Townscaper

This is an art toy to savour, and a time-waster of great power.

A pleasant toy for building your own idyllic seaside getaways.

Oskar Stålberg has made a charming and compelling toy for imaginative play. Anyone willing to project themselves into its worlds and tell stories to themselves as they build will have a great time (although young kids might need assistance with the controls). Raw Fury claim to care about “experiences and emotions” not “genres or mechanics”. If that’s where your priorities lie, too, then give Townscaper a shot.

Townscaper VR is one of the first sandbox titles to appear on the Oculus Store. While there could be more to it, simply being in the marketplace is one step ahead of competitors. Despite feeling like it lacked a bit of content, it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience. It still gives Meta Quest 2 users a rare treat.

Townscaper is a charming game for more artistically inclined players. Technically, everything works perfectly; the building system is sophisticated, and with a little patience, you can create truly remarkable works of art. However, the fun of the game literally depends entirely on what you can imagine and then bring to life. So if you aren’t particularly creative and need some goals or instructions while playing, Townscaper probably won’t thrill you much.

Townscaper is about this one thing: Take your time to build your city. Those cities are colorful and full of details. A game as relaxed as it can be. Just a little bit of life is missing from its creations.

Townscaper is the grown-up equivalent of the latest children’s toy that all the kids are all playing with a Fidget Spinner. It is calming, relaxing, refreshing, and gives you creative control over the world you choose to make or just mess around with. I don’t have any niggles with the game, other than I think the addition of having little people appear on the paths that are created would be wonderful. I realise Townscaper will not be a game all gamers will like, but if you are curious you should at least give it a try.

You can make all sorts of island towns in [i]Townscaper[i]. Large and full of detail, small and cute, or messy piles of colourful rock. Your imagination is the limit… unless your boredom wins first. Oskar Stålberg's creation doesn't give you much to work with, and the end result always looks the same, no matter how extravagant and imaginative it is. As a whole, this is like a tiny sample of a meatier game. Fingers crossed for that ever becoming a reality, because it would then be a high recommendation.

Townscaper offers little to keep players engaged and seemingly never will. I have to call it what it is, an early access Steam experiment trying to pass itself off as a full-fledged Switch release. Since the developer admits no DLC's on the horizon to address expected features that are MIA, this incomplete title's one to skip, even at just $5.99.

A soothing, goal‑free building toy that lets you create charming island towns one click at a time. Its smart underlying algorithm turns simple inputs into believable architecture, making the experience relaxing, beautiful, and endlessly pleasant. Even if player control over details is intentionally limited.