HEXAROMA: Village Builder

Hexaroma inherits a *lot* from Islanders, which is no bad thing, even if it does so to the point of feeling like it's copying at times. What I can't abide is the strange way the controls behave, with some edge tiles being impossible to interact with; wireframes wanting to either go on an inner tile or out of bounds and not between. Beyond that though, it's cute but... not very engaging. Less a puzzle and more a constant sense of wishing you had done otherwise on previous turns, now that your choices are getting in the way of potential actions.

HEXAROMA: Village Builder is a gentle, thoughtfully designed village-building game developed by Almost a Game Company and published by Rogue Duck Interactive alongside Gamersky Games, offering a calm alternative to the often overwhelming complexity of traditional city builders. At its heart, the game is about shaping small, self-contained settlements on hexagonal island maps, guiding a population of charming inhabitants known as Hexlings while carefully balancing space, efficiency, and visual harmony. Rather than pushing players toward frantic optimization or crisis management, the game encourages deliberate planning and creative expression, making it particularly appealing to fans of cozy simulations and puzzle-like builders. The core mechanic revolves around placing buildings on a hex grid, a choice that gives the entire experience a board-game-like tactility. Every structure matters not only for what it produces, but also for how it interacts with its neighbors. Certain buildings benefit from adjacency bonuses, while others require thoughtful spacing to avoid inefficiencies, turning village expansion into a spatial puzzle that evolves with every placement. Because island maps a…

Saw this city builder on sale, and it's very similar to games like Islanders, Dorfromantik, and Sky Settlers. You place structures on an ever-expanding island map, looking for point synergies that would allow you to earn more structure packet draws. Extremely similar to Islander, except for the much-appreciated grid used for placement - which I felt was lacking in Islanders. Another way it differs is that it has lite populace-pleasing "features" on top of the gameplay where you must feed and make the little people happy. It has a similar "flat shaded" low-poly look to the graphics which is pleasing. I felt it was very worth the money and my time - a cozy little diorama-builder.

Slow and boring

Weird UX. You have to use all your undos before the game will let you finish a run. There is no "concede" or "resign" button. Resource production seems to only exist for a select few buildings and lacks any sense. I can place all these buildings, get a higher score than my previous run, but somehow my colony lacks in all resource categories compared to the previous run. Don't make sense.

outright broken for linux despite having native 'support' even if using proton just dont play this