A slightly creepy, unassuming city building? Ah, then continue. October and Halloween may be behind us, but Fangtopia is puzzle an urban development that still seems appropriate for late autumn. After trying the demo, it was deceptively simple, in fact it seemed so simple that I wasn't entirely sure if I was doing anything at all. But when it clicked, all the pieces fell into place, and the time passed pleasantly and coolly.
The game is tile based, each tile has six sides, each of which rotates. These tiles come in different flavors, such as forest tile, mountain tile, wheat field tile, village tile, etc., you get the idea! And then some of these tiles mix and match these features so they can be rotated. You only have a certain number of these tiles in what is essentially a deck of cards, although I hesitate to call it a deck builder, rather each tile you can place is random from one turn to the next. Place a certain number of tiles next to certain points of interest that appear, and then add new tiles back to your deck so you can continue to build your little island.
Once you've built your little island, classic monsters like werewolves, yetis and the like will appear and go about their business. You know, monstrous things. One of my favorite aspects was that you could also build your own little ghost train line. This was mostly for aesthetics, although (I think) it also helps you collect tile resources, but really I was there just to watch the ghost train move along the path I set for it.
It reminded me of Lego Loco, the old simulation game where you build a city and train a network of minifigures that my dad would leave me obsessively playing at his job as a distraction. There's something delightful about creating a quiet corner of the world with not particularly high stakes, and I think that quality comes across very well in Fangtopia. Worth a try whenever it comes out! You can add it to your wishlist on Steam In the meantime, try the demo version.
