If there were ever a video game I'd like to live in, it'd be developer Pounce Light's Tiny Glade, a scene-building game where you design castles and gardens straight out of a fairytale. Its muted colors and satisfying sounds only add to the near-perfect atmosphere: You can hear the bricks fall into place as you stack a stonework wall around your wizard's tower or watch the sheep wander your vast fields.
It's also part of a growing trend of scene-building games that follow a similar structure, allowing players access to a sandbox full of tools - something more akin to a pile of creative toys than anything else. Over the past several years, there's been an influx of games that are all atmosphere; the developer puts tools into a player's hands and then steps back to let them play with it all.
One of the earliest iterations of the scene-builder is Townscaper from Oskar Stålberg, which was released in 2021. The stylized, colorful art is the major draw; from its tools, you can make your own island city. Over the past several years, the Townscaper-like genre has started to grow.
Regardless, the theme is the same: Play with the tools. Make whatever you want. And, most importantly, don't stress it.
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