Desktopia: A Desktop Village Simulator

This is a good concept, making a game that only takes up a portion of your screen so that you can watch TV/movies, browse the web, or even work while it plays in the semi-background. However, that isn't really what this game delivers. It isn't anything like an incremental game (Cookie Clickers, Clicker Heroes, etc) and requires fairly frequent user interaction. The reason I ultimately give it a not recommend though is that the games performance is staggeringly poor, the UI is not implemented well, and there are a significant amount of major bugs, for example your troops/heroes standing still doing nothing while the enemy attacks and kills them all. I wish they had better executed the concept, because it is a good concept.

This is an interesting concept however it has its problems. first problem is when the game updates its wipes your saves, or at least thats what happened to my first save, i wasn't happy with that, my first hour gone. The second problem is the optimisation, for a pixel game it lags, lags really really badly. And my system is high end. This game shouldnt be lagging my processor or graphics card. (3090 titan and AMD Ryzen 9 3900X 12-Core Processor) the third issue to me anyway is the gameplay, its in a weird state between being an idle game and also needing your attention. i thought it would be more of an idle game where i could watch a city grow that didn't need me to manage it as hands on as it is. The art style is nice and how it only takes up the bottom of your screen is also neat and unique however this isn't enough to save it.

I wanted to like this game as this is a native Linux game and has a pretty unique idea. Sadly this has some multi monitor issues (that need manually unlocking, resizing, and moving the game window to be usable, even then the game window for me ended up taking up extra vertical space that was just dark). And it seems I can't get any of the achievements for this game, which is extremely frustrating. I commented a while ago on a discussion thread about this but I only got responses from other players saying they also can't get any achievements. And no developer response so I'm leaving a negative review.

This game lags harder than Dwarf Fortress, that shouldn't be the case. Most of the top discussions for this game are how to improve performance (marginally), even seeing other reviews here of top-of-the-line PCs struggling to run this game after a few hours. I really wanna enjoy this as an idler (even for the intended use like browsing the web, typing documents or watching videos as the game self proclaims) but I'd have a better time running a virus-riddled cryptominer. I WANT to like this game, I really do. But if I can't run it? Then how am I supposed to recommend this game to people with worse computers than my own?

Sadly enough I can't recommend this game in the slightest. The idea of it is fantastic, but it quickly shows signs of awkward design that doesn't know what it wants to do. At first I would really like to give some cool highlights! - The core idea of having a small bar at the bottom of your screen to see your town do stuff as you work or watch something else is pretty cute. - Seeing the physical changes of the town when you buy stuff and upgrade is real nice! - I personally like the way graphics are approached. It feel unique in a way, and some designs are pretty funny too. Now, here are some of the things that sadly enough made me think the game is not worth it: - Too slow for active progression, but too fast for actual idle gameplay. Kind of wished they'd lean harder in either of the two directions and pressed gas, adding on the other gameplay style after the fact. Would have probably felt better for at least 1 gameplay style. - Keeping track of what you have built is a pain in the butt. Of course you can see a number in the built menu, but sometimes those numbers are bugged, or multiple buildings appear after building something messing with your planning. - Having to restart a town when you kill a boss and starting with what feels like nothing comes across like getting sweep from your feet. Wish there was more to show from previous towns as you progressed. - The game could use more upgrade buildings instead of having them be built separate. You already need to built so many of the same building each time you get to a new town, would just be nice not to worry that they take up that much extra space. Either that or allow us to demolish a building and replace it with something. - As much as the bar is a fun idea, with the amount of extra windows that are required to play the game I feel it might as well could have been a full screen game. In the end I don't think all is bad and that no one will enjoy it, but I did notice that further I got into the game the more I couldn't wait for it to just be over and I could move on. Hoping to see them make a 2nd game that leans heavier on the idle process. Keep it full screen to see your town progress and prosper into a metropolis or even futuristic colony while seeing all options/menus, but offer the lower screen idea as a fun little extra for people that like to see something like that on their desktop or streamers that might want to give a little extra on their stream or something like that.

So after 100%ing i can honestly say this is not an idle game. And because that was the only thing it was trying to be, it means it's not a good game either, find something else to idle away at while at work.

Okay, this is not a cozy idle game at all as (especially in later levels) you should help defending, clear annoying bugs within your village, fight fire and collect grants to level up your character. Yeah, most of those should be done by villagers, but - I don't know if they are dead so often due to the mentioned bugs and glade monsters, or just been lazy. You can also get enough money in time that you don't have to wait for long to grow. And when your village is full the real pain may begin. Depending on your decisions and observation what building to place, It may be that you and your units are just cannon fodder for the enemy units or/and the boss. Than have fun running through the end, die, repeat. There are also several unpolished UI elements, like no counters for the last level buildings or not disabled buildings while the required building is missing - it is just not placed when clicking. This game has an auto safe but I recommend not using it (as it's off as default). This leads to an freeze for up to 10s every like 1 or 2 minutes. Another annoying 'mechanic' is that the game builds randomly dummy homes once in a while which count as your placed buildings. Rarely a random useful building may be placed instead (especially in a certain level). This way I got a building I haven't unlocked at this time and could try a new unit. Well, thanks for that, game. I guess?

Too rough around the edges to recommend. Constant, severe lag spikes hit every time the game switches to a new day. The level of interaction as a character leaves a lot to be desired with poor combat, tiresome walking left and right, and a complete void of progression.. As an idler, it manages to miss the "number go up" satisfaction. Instead, it tries to do multiple things at once, and it falls short across the board. Tragic. Of everyone that has purchased this title, less than 30% has bothered to beat the first level. That should tell you enough.

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I would much rather have the game run in full screen than having to manage 3-4 separate windows for the same game. Very poorly designed from a UX perspective.