Townspeople (demo)

Review

I stumbled upon this gem while looking at demos on Steam. I was specifically searching for something that looked wholesome and relaxed, and Townspeople absolutely hit the mark. It is an incredibly chill experience that avoids being overdone, which I really appreciate.

The game tasks players with building a town using coins and available people. Players train builders to create structures such as houses, bakeries, shoe makers, and smithies. There is a micro economy where money accumulates over time; adding artisans or market stalls increases the revenue stream. The game also includes defensive options like walls, gates, and guard towers to protect the settlement, though I never actually encountered any attacks during my time with it. Progress is marked by building a town hall and a church to unlock the next stage of development.

I found the simplicity of the systems to be its greatest strength. Life is complicated enough, so this go with the flow approach is perfect for me. The low poly visuals look beautiful, especially when zooming out to see the little farm houses and the general layout of the town. I also liked that I could toggle into a first person view to inspect the buildings up close.

That said, there are a few things that felt a bit clunky. I didn't really like that there is no save system in this demo version; it feels sad knowing all my hard work goes to waste once I quit. I also noticed that players cannot queue characters for training, meaning I have to wait and manually click the button as soon as it becomes available. Additionally, the mouse rotation speed when moving the camera doesn't quite follow the speed of my mouse, which is something that could be improved to feel more natural.

Despite those minor gripes, I am honestly pleasantly surprised. Even with the lack of saving, I found myself wanting to keep playing just to see what happens after the final building (the church) was finished. It is a really enjoyable and relaxing experience. Since it is free, I strongly advise anyone to just try it out.