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Button City

Button City is an adorable, heartwarming little journey that will enamour all who play it.
Button City Game Cover
80%Game Brain Score
story, emotional
grinding, optimization
96% User Score Based on 210 reviews
Critic Score 63%Based on 25 reviews

Platforms

Nintendo SwitchXbox Series X|SPCPlaystation 5Mac OSXbox OneXboxSteam DeckWindowsPlayStation
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Button City Game Cover

About

Button City is a single player casual role playing game with fantasy, comedy and kids themes. It was developed by Subliminal and was released on August 9, 2021. It received mostly positive reviews from critics and overwhelmingly positive reviews from players.

"Button City" is a charming adventure game where you help Fenn, a brave fox, save their local arcade from a greedy corporation. Navigate social challenges, compete in colorful mini-games, and form friendships to outwit the competition and save your beloved community space. This heartwarming tale of friendship and determination will have you cheering for our hero every step of the way.

Genres & Tags
Play Modes
Button City screenshot
Button City screenshot
Button City screenshot
Button City screenshot
Button City screenshot
Button City screenshot
Button City screenshot
Button City screenshot
Button City screenshot
Button City screenshot
Button City screenshot
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96%
Audience ScoreBased on 210 reviews
story50 positive mentions
grinding8 negative mentions
  • Button City features charming graphics and a heartwarming story that resonates with players, evoking nostalgia and emotional connections.
  • The game offers a variety of fun mini-games and side quests, providing engaging gameplay that keeps players entertained.
  • The characters are well-written and memorable, contributing to a cozy and enjoyable atmosphere throughout the game.
  • The gameplay can feel sluggish and repetitive, with excessive backtracking and fetch quests that detract from the overall experience.
  • There are numerous bugs and technical issues that can disrupt gameplay, leading to frustration for players.
  • Some mini-games lack polish and can feel either too easy or frustratingly difficult, impacting the enjoyment of the arcade experience.
  • story
    178 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The story of "Button City" is described as a charming and wholesome narrative centered around friendship and community, featuring a skittish fox making new friends in a vibrant town with a focus on a local arcade. While the main storyline is engaging and emotional, some players noted issues with backtracking and repetitive quests that detracted from the experience. Overall, the game balances humor and heartfelt moments, though it may not offer deep storytelling or complex character arcs.

    • “A very simple, cute, and silly story about a skittish fox making new friends in a new town with a heavy focus on the local arcade as the place to be for kids.”
    • “The story is brilliant and you get to see bits of the characters' lives as the main story unfolds.”
    • “The story is all about friendship and community.”
    • “In the main story, however, the game teases a complex relationship between the main character and his mother, but doesn't expand on it at all.”
    • “There were some moments that were quite funny and somewhat dark, but yet again they were all ruined by the sheer amount of lack of care in how the story was executed.”
    • “I don't mind giving backstories, maybe showing how the characters are, but really the way this game tried to show story and give quests is just unbearable.”
  • emotional
    60 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The emotional aspect of "Button City" is widely praised for its heartfelt and wholesome narrative, capturing themes of friendship, nostalgia, and the bittersweet nature of growing up. Players find the charming characters and cute art style enhance the emotional depth, often leading to unexpected moments of genuine sentimentality. Overall, the game resonates with those who appreciate cozy experiences that evoke personal reflections and connections.

    • “Everyone is sweet and the story is great; it's bittersweet at almost the end, and it might be more emotional to others.”
    • “A wonderful, wholesome, and cute game that hits right in the feels, and also captures the feeling of growing up and losing the magic of being young.”
    • “Due to my own experiences in life, relating to many things in this game, the deeper connections truly resonated with me, resulting in a somewhat rare instance where a video game made me cry: growing up is never easy.”
  • graphics
    42 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The graphics of the game are characterized by a charming low-poly art style that is colorful and inviting, reminiscent of 90s and 00s aesthetics. While the visuals are praised for their cuteness and emotional depth, some players note that the gameplay can feel sluggish, which may detract from the overall experience. Overall, the art style and graphics are a significant draw for players, contributing to a warm and engaging atmosphere.

    • “Button City has colorful and charming low-poly aesthetics that hide some surprisingly deep moments behind its cartoonish nature.”
    • “The game features a very colorful low-poly art style along with a joyful soundtrack.”
    • “The aesthetics, while low-poly, are designed and color-schemed in a way to be soft and welcoming.”
    • “The low-poly graphics may not appeal to everyone, and various mechanics can make gameplay feel a bit on the slow side, but those who love the cute aesthetic are guaranteed to have fun helping Fennel settle into his new town of Button City with the bright colors and entertaining characters.”
    • “Graphics are very Animal Crossing.”
    • “The simplistic art style grabbed me as it reminded me of an Annapurna game.”
  • music
    35 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's music is widely praised for its variety, charm, and nostalgic quality, enhancing the overall experience with a joyful and atmospheric soundtrack that complements the colorful visuals and engaging narrative. However, some players noted technical issues, such as music stopping after certain actions, and expressed disappointment over the lack of an option to listen to the soundtrack outside of gameplay. Overall, the music significantly contributes to the game's appeal, making it a memorable aspect for many players.

