Block'hood

Build a city block in VR and meet the needs of your residents, or watch it all crumble before you.

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"Block'hood" is a single-player simulation game with stellar gameplay, awesome visuals, and outstanding music. As a city planner, you'll create unique neighborhoods from over 200 blocks, while managing resources and avoiding decay. The game encourages experimentation and understanding of ecological city dynamics, but can be bogged down by bugs and requires grinding to unlock new blocks.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

Reviews

70%

Audience ScoreBased on 588 reviews

story12 positive mentions

stability25 negative mentions

The game features a unique and original concept that combines city building with ecological resource management.
The visuals and art style are charming and create a relaxing atmosphere, enhancing the overall gameplay experience.
The game offers a variety of blocks and resources, allowing for creative building and strategic planning.

The user interface is clunky and can be frustrating to navigate, making it difficult to select and place blocks accurately.
The game suffers from bugs and glitches, including issues with saving and loading, which can disrupt gameplay.
The mechanics can feel unbalanced, with certain resources decaying too quickly and making it challenging to maintain a stable 'hood.

story
106 mentions
11 % positive mentions
81 % neutral mentions
8 % negative mentions
The game's story mode is generally viewed as a short and simplistic narrative that often feels more like an extended tutorial than a fully fleshed-out experience. While some players appreciate the heartwarming elements and character interactions, many criticize the lack of a save feature during missions, bugs, and a disjointed gameplay experience. Overall, the story is seen as decent but overshadowed by gameplay issues and a sense of abandonment from the developers.
- “The story itself is quite interesting and showcases two really interesting characters.”
- “I finished the wholesome story, a few of the challenges, and about one third of a sandbox playthrough in nine hours.”
- “Although the main point of this game is the sandbox mode, the main story is really touching at the end.”
- “The story mode is fatally bugged.”
- “The story line is very boring, and it's basically just one super long tutorial with a bunch of really monotonous dialogue.”
- “Seriously: the 'story' mode contains little story and tons of hand-holding tutorial.”
gameplay
106 mentions
20 % positive mentions
73 % neutral mentions
8 % negative mentions
The gameplay of this game presents a unique and original concept, but it suffers from clunky mechanics, balance issues, and a lack of intuitive design, making it frustrating for many players. While some appreciate the aesthetic and potential for creativity, others find the gameplay slow, repetitive, and plagued by bugs, leading to a mixed reception overall. Despite its promise, many reviewers feel that significant improvements are needed to enhance the overall experience and enjoyment.
- “Great city builder with enough resource balancing to keep gameplay interesting without becoming daunting.”
- “The gameplay is clear and relaxing.”
- “It is a really interesting city building game with the emphasis on vertical gameplay and balancing of a bunch of different resources to create a new experience I've never seen elsewhere.”
- “This game feels like a nice and original concept at first, but it is very clunky in practice and many mechanics just don't make any sense.”
- “The actual gameplay could use some balancing and tweaks to address some issues.”
- “I really wanted to like this game, especially with its pleasing aesthetics and sim building gameplay, but it is plagued with bugs, glitches, and some annoying mechanics that simply make it hard and unenjoyable.”
graphics
102 mentions
44 % positive mentions
53 % neutral mentions
3 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are widely praised for their unique and aesthetically pleasing art style, often described as simple yet elegant, with a charming blocky design that enhances the overall experience. Many players appreciate the soothing visuals and ambient soundtrack, which contribute to a relaxing gameplay atmosphere, although some note that the graphics can appear low-quality when zoomed in. Overall, while the visuals are a highlight, there are mixed feelings about the game's depth and polish, with some players feeling it lacks refinement and variety.
- “The graphics are really the best part about the game and this game shines when you play as intended - on a small surface area block with a lot of vertical building.”
- “The art style is fantastic.”
- “Beautiful graphics which make your little cities feel so much more special.”
- “Crude graphics and meaningless game mechanics.”
- “The game lacks any type of graphics configuration utility, leaving you with whatever you get from default configuration; I cannot get a satisfactory frame rate.”
- “I wish I could give this game a thumbs up, but it just doesn't come close to a thumbs up. It is really sad this game had such great potential but the devs abandoned it, leaving it barely finished, lacking polish that other well-made early access games have. The graphics are okay as well but tend to look low quality when zoomed in.”
music
50 mentions
46 % positive mentions
46 % neutral mentions
8 % negative mentions
The music in the game is generally praised for its calming and soothing qualities, enhancing the overall aesthetic experience with a minimalistic and beautiful soundtrack. However, some players find the music repetitive and obtrusive, leading to mixed feelings about its impact on gameplay. While many appreciate the relaxing atmosphere it creates, there are reports of technical issues, such as music resetting or lagging, which detract from the experience.
- “The game is very aesthetically pleasing both visually and with their amazing soundtrack.”
- “Coupled with its soothing soundtrack and simplistic, yet beautiful visuals gives you a sense of serenity as you are playing.”
- “The music perfectly suits the gameplay and you can get lost for hours.”
- “Also I ended up muting the music (which seemed to unmute itself at some point?), I found it pretty repetitive and not at all soothing and relaxing as other reviews have said, again that's potentially just me.”
- “[*] the 'relaxing background music' is way too obtrusive.”
- “Sometimes too easy and sometimes too hard, graphic is fine, but unimaginative, repetitive gameplay, short and repetitive soundtrack, no story, clinical (not funny, not scary, not dramatic, not <many other emotional things>), controls could be better (placing/replacing tiles is tedious), time waster.”
stability
25 mentions
0 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
100 % negative mentions
