Townscaper

 Switch
Townscaper Image
Metascore
63

Mixed or average reviews - based on 6 Critic Reviews What's this?

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  • Summary: Instant town building toy. Build quaint island towns with curvy streets. Build small hamlets, soaring cathedrals, canal networks, or sky cities on stilts. Block by block.

    No goal. No real gameplay. Just plenty of building and plenty of beauty. That's it. Townscaper is an experimental    Instant town building toy. Build quaint island towns with curvy streets. Build small hamlets, soaring cathedrals, canal networks, or sky cities on stilts. Block by block.

    No goal. No real gameplay. Just plenty of building and plenty of beauty. That's it.

    Townscaper is an experimental passion project. More of a toy than a game. Pick colors from the palette, plop down colored blocks of house on the irregular grid, and watch Townscaper's underlying algorithm automatically turn those blocks into cute little houses, arches, stairways, bridges and lush backyards, depending on their configuration.
    … Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 6
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 6
  3. Negative: 1 out of 6
  1. Vandal
    Sep 24, 2021
    80
    This is a very unique and beautiful concept that rewards the player even when they don’t know what they’re doing. A great choice if you just want to relax and let your imagination flow.
  2. Multiplayer.it
    Sep 2, 2021
    78
    Townscaper is a product that draws its strength from self-imposed limits. It should be approached as a tool for relaxation, not as a game to be dominated.
  3. Nintendo Life
    Aug 28, 2021
    70
    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.
  4. Gaming Age
    Nov 29, 2021
    58
    If you just want to build, there’s nothing wrong with that, and Townscaper will provide you with exactly the kind of non-directed gameplay you’re after. But if you want anything of substance, or even just a city-builder that feels like you’re creating an actual city, keep on looking, because you won’t find that here.
  5. Cubed3
    Sep 29, 2021
    50
    You can make all sorts of island towns in Townscaper. 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.
  6. Pure Nintendo
    Sep 27, 2021
    40
    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.
This publication does not provide a score for their reviews.
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  1. Eurogamer
    Sep 2, 2021
    This is an art toy to savour, and a time-waster of great power.

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 1
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 1
  3. Negative: 0 out of 1
  1. NindieSpotlight
    Dec 17, 2021
    7
    Not so much a game as an interactive toy, Townscaper is just a different sort of experience that people will likely either adore or hate. YourNot so much a game as an interactive toy, Townscaper is just a different sort of experience that people will likely either adore or hate. Your tools to work with are pretty minimalistic, able to lay down small building blocks in the color you choose or remove them, but as you continue to combine more and more together your creation continues to react and change in what are often small but pleasing ways. It’s really all about trying new things and the discovery of the results, driving you to experiment further as you slowly fill up the space with your distinct creation. While I do wish there was a way to step back and see some virtual people interact with the labyrinthian 3D towns in some way, there’s still something soothing and satisfying in taking the time to build both precise and uniform (to a degree, the grid’s tendency to bend in places will thwart you at some point) as well as unorthodox and perhaps completely impractical structures. It’s absolutely unique, and in its own way satisfying, but also clearly not for everyone.

    https://www.nindiespotlight.com/2021/09/mini-reviews-september-1st-edition.html    … Expand

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