it gets so quickly.
As I write this review, it will cost me 64.9k wood to get more capacity. My little helper can carry 55 wood in their backpack per trip. Ignoring the time it will take for them to fill up their backpack, they will need to take 1,180 trips to upgrade my capacity once. I have 9 (non-decorative) buildings placed down. That is absurd. At this point, gathering wood is pointless. Getting tickets and spinning the lottery wheel is the only thing worth focusing on.
Though I saw the lottery wheel on the store page, I wasn't aware of just how dependent the game is on it. I don't really like RNG in games, so I usually don't engage with RNG-dependent mechanics. However, since the lottery is the only way to get buildings and upgrades, tickets are the only thing worth collecting. It's the only way I can even consider gaining more capacity.
Because it's completely random what buildings and upgrades you will get (unless you spend 8 tickets to buy a single building, which is never worth it under any circumstance), it really doesn't feel like I'm making consistent progress, which is unusual for an idle game. Time spend waiting for a ticket may feel worthwhile or worthless depending on the result. Even getting new buildings often doesn't feel good, because I don't have the capacity to deviate from the most optimal strategy, and the most optimal building is usually the one that's already fully upgraded and I've built my island around. I'm just sitting there, waiting for a ticket, so I can spin the wheel, try to win a bunch of wood, and spend it on more capacity, so I can place more of the same buildings.
There's a couple other gripes I have with the game (for example, I think you should unlock the meadow cliffs when you unlock the meadow ground, the puddle when you unlock the stream, all the street layouts at the same time, etc.) but they're not what's stopping me from having fun. I'd like some freedom from the capacity shackles, and some way to spend resources directly on the things I'm interested in (again, ignoring the absurd 8 ticket catalog price). I'm not against having a lottery system, but I want it to feel like a bonus instead of a roadblock.
It's possible the game just isn't meant for a more active playstyle. It does encourage inefficiency on the store page, but there's a difference between encouraging inefficiency and making efficiency unfun. At first, I really enjoyed decorating while I waited, and built a huge island over time, but now it just feels empty. I've created all these spaces for buildings I want to place, but don't have the capacity to.
I think the most fun way to play this game is to, essentially, treat it as a fancy screensaver. Create a tiny island you like to look at, and then ignore everything else. Watch your little helper walk around the screen, but don't worry about what they're doing. Don't even think about the numbers for a second. That's not how I like to play my games, but maybe someone else does.
8 found helpful
Steam ↗
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