The stability of the game has been widely criticized, with users reporting numerous bugs, glitches, and incomplete features that significantly hinder gameplay. Many players find the experience frustrating due to frequent freezes, unresponsive mechanics, and a lack of polish, suggesting that the game feels unfinished and unbalanced. While some acknowledge its potential and enjoyable aspects, the overwhelming consensus is that the current state is plagued by serious stability issues.
- “Common'hood is out and is a buggy mess.”
- “What a broken, buggy mess.”
- “I really wanted to like this game, especially with its pleasing aesthetics and sim building gameplay, but it is plagued with bugs, glitches, and some annoying mechanics that simply make it hard and unenjoyable.”
grinding
10 mentions
0 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be excessively tedious and frustrating, often due to a complicated interface and resource management that leaves little room for error. Glitches and the challenge of locating specific resources among numerous objects further contribute to a sense of irritation, making progression feel laborious. While the game has potential, many reviewers feel that its current state leads to a monotonous experience.
- “There's also no way to search the buildings by what resources they produce, which becomes very tedious when only one building produces a specific resource.”
- “The third time was because the final objective is actually impossible, at least as far as I've been able to tell—whether from a glitch, which seems to pop up at the most unfortunate of times and make progression tedious, to say the least, or because as a fallible human it is all too easy to miss a single abandoned block amidst dozens or even hundreds of other objects, even with a cutaway mode and scanning every block to find it—though I'm leaning more towards the former than the latter.”
- “A great premise ruined by a tedious interface that's needlessly complicated and requires way too much micromanaging of individual tiles.”
replayability
8 mentions
50 % positive mentions
13 % neutral mentions
38 % negative mentions
Overall, the game is praised for its high replayability, driven by its unique concept, engaging gameplay, and the potential for infinite exploration and creativity, particularly in challenge and sandbox modes. While many players appreciate the replay value, some note that the sandbox mode offers limited replayability. Future updates are anticipated to enhance replayability further by introducing new structures.
- “Block'hood is a hidden gem with infinite replayability.”
- “The way this puzzle aspect is implemented into the city-builder also makes you want to explore different layouts, so the replay value is massive if you want to build a nice city.”
- “A decent amount of challenge and replayability.”
- “The sandbox mode has very little replayability.”
- “I only wish the limit would go away or at least be increased; it's still high, but it would be great to have an unlimited number of blocks for very strong machines. The replay value is infinite, and the devs are also planning to add more structures - this will indeed be even better with time.”
- “Decent amount of challenge and replayability.”
emotional
6 mentions
100 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
0 % negative mentions
The game features a heartwarming story mode that, despite its brevity, leaves a lasting emotional impact, particularly in its touching conclusion. However, some players found the overall emotional engagement lacking due to repetitive gameplay and a lack of depth in the sandbox mode, which detracted from the potential for a more immersive experience.
- “There is also a very cute story mode, which is short but heartwarming.”
- “Although the main point of this game is the sandbox mode, the main story is really touching at the end.”
- “This game made me really emotional in the quick five tutorial-esque chapters it provided, then threw me out into the world to get creative on my own.”
optimization
5 mentions
60 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
40 % negative mentions
The game's optimization is currently lacking, with players experiencing significant lag and low frame rates (10-30 fps) even on decent hardware. While it is still in early access and some bugs have been addressed, users note that the overall performance and user interface need improvement for a smoother experience.
- “Like a performance mode, default mode, and quality mode?”
- “Overall, everything will run smoothly and nothing is 'too difficult'.”
- “Yet, the game is early access and still has many issues to be fixed such as bugs (many are fixed), beautiful but unvaried music, uncomfortable UI, and dull optimization.”
- “Oh, and also the reason why I said earlier about a performance mode being added is because I have a decent computer and I still have a serious lag issue with the game, getting around 10-30 fps most of the time.”
- “Yet, the game is early access and still has many issues to be fixed such as bugs (many are fixed but), beautiful but unvaried music, uncomfortable UI, and dull optimization.”
humor
5 mentions
60 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
40 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is generally appreciated, with players noting amusing elements like unique sounds and voices when buildings are constructed, such as kids laughing at a school. However, many feel that the overall experience is marred by interface issues and repetitive gameplay, which detracts from the comedic potential. While some moments are funny and witty, the lack of a compelling story and emotional depth leaves the humor feeling somewhat superficial.
- “Plus, when buildings are placed, they make unique sounds and voices, like kids laughing when a school is built.”
- “Input/output is funny, but witty.”
- “That's not funny, and it's pretty easy when you get the hang of it.”
- “Sometimes too easy and sometimes too hard; the graphics are fine, but the gameplay is unimaginative and repetitive. The soundtrack is short and repetitive, and there's no story. It's clinical—neither funny, scary, dramatic, nor emotional. The controls could be better; placing and replacing tiles is tedious and it feels like a time waster.”
atmosphere
4 mentions
75 % positive mentions
25 % neutral mentions
0 % negative mentions
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its relaxing and immersive qualities, featuring aesthetically pleasing designs and calming music that enhance the experience. Users appreciate the dynamic background, lighting, and sound effects that evoke various serene environments, such as sunsets and foggy nights, contributing to a tranquil ambiance.
- “The atmosphere created by this game, with the aesthetically pleasing design and calming music, really sucked me into trying it out.”
- “This game has a calming atmosphere and pretty colors.”
- “The background, lighting, and sound effects slowly change in tandem, giving soft and atmospheric impressions of sunsets, foggy nights, grey rainy days, etc.”
monetization
1 mentions
0 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
100 % negative mentions
The monetization strategy for this title primarily relies on advertising, as users have discovered it through promotional content on platforms like YouTube.