This teeny tiny townbuilder is the pint-sized Townscaper I've been waiting for
Summerhouse hits Steam on March 8th
As much as I love looking at and admiring sandbox citybuilders like Townscaper, I am terrible at actually playing them. I get the same kind of blank canvas choice paralysis I do in games like Minecraft, or anything where there's no real clear objective for what I'm meant to be building. I sit there with a big toybox of lovely things to stick together, but always end up deflated and disappointed with my own lack of imagination. But Summerhouse, the sandbox citybuilder (or townbuilder, more like) from solo developer Friedemann is just teeny-tiny enough to give me a sense of creative satisfaction. I've been playing its gorgeous little demo this week in between Palworld sessions, and yes, more of this please, this is utterly delightful. Happily, we don't have to wait too long for the final game now either, as it's coming to Steam on March 8th.
The brilliant thing about Summerhouse is that you're only building a handful of buildings at any one time. You're given a setting - the demo has an idyllic little concrete path across a stunning mountain river scene - and then a decent-sized number of blocks and pieces with which to construct a little street. That's it. Just a street of maybe three or four buildings, or even one tiddly one if you prefer.
There are main walls and building blocks, rooftops and chimneys, doors, windows, decoration and trees and shrubery to pick from, but the thing i really like is that you can just cycle through them all with a single click. It's just enough to give you new ideas and think, oh hey, that might look nice here, or hmmm, that window looks interesting, let's put that there. Really, though, it's the decorative section that really makes Summerhouse work for me - there are just so many lovely little details to pick from! Tiny letterboxes, noticeboards, drain pipes, satellite dishes, graffiti... And the way they all cast shadows on the objects behind them gives each diorama a very pleasing sense of depth and character.
It all just clicks together so beautifully, too, and I can see myself spending a good amount of time with this - unlike Townscaper and the like which I inevitably fall away from - especially as the more blocks you place, the more you unlock for future builds. If nothing else, I just love how the water reflects your little scene back at you, in all its lo-fi pixel art glory. Oh! And the fast forward function that plays a clip of everything you've put down popping up into life over the course of a couple of seconds. That's adorable. Big fan.
The Steam page has plenty more cute little streets to pore over and start building ideas from, but even my meagre creations are something that I'm legit happy with so far, and I'm looking forward to messing about in Summerhouse's other environments when it comes out on March 8th.