    • “The music is phenomenal and the humor is light and chaotic.”
    • “The soundtrack is excellent, and both the visuals and writing are charming; all together they always put a smile on your face.”
    • “Most of the soundtrack is full of variety and genres, and fits most environments and story scenes very nicely.”
    • “Anytime you click on her door, Fennel says something like: 'I better not go into mom's room, she's going to be home late from work.' There is a glitch where if you hit restart on a mini-game and return to the main game, all music stops entirely.”
    • “There were some bugs here and there (sometimes music stops after you finish an arcade game, or sometimes the screen just goes black, but this happened very rarely), but it wasn't anything that kept me from enjoying it.”
    • “Really the stuff I haven't finished either felt too grindy (achieving 10k buttons and drinking 10 sodas) or were dealing with a mini-game I personally did not enjoy (beat all Prisma Beats songs in hard mode).”
  • gameplay
    32 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The gameplay in Button City is characterized by its simplicity and charm, featuring a mix of mini-games, fetch quests, and exploration through a unique stacked world mechanic. While the game offers a relaxed experience with engaging characters and a heartfelt story, it suffers from limited variety, some balancing issues, and occasional bugs that can disrupt the flow. Overall, it provides a fun, accessible experience for players who appreciate its cute aesthetic and narrative focus.

    • “Gameplay-wise, your time is split between traversing the town, through a neat little warp between bite-sized dioramas, and various mini-games.”
    • “The main gameplay, appropriately for a game about arcades, is split between three arcade games: a rhythm game, a racing game, and a robot battle fruit blending game.”
    • “Charming, genuinely funny, and surprisingly inventive gameplay.”
    • “This could have been remedied with some better AI, further balancing of the game mechanics, and unique maps you could unlock.”
    • “There's not any real difficulty to the gameplay, so the writing is what made me stick around, which is unusual for me.”
    • “Button City is a limited video game but, if the studio focuses on its strengths, it can surely create a world where the gameplay and the world are better synchronized.”
  • humor
    18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The humor in the game is described as light, chaotic, and charming, with funny character expressions and clever writing that often blends dark humor with cuteness. While the characters are relatable and the gameplay inventive, some players felt that the execution of the story detracted from the comedic moments. Overall, the game is praised for its vibrant and whimsical atmosphere, making it a delightful experience despite minor narrative flaws.

    • “The music is phenomenal and the humor is light and chaotic.”
    • “Button City is masterfully written, charming, and funny.”
    • “Charming, genuinely funny, and surprisingly inventive gameplay.”
  • grinding
    8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be a mixed experience, with some tasks feeling overly tedious, such as achieving high numbers in minigames or completing fetch quests. While some appreciate that essential items can be obtained through regular gameplay without excessive grinding, others feel that certain minigames detract from the overall enjoyment, making the experience feel more like a chore than fun.

    • “Really, the stuff I haven't finished either felt too grindy (achieving 10k buttons and drinking 10 sodas) or involved a minigame I personally did not enjoy (beating all Prisma Beats songs on hard mode).”
    • “[Full of annoying and intrusive bugs, arcade games get old quickly. Backtracking and fetch quests don't land as 'retro' ideas; they're just tedious.]”
    • “[Movement speed can make some quests feel tedious; some plot beats can feel rushed.]”
  • character development
    4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Character development in the game is praised for its depth, with players noting that beneath the cute and whimsical exterior lies a surprisingly emotional storyline. The characters are well-crafted, featuring humorous motives and relatable solutions that enhance the overall narrative experience.

    • “Right out the gate, you might cross a connection with another game using a similar style, specifically one about animals; the animations and character designs are certainly inspired by this, but the similarities end there, as Button City poses itself as a very unassuming, quaint and cute world, with funny writing, cute character motives (and solutions!) and a surprisingly emotional storyline, hidden deep underneath its facade of adorable fluffiness.”
  • optimization
    3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game exhibits performance issues, particularly on lower-end hardware like Intel HD Graphics 630, despite having adequate RAM and SSD storage. While the atmosphere and writing are praised, these technical shortcomings and subpar minigames detract from the overall experience.

    • “Performance-wise, I played on a desktop that uses Intel HD Graphics 630 with 16GB of RAM on an SSD.”
    • “I love the atmosphere and the magic captured in the game’s writing and setting, but performance issues and weak minigames hold the title back.”
  • atmosphere
    3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's atmosphere is praised for its beautiful and memorable music, which enhances the magical setting and writing. However, some players feel that performance issues and weak minigames detract from the overall experience.

    • “Beautiful, atmospheric music that does not loop in your head, but is still memorable.”
    • “I love the atmosphere and the magic captured in the game’s writing and setting.”
  • replayability
    2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game is considered decently replayable, offering enough content and variety to encourage players to return for multiple playthroughs.

    • “The game offers a decent level of replayability, keeping players engaged with new experiences.”
    • “I found the game to be decently replayable, with enough variety to make each playthrough feel fresh.”
    • “With its decent replayability, I can see myself coming back to this game multiple times.”
    • “Decently replayable.”
    • “Decently replayable.”
  • stability
    2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game exhibits typical post-launch stability issues, with users reporting a couple of significant bugs that can halt progress or prevent gameplay entirely. Overall, while some glitches are present, they appear to be limited in number.

    • “However, as expected, just released games still have some bugs and glitches. I managed to find only two that either stop you from advancing without resetting the game or mini-game, or stop you from playing altogether—one before and one after playing the game.”
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63%Critics’ scoreBased on 25 critic reviews
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Frequently Asked Questions

Button City is a casual role playing game with fantasy, comedy and kids themes.

Button City is available on Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X|S, PC, PlayStation 5 and others.

Button City was released on August 9, 2021.

Button City was developed by Subliminal.

Button City has received mostly positive reviews from players and mostly positive reviews from critics. Most players liked this game for its story but disliked it for its grinding.

Button City is a single player game.

Similar games include Here Comes Niko!, Mushi Come Home, Toem, Tiny Bookshop, Bear & Breakfast and others.