LakeSide

About

LakeSide is a single player survival strategy game with a fantasy theme. It was developed by Massive Galaxy Studios and was released on March 25, 2024. It received mostly positive reviews from players.

"LakeSide is a single-player Fantasy Strategy game with sensational visuals and a good soundtrack. Build and manage your own unique city by the lake, choosing from over 60 building variations and 5 wonders, with different building combinations available in each game run. Manage resources and keep your citizens alive for a sprawling, rewarding city state."

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

Skip User Reviews

65%

Audience ScoreBased on 202 reviews

graphics36 positive mentions

stability12 negative mentions

The game features beautiful pixel art and a charming atmosphere, making it visually appealing.
It offers a relaxing gameplay experience, suitable for casual players looking to unwind.
There is potential for growth and improvement, with regular updates from the developers.

The gameplay is slow and can feel uneventful, often requiring long waits for building upgrades.
The user interface is clunky and unresponsive, leading to a frustrating experience when managing buildings.
There is a lack of content and replayability, with many players finishing the game in under two hours.

graphics
64 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
56%
39%
5%
The graphics of the game are widely praised for their beautiful pixel art style and charming visuals, creating a nostalgic and cozy atmosphere that enhances the overall experience. However, some players note that the pixel clarity can be lacking on larger screens, and there are criticisms regarding the unresponsive UI and clunky controls that detract from the enjoyment of the gameplay. Overall, while the artwork is a highlight, it is often overshadowed by gameplay issues.
- “The visual art style is beautiful, and the map changes with 'seasons'.”
- “I absolutely love the concept of the game, the art, the graphic style.”
- “A relaxing building game, with a gorgeous art style.”
- “On a large monitor, the pixel art style doesn't work well.”
- “Even though it is pixel graphics, the pixels really aren't very clear.”
- “Not a fan of how you place buildings and the pixel graphics.”
gameplay
54 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
22%
56%
22%
The gameplay of the game has received mixed reviews, with many players noting a lack of clarity and poor design, particularly due to insufficient tutorials and buggy mechanics. While some appreciate the artistic elements and find the gameplay enjoyable in short bursts, others criticize it for being repetitive and lacking depth, especially in the late game. Overall, there is potential for improvement, but significant refinements are needed to enhance the gameplay experience.
- “Lakeside has nice pixel art, good music, and easy but pleasing gameplay.”
- “Overall, the game seems fun, and with continued development and refining, this seems like a great, lightweight city building and management game with interesting mechanics and issues to plan around.”
- “There is a little challenge as well as some interesting mechanics.”
- “Gameplay is unclear and poorly designed.”
- “There are several random mechanics that are not explained at all: what is an architect? I built a library, where are they?”
- “Little to no explanations to be found on how gameplay operates; this game could really use a decent tutorial or manual.”
music
34 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
53%
38%
9%
The music in the game is generally described as pleasant and charming, effectively setting a relaxing mood that complements the gameplay. While some players find it repetitive and occasionally experience issues with it cutting out, the overall consensus is that the soundtrack enhances the cozy atmosphere and nostalgic feel of the game. It serves as a soothing backdrop for casual city-building, making it enjoyable for extended play sessions.
- “The music is just perfect for the feel of the game.”
- “Cosy vibes, gorgeous aesthetic, and chill music make for an awesome weekend afternoon.”
- “All of this is done with nice pixel graphics and a great soundtrack.”
- “Features just don't work, it occasionally crashes or doesn't save the game, the music cuts out, etc.”
- “The music cuts out sometimes for no discernible reason.”
- “You're not engaged in elaborate city planning, you're placing some buildings and listening to music and optimizing how things come together.”
replayability
14 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
21%
58%
21%
Overall, the game suffers from low replayability due to a lack of content and significant bugs that hinder the experience. While the variety of landscapes offers some potential for replay value, many players feel that the current state of the game does not provide enough incentive to return. Improvements in user interface, progression, and overall gameplay are needed to enhance its longevity and replayability.
- “Also, the different landscapes are a plus for replayability.”
- “But the overall problem to me seems to be replayability and longevity.”
- “This could become a cool game, but the dev needs to fix UI quirks, progression, longevity, and replayability to make this more than just a nice looking game.”
- “Replay value is very low, cannot recommend it.”
- “But the overall problem to me seems replayability and longevity.”
- “It doesn't really have any replayability right now, as there's just not enough content.”
stability
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game suffers from significant stability issues, with players reporting persistent bugs that hinder gameplay and user interface functionality. Despite being nearly a year post-launch, many aspects remain unpolished, leading to a frustrating experience that detracts from overall enjoyment and replay value.
- “The gameplay is a buggy mess.”
- “It's been almost a year since this game came out and it's still fairly buggy and boring as hell.”
- “Unfortunately, it is very, very buggy.”
atmosphere
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The atmosphere of the game is widely praised for its fantastic combination of art and audio, creating a charming and visually appealing experience. While the ambiance is enjoyable, some players find the gameplay itself to be lacking in excitement. Overall, it is described as a chill city builder with a pleasant atmosphere.
- “With all of that said, it looks great and the atmosphere