Review: Pocket Build

Developer: MoonBear LTD
Publisher: MoonBear LTD
Genre: Fantasy, Sandbox Builder
Price: £1.99

To create your own fantasy world and fill it with monsters, royalty, and NPCs is something I have always found interesting. When I found Pocket Build for only £1.99 I did not hesitate. It had the charm of a blocky, yet cute, aesthetic and the possibilities that comes with such a style. Daunting at first, the world I created began as a humble island which became the home to a witch, some forest animals, and her apprentice.

To create your own fantasy world and fill it with monsters, royalty, and NPCs is something I have always found interesting. When I found Pocket Build for only £1.99 I did not hesitate. It had the charm of a blocky, yet cute, aesthetic and the possibilities that comes with such a style. Daunting at first, the world I created began as a humble island which became the home to a witch, some forest animals, and her apprentice.

Pocket Build gives you the tools to create your vision of a fantasy village, an orcish den, or a princess’s castle; or why not all of those in one world? You can choose from the starting point of basic squares of land — each with a different biome. You can stack the squares or put them next to each other to fashion an island. The next step would be to make the squares less empty. In the tools menu, the player can choose to put down trees, rocks, plants, houses, fences, market stalls, crops, castle walls, villagers, or dogs. My only complaint is that so far there are no cats.

When done, you can share your world with other players but except for inspecting and surveying the worlds there is little else that can be done.

One progressive element that was added was the food, gold, and lumber counter. Some cool looking buildings or gruesome plants cost food, or lumber, or gold, or maybe a combination of two. You get food and lumber from your NPCs harvesting certain things and gold you receive from harvesting gold piles.

You can make a battle arena by sticking NPCs of a lighter alignment with NPCs of a darker alignment together and wait out the imminent result. It is not a very satisfying thing to watch, but it might provide some contentment to a player’s need to watch things die.

Pocket Build is not a progression game, it is more of a fantasy sandbox builder where the player sets the rules. There are no waiting times for building and the developers rely on player donations. I would advise to donate a small amount should you enjoy the game because Pocket Build receives good additions in patches from time to time, evolving and developing as time goes by instead of slowly turning into ash, like some games.

Review: Tsuki Adventure

Developers: HyperBeard Games
Producers: HyperBeard Games LLC
Genre: Family, Calm
Price: FREE

Tsuki (Moon in Japanese) is a rabbit who moves to a small village to become a carrot farmer. The village is calm with slow moving villagers who enjoy the days as they come and go. Tsuki has some old friends in this village but can also make a few new ones. It is the player’s choice to interact with the villagers and slowly build up a relationship in form of a heart colour. With each small conversation the colour comes closer to red and an opportunity to earn a special item.

The game tells the player early on that Tsuki is not a pet, Tsuki will live however a rabbit sees fit without the players constant watch. The things the player can affect is who Tsuki talks to and what items Tsuki use as well as when to farm the massive carrot in the backyard. Doing any of the mentioned can change scenery, allow interaction with new characters, or new interactions with old, and make more items available for Tsuki. Overall, it could be said that the goal of Tsuki Adventure is to collect memories.

If a calm, almost tranquil, experience is what you are after Tsuki Adventure surely delivers. The game is not like having a pet that constantly demands attention but more like reading a story about the adventures of a rabbit in a small village that will forever be the same no matter how little, or much, time you spend on the game. It is a comforting escape from a hectic life.