New building game scores 96% positive ratings on Steam for its creative freedom
Released on September 23, 2024, the building game Tiny Glade from indie developer Pounce Light has already received overwhelmingly positive reviews on Steam: 96 percent positive opinions from over 5,800 reviews. What players love most about it is the immense creative freedom they have when building and designing medieval structures.
Comparable to Townscaper or Dorfromantik, Tiny Glade is a cozy game in which players can build without time pressure or fixed goals. The intuitive building system, which works without a grid, allows for organic and flowing constructions. Instead of placing entire buildings, players can freely place individual components such as walls, roofs or windows. Building sections can be individually scaled and their color adjusted.
The procedural decoration approach, which automatically adds small details such as flags, chimneys or climbing plants, helps with the design. This makes the buildings and structures more lively and unique without players having to laboriously place decorative elements. In photo mode, the buildings can even be explored from a first-person perspective.
On Steam, Tiny Glade regularly costs around $14.80. However, until October 3 at 7 p.m (CET), gamers can get the construction game at an introductory price of around $12.50.
Metacritic ratings look significantly worse
While the ratings on Steam could hardly be better, Tiny Glade is rated below average on Metacritic. At the time of research, the game had a Metacritic score of 74 and a user score of 6.7. The main points of criticism relate to the limited gameplay and the lack of long-term motivation. Many players complain that the building quickly becomes monotonous.
Furthermore, some mechanics are not self-explanatory, meaning that players can sometimes only learn by trial and error. The restrictive terrain and decoration system also leaves little room for manual adjustments, which limits creative players. However, if you are specifically looking for a meditative cozy game in which you can build as freely as possible, you should still have fun with Tiny Glade.
Source(s)
Image source: Pounce Light
