WorldShaper Idle

good

it's a puzzle game where your ability to try solutions is time gated and as dumb as that sounds, it's somehow fine

[h1]Good for what it is.[/h1] I'm not much of an idle enjoyer, nor am i good at careful planning with "sandbox levels of freedom", but i remember somewhat-enjoying the itch.io prototype of this game (Stop the Darkness) from... 8 years ago, ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ time flies. I didnt even know there was a demo for this game released... 3 years ago. [i]Skill issue alert:[/i] [spoiler]i kinda half-arsed this game cuz i gave up at pre-factory/elven groves and copied other player's end-game builds they posted in discord [i](cheers, jooooooost)[/i], but, again, the start and premise was enjoyable. It just got too complex and unrewarding since i ignored the META stuff [i](ports, i didnt realise they would be one of the main money horses because i didnt want to spam buildings all around)[/i] and tried to keep it "civilized" (few builds that give a lot of income, but leaving a lot of the space empty). Clearly that wasnt the intended approach and i couldnt handle the sandbox'y nature of this game, [b]i suck at sandbox'ing [u]hard[/u].[/b][/spoiler] [hr][/hr] Early game got me hooked: discovering new buildings, trying out different builds, pushing the income. But somewhere around "unlocking second (elven…

This is a game that I have been following ever since one of its beta tests were releaced on Poki. I would highly recommend this game it is unique, calming, interesting, and the dopamine rush I get when I unlock a new option is peak. One minor problem that I do have is that the cost of unlocking new options get pretty steep as you progress (to the point that you have to leave the game running for multiple real world days to get the unlocks). I think this is probably due to the fact that humans have a difficult time comprehending exponential scailing, but it also could be a skill issue on my end idk. Either way this is an awsome game with a ton of future potential if it still gets updates. <3

Honestly the game is very fun and worth playing but it does still feel like an early game, it has all the basics but is lacking a bit of refinement that I think would make the difference between a 7.99 (full price at time of review) and what this is now which is a 2.99 game. I still recommend it, my dollars hopefully go to the dev to improve the game but if you are worried about the difference in price then wait for a sale or wait till the game gets updated.

Like any incremental game, there will at some point come a time where this abruptly stops being fun. But I got 70+ hours of entertainment for 8 bucks, I call that a win.