There are very few times that I find myself having difficulty describing a game. In fact, most of the time when I sit down to write these reviews, I have a pretty good idea of what the review is going to sound like before I even start. Townscaper is a little more difficult to talk about, mostly because technically it isn’t a game at all.

According to the promotional materials and the steam page, Townscaper is a “town-building toy” in which you are given a sandbox to build the town in your own creative way. The controls are simple, the play area is laid out in a grid of various shapes, you select your color, and then start building. Clicking on a space once builds a path, clicking there again builds a house on top of it, and the more you click, the taller the house gets.

This means you can build tall multi-level cities or do whatever your creativity inspires you to do. It is really cool to see the in-game engine turn what starts out as small pathways and houses, into archways and sprawling environments. It feels like playing Islanders or Dorfromantik (which I’ll review at some point) without the points involved.

There was something immensely satisfying about being able to make a rainbow city. There are no constraints, no-fail states, and no requirements. It is all about your imagination and your creative drive. Other than the controls I mentioned, you can save your creations, change the position of the sun, make it nighttime entirely, or toggle the grid on and off.

I wish there was a bit more variety in the pieces you could put down. It’d be nice to be able to make parks, leisure areas, and other things that would make the town feel livelier. It is a very minimalistic toy, and that is part of its charm. However, it is easy to see that this could be the foundation for a very involved, very creative building tool.

I’m not suggesting that the developers add actual gameplay in terms of quests etc. I’m more suggesting that giving people other tools and other things to enhance the creative experience would be a great idea. Other than that, there isn’t much to say about Townscaper really. The controls are smooth, the premise is simple, and it is a fun tool to unwind or just let your creativity flow.

Wrapping everything up in a simple bow, Townscaper is a gorgeously detailed building simulator and creative tool. It has a lot of potential to be more than it is, so hopefully, we’ll see the creators build on this formula in the future.

Until then, if you’re looking for a nice way to relax, or a tool to plan out a sprawling city for something like a tabletop campaign or a written story, this will at least get your creative juices flowing. I’m excited to see more experimental gaming experiences like this. I think games/toys like Townscaper are the things that lead to innovation and evolution in the industry.

A Nintendo Switch review copy of Townscaper was provided by Raw Fury for this review.

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Townscaper

$5.99

8.5

Score

8.5/10

Pros

• Fun Creative Tool
• Simple Controls
• No Fail States, Pure Creativity
• Lots of Potential for Growth

Cons

• Needs more Tools and Variety