It’s hard not to love fall. This isn’t a love letter to the upcoming colorful season, but it’s still a starting point for the feeling that easily translates to Tiny Glade. Although you can choose between different seasons and a regularly changing theme, the overall feel is pure cozy fall. Essentially, it’s a very simple game, a sort of stripped down “The Sims meets Minecraft” game with impressive graphics. It’s a very basic set of building blocks, which while it invites something that’s easy to learn, becomes the game’s biggest drawback after a while.
In Tiny Glade you build little houses, towers, walls and fences and decorate them with trees and flowers, but there’s not really much to build. Everything is already done, with little templates that you adjust in height and length, and yes you can change some colors etc in the buildings, but it’s all extremely simple. I like how the game adds little details like benches, a ladder and a few other things depending on how you model your buildings, and that despite the simple structure it’s possible to vary and experiment a lot. It’s nice to see how a chair appears randomly because you put a window in a certain spot, or how a window fills up with curtains because you change its position.
Here it must be said that there is no goal in Tiny Glade. You build and that’s it. The space you have at your disposal is quite small, but you can squeeze some buildings in if you want to create, for example, a small neighborhood or square. It’s easy to see that the only limit to what and how you can build is your own imagination. However, this is quite limited by the fact that the game gives you very few tools. Okay, I don’t think it’s a major disadvantage in terms of the overall infrastructure, but more of an extra detail. There is only one type of tree and you can only use one type of flower, and although the look varies a bit depending on the location and time of year, for me it’s the part where it’s hardest to introduce variety. The landscape modeling is also too rudimentary. You can go up and down and make some changes, but often larger areas are changed and it seriously lacks complexity. I would have liked to have had more detailed control over rock and ground, rather than everything being as predetermined as it is now.
Advertising:
Tiny Glade is pretty, very pretty in fact. It’s fun to see the graphics engine draw what you place in real time, but it’s also very calming from a purely technical perspective. Unfortunately the music lacks much character, but thankfully it’s possible to create your own soundtrack from the atmospheric tracks available. The look of the game is one of its greatest joys and that also brings us to the game’s photo mode, which is absolutely gorgeous. Once you’ve created a pretty location, it’s a lot of fun to wander around with the camera, finding good angles, adjusting the depth of field, and then snapping that perfect shot. While I love photo modes in games in general, it was a particularly nice feature here. The game runs very well, with no technical glitches, and at times I found myself just starting the game because it was so pretty to look at.
Despite the limited tools, I like that it’s possible to create custom projects. An idea can be born and a few minutes later you’re already putting it into action. For example, I had an idea to build a small castle with a wall and some houses outside and from a little picture in my head to reality on the screen it went in a flash. Plus, it’s so pretty to look at and then find the perfect angles in photo mode. For me, it became a game I came back to instead of sitting in front of it for too long. Of course, I could get lost in its charm and simplicity, but after playing around for a while, I usually felt satisfied, only to want to try something new a day later.
In many ways, Tiny Glade’s strengths are also its weaknesses. Of course, it’s very difficult to achieve this balance because it’s easy to want infinitely more things. At the same time, I wish there had been a bit more planting options and better ways to change the landscape and add more complexity to the terrain. However, these small flaws don’t stop Tiny Glade from being a little gem in many ways, and I’m convinced that those who like to build cute little locations will have incredible fun with this game.
Advertising:
