The second most common type of game that ended up on my feed were all the diorama/decorating/organizing games. I didn't mention this in the last post, because honestly I did it to myself.
Whereas getting specifically detective themed games was noteworthy, the amount of games where the mechanic is to arrange or decorate a space is not surprising. Houseflipper is one of my most played games since starting my Steam account. I have in the past year bought Make a Room, Hozy and Momento. The latter of which, I am currently playing through now that the Steam Next Fest is done.
So it's not a surprise that a lot of these games end up on my feed.
Though some are more memorable than others.
The most memorable demos are the ones that are technically decorating/arranging games but are also pretending to be other crafting games, and there were several this year. It's like every developer who has a crafting hobby has decided they wanted to share it with the world.
Charming Hill is a game where you 'paint sceneries' and by that I mean you put together a pretty picture from objects the game gives you. What makes this game very charming (no pun intended) is that every time you put in an object, the game sketches it in and colours it. As if you were painting, the feel of it is very good, and yet the painting is also alive, as its animated. I look forward to messing around in this game.
Block Block Block is a diorama building game. This means that there are levels to the game, as there are different dioramas for you to put together. What makes it unique is that in the diorama mode, you're carving each item and then setting it into the scene. The little wood shavings are still left behind, in which you can then vacuum up. It is very adorable, and you do get a free style mode to decorate anyway you want as well.
Another diorama building game by the way is Book Nook, which I technically played in a different game demo fest prior to the Steam Next Fest. If you're familiar with the wooden dioramas that have become very popular, this game mimics that feel. I don't know if you can decorate things as you wish later on, but I thought it was worth a mention because it's fascinating to me how there are a number of crafting games like this coming out.
And probably the best crafting game is the one that takes it a step further. Cutout Village has you exploring a world where everything is made out of paper. The two friends have arrived to an abandoned town and have decided to revive it by building new buildings… out of paper of course. It's very cute, and all the mechanics mimic as if you were putting together an actual paper craft item. What makes it really neat though is for every new item you make, you unlock a PDF version of that item. This means, if you have a printer, paper, pair of scissors and glue, you can make your own real life cutout village.
Unfortunately I'm well aware that most people don't own a printer anymore, but I appreciate the fact that someone has given the audience the ability to make a real life paper village if they feel like doing so.
I look forward to all these games, for no other reason than it is a bit of a twist on the decorating/diorama game. Also, I just really like these types of games.
