All posts tagged in Sandbox
Sep 21, 2023
Fantastic Haven takes place in a world where magic has been gradually fading while technological advances take over. These advances threaten the balance, and your role as the Elders means it’s up to you to help rebalance the world. You need to save the magical creatures people like to hunt. Use diplomacy and teach people how to live in harmony with these fantastic creatures!
You’ll start by choosing the perfect starting spot. Pick from a number of different areas in Fantastic Haven, each coming with their own challenges, and begin building basic infrastructure. Unlock new research and buildings as you play to be able to welcome the magical creatures to this new haven you’re creating. Even send your mages out into the world to find new creatures, negotiate with hostile populations, and more. Every choice you make can impact how your future turns out, so choose wisely.
As you find the magical creatures of Fantastic Haven and bring them back to your refuge, you’ll place them in the quarantine facility. Then, you can place them in an existing biotope (enclosure) or create a new one. Either way, you’ll need to respect its needs, as well as its compatibility with other creatures to find it the perfect home. Your goal is to take great care of these creatures before returning them to the wilds, so meeting their demands is important for restoring magic into the world!
Coming Soon
You’ll find Fantastic Haven on Steam and GOG next year! There are plans for releases on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation, and Xbox sometime after that, too.
Planet Zoo is another great zoo game!
- Aug 24, 2023
A terrible storm rages around you and casts your vessel into the rocks of a nearby island. You wake up to your ship in pieces, shipwrecked on an island full of frogs. Discover what there is to find on this strange new island. Mingle with the locals. Also work to repair your ship. You’re in charge of how your adventure unfolds in Time on Frog Island.
Explore the sandbox world at your own pace. Perhaps run around to take in the sights or experiment with items you find. Any item in Time on Frog Island might be useful in your adventures by helping you run faster, jump higher, or fall slower. You never know what will come in handy, so try everything! Get to know the local frog villagers and help them out where you can. Even learn new skills from them, then put those skills to the test around the island!
When you’re not exploring, perhaps try your hand at farming or fishing. You can even brew some potions that will change how you get around the island. And when you’re tired of all that, work on fixing your ship! Ask the residents of Time on Frog Island what items you’ll need for the job. You’ll probably need to complete a quest or do a frog a favor in order to obtain your item, but why not lend a helping hand? You’ll even spend time solving fun puzzles to get your hands on the items you need to repair your ship.
Available Now
Time on Frog island is available on Steam and Nintendo Switch now!
Looking for more froggy fun? Checkout Frogun, A Frog’s Tale, and Frogsong.
- Aug 24, 2023
The spirit of the forest has transferred you to the parallel dimension of Firefly Cove. You’re warmly welcomed by the citizens of this magical town where whispers of a legend come true. Some legends say there is one powerful enough to restore the balance of nature spirits, become a dragon kin, and uncover the secrets of the dragon ruins. Will that be you? Can you learn magic, become a great magician, and make this mysterious place your home?
Hotaru Village is where you find your new home in Firefly Cove. There, you can befriend the villagers and learn the stories. You can even go on adventures with them. Take part in seasonal village celebrations throughout the year like Dance of the fireflies, too. Develop different skills like farming, foraging, mining, magic and more. Even hone your magical abilities like water-bending, and show those skills off to the Dragon Temple.
Firefly Cove is even co-op! Team up in multiplayer mode to restore balance to nature spirits with your friends. Cross-play and split-screen are both available.
Coming Soon
Firefly Cove is coming soon. You can find it on Steam, where you can add it to your Wishlist!
Want more unique farming games? Check out Wish Upon a Llama, Moondrop, and Farm Folks.
- Aug 2, 2023
Desktop Virtual Pets
Remember back when desktop computers were chunky, took up a whole desk, and ran Windows ‘95? I do. In fact, my family kept that computer for decades longer than we should have. It still ran, but mostly sat and collected dust as we moved on to sleeker laptop options. There’s a lot of nostalgia surrounding that giant computer, though. From the screaming dial-up internet tones, to using the AOL browser, and all the fun that machine brought, I remember it fondly.
My favorite part, though, was the desktop pets and companions you could download. There were tons to choose from, too. There was Catz and Dogz for those who wanted a real pet, but couldn’t. You fed, watered, and played with your canine or feline fiends. There was even an adorable little sheep. Or, if you were the working type, perhaps you even used Bonzi Buddy who could talk to you, send emails for you, search the web, tell fun facts, and more!
Werydlets Brings The Nostalgia
Now, there’s Werydlets! While not quite the same as that cute little sheep who would run around your desktop, or Neko who would chase your mouse wherever you moved it, Werydlets does exist on your desktop. Choose from Wagyu, a cute little dinosaur, Mochi, who looks like a jackalope, and Gyoza, a sweet little cat. One of them is all yours to care for. You’ll feed and take care of your new little pet by collecting food, toys, and grooming tools. Even pet, tickle, and throw your pet around their habitat!
When you idle, your pet will dig around its island to gather resources like Shinies and Prisms, which can be used to buy more items to enrich their life. Werydlets also lets you dress up your pet, as well as decorate a home! Use stickers, accessories, and ornaments to make your pet even cuter. Then, collect furniture and decor to customize your house.
Coming Soon
You can find Werydlets on Steam. The roadmap lists July as the early release, and August as the first live event. Steam lists it as “coming soon”, so hopefully we do get it in August!
Speaking of virtual pets, have you seen that Neopets is making a grand comeback? You can check out the news here.
- Jul 19, 2023
Welcome to Fabledom, where you are the king or queen! A vast, beautiful land is waiting for you to colonize it. In this laid back city builder, there’s no need for optimizing. Simply build and shape the city of your dreams, and watch the settlers’ lives. Experience a fairy tale world filled with flying pigs, witches, and more. Watch the rise and fall of their relationships as you build a prosperous economy to create a flourishing society. Even find yourself a king or queen and fall in love. Build an army, then select a champion to provide your city with defense against vile neighbors and minions.
Fabledom is available now on Steam!
- Jul 19, 2023
Craft, Build, Farm, and Explore
ALOFT is an open-world sandbox game where you must survive living on islands set around a giant, eternal hurricane. You’ll build your base, set sail through the skies to discover new islands, and fight to eliminate the fungi corruption threatening to take over. Uncover the secrets of the past civilization, and learn about their demise by reaching new heights.
Build your base however it suits you. Block the harsh winds or allow them to pass through your structures, lay down some ziplines to get across the island faster, farm crops, and raise animals. Craft useful machinery like the windmill to automate your farm and free up your time. And when you tire of that, take to the skies of ALOFT with your handy glider to explore other islands.
Otherwise, craft a bunch of sails and oars to use your own island as a vehicle! You’ll have absolute freedom when it comes to making your sails. Control the height and width of the masts, as well as the sails, and rotate or expand them as needed. ALOFT allows you to create a host of sails suited for your gameplay, and even for decorative purposes.
Now, I know combat isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, or their idea of cozy, but I think ALOFT gets a pass. You will need to fight off corrupt fungi, but that leaves you in a place to revitalize the surrounding world. The fungi will grow on top of corrupted flora and affect the animals in the vicinity. As you fight back the corruption, you’ll unlock new animal companions, livestock, crops, and resources. There’s something wholesome and cozy about saving ecosystems, I think.Coming 2024
Unfortunately, there’s no specific date listed for the release of ALOFT, but it will be here next year! You can find it on Steam where you can add it to your Wishlist, as well as try out a demo!
Steam recommends this game for those who like Ark Survival Evolved and Terraria. It also reminds me of I Am Future.
- Jul 13, 2023
I wrote about Gourdlets back in November when I first discovered the game. It’s an absolutely adorable little city builder game with no challenges, no quests, no resource management. You just unleash your creativity and build little cityscapes!
Since November, developer AuntyGames has added some great new features to the game. You can now enter buildings and decorate them! Build cozy homes for your Gourdlets and sweet little cafes for them to frequent. This adds another level of customization for players to create the cityscapes of their dreams.
Fences are now more intuitive to build, too. It’s easier to form corners and make enclosures with them. So, if you had been wanting to create tiny zoos or farm pastures, now it’s much easier! What’s also easier is placing land tiles. Gourdlets has a paint bucket tool that lets you create islands without the hassle of all the individual clicking. And my favorite addition is farming! Place tilled dirt tiles, plant seeds, and the Gourdlets will water them and pull weeds. They’ll even pick the mature crops!
You can find Gourdlets on Itch.io, as well as Steam!
- Jul 12, 2023
I recently wrote about Go-Go Town here, and I’ve been eagerly awaiting its release since discovering it. It’s absolutely adorable with its sweet-looking character designs and delightful building designs. Couple that with the town revitalization and management, it looks to be the perfect cozy game.
And it is!
I’ve had a chance to playtest Go-Go Town, much to my delight. Not all features are available in this playtest. It’s more like a limited demo, but what is in the playtest has me hooked already. You’re dropped into this run-down town as the new mayor, and taught a few things on how to play, then it’s up to you to restore this beautiful little place.
You run around, or hop on a bike, or even drive a little pickup truck, collecting materials needed to build new buildings. Eventually you can unlock tools to make rebuilding in Go-Go Town even easier. Chainsaws for cutting wood, drills for collecting stones, and crab pots for passive fishing will help free up your time so you can build new homes, fun shops and restaurants, and attract even more residents faster. And as you get residents to move in, you can assign them to different jobs to make production even easier. Go-Go Town even has a farm plot where you’ll grow crops, care for animals, and use all the items you harvest there to stock your shops with fresh, homegrown ingredients.
I have loved the cuteness of the game, as well as the coziness of it. It’s been fun rebuilding a whole town how I want it. I can’t wait to see what more comes to this game, too!
You can find Go-Go Town on Steam, where you can Wishlist it to keep an eye out. Unfortunately, there is no release date at this time.
Want more building? Take a look at Tiny Glade!
