Gourdlets

first off, this is NOT a game for everyone. the item choices are very limited. gameplay feels the same, youre working with a handful of options for creation. a lot of people would hate the limitations, but i definitely dont mind it. it doesnt feel overwhelming. its like im given a handful of toys and told to use my imagination. this is my “my brain shut down but i want to play a game” game for me. limitation is the birth of creativity and all i played this on steam deck, runs perfectly fine!

This game is cute and has a fun level editor... and that's about it. The UI and building is terrible after the first 30 minutes. The rotation can only be done in 90 degrees, so its not only really hard to get a good angle but it's also very disorienting. I also couldn't find any form of grid or other system to make it so I can make objects, such as buildings, symmetrical. The kinds of buildings and colors you can use is extremely limited, all the houses are basically the same size and look very similar to one another. There's also a huge lack of good foliage items- there are trees and some crop seeds, but no little flowers and only 1 kind of bush. It also always says you "need more mature Gourdlets" to summon the train that unlocks new items, but the Gourdlets mature very, very slowly. There is no goal other than make a pretty island and make the Gourdlets grow up. A cute game and its price is fine, so if this is a game you'd like then by all means please enjoy. But I found it to have no purpose or substance, making the initial awe of "aww cute little guy!" and "ooo pretty furniture!" falter extremely fast. EDIT: If you want a game similar to this but with actual goals, check out Horticular. It's also an indie, zoomed-out, pixelated game with little critters you make a habitat for. (NOT SPONSORED)