ShantyTown is a relaxing diorama-building game about finding beauty in everyday chaos. Bring new locations to life, stack your urban buildings high, and fill each little nook and cranny with your own touch. Try your hand at shaping a cozy little town that is unique to you.
Modeled estimate, not a reported figure. How we estimate →
About
Get ready to build upwards, fill the smallest gaps, and find clever ways to place light sources or decorations that breathe life into every corner.
This is a world where every balcony, interesting poster, and plant tells a story. And you’re the one organising it!
This game is inspired by my love for densely built cities around the world, which is why I packed in 20 distinct locations for you to explore, each with its own mood and identity.
Be it the warm glow of the Hotpot Casino, the charmingly cramped spaces of the Marshlands Pipe, or the solitude of the Lighthouse, every space gives you a new perspective.
How you place things together is entirely up to you.
Upgrades are available for larger structures like buildings and gates, but they’ll need a bit of care to reach their full potential. By providing light, utilities, and decorations, places like shops, apartment blocks, or gates can evolve into detailed spaces. Completing an upgrade unlocks new objects and decorations, giving you even more ways to shape the town.
When you finish a location, frame the shot, take a pic, then add it to your dossier before moving to your next blank canvas.
Each location presents a unique set of objects and a limited space to build within. Whether it’s food trucks, neon signs, or industrial smokestacks, players must carefully fit everything together to create a dense, living space that feels right.
This is a casual game through and through. There are no wrong answers here. Remember to make each placement personal, and every messy little corner adds to the charm.
With ShantyTown's added Creative Mode, you have unlimited building options with every unlocked location and item that you've acquired throughout your journey through ShantyTown. Stack buildings hide, wide, and in any direction. We've also included a Blankspace with an enormous sandbox space to design custom towns and shops to your heart's desire.
Design custom creations with no restrictions whatsoever.
Unique decorations across every map
Discover each location’s story as you build
A warm, relaxing soundtrack crafted by vaporwave artist Macroblank
Optional goals to guide your creativity
Peaceful, atmospheric scenery to unwind with
In-depth camera settings to frame your creations
Hidden objects waiting to be found
No time or pressure. Please, enjoy everything at your own pace.
Genres
Stats
All-time low is the lowest price we've recorded for this game since we started tracking it.
Languages: English, French, German, Spanish - Spain, Japanese, Portuguese - Brazil, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Spanish - Latin America, Traditional Chinese, Turkish, Serbian
Engagement
Hours played at review time, across 43 reviews with recorded playtime.
Reviews
Themes across 43 recent reviews and how positive each mention is. A keyword signal, not full sentiment analysis.
positive critical· bar length = how often the theme comes up
Reviews
Graphics are smooth, backing music is calming. 10/10
This game has a perfect balance of structure vs creativity - exactly what I've been looking for.
Fun game, easy to play, intuitive, easy to beat in a few hours
Super entertaining and addictive game. I love that the game gives you enough freedom to build your cozy town the way you like and at the same time doesn't leave you overwhelmed with all the possibilities.
Excellent chill/cosy game with post-collapse vibes. So satisfying to watch each location grow as you can see previous locations you've worked on in the background. Feels like you're creating a ramshackle paradise. I find a lot of open ended 'canvas' style games where you make pretty locations kind of boring as there's no structure or goal. If you feel the same, then know this game gives you just enough structure to make cool stuff without feeling restrictive. Absolute banger.
Super fun builder/puzzle!
This game is creative and a fun puzzle where you make sure you utilize your resources and space appropriately. I'm enjoying how pretty the environment is and how much you can customize the weather and time of day.
i love it!! its like a strategic card game puzzle builder with awesome art. i'm so glad I found this game
This game was very satisfying, stacking building on top of each other was so fun and the objectives, even if optional, were very pleasant giving the right amount of challenge! A little indie gem!
Wonderful little game. It sits comfortably on the sliding scale between pure diorama games like townscaper where there is no goal, and Islanders where the puzzle aspect can occasionally get in the way of the aesthetics. There's just a hint of puzzle, just a whiff of goals to complete, and the way everything pops together is satisfying as anything. Whatever the type of genre this game is, the 'put things near other things to score points' style city builders, this is one of the best and simplest. The stuff you place down is so charming and creates these adorable little scenes... and yet because the maps are so small you really do not feel bad starting over, making a new scene is a delight even the 5th time round. More please!
Related
Related
Trends
Concurrent players on Steam, sampled daily since tracking started.
Audience
Estimated from the language of this game's reviews — a proxy for where players are, not official Steam demographics.
Related
| Cornerpond | $242.3K | 2.7K | 97% | $2.99 |
| Knights And Bikes | $242.2K | 626 | 89% | $19.99 |
| Haydee 3 | $242.2K | 339 | 86% | $29.99 |
| Tengami | $242.2K | 1.8K | 81% | $6.99 |
| Reshaping Mars | $242.4K | 830 | 84% | $9.99 |
| Jagged Alliance 2 - Wildfire | $242.2K | 1.9K | 80% | $4.49 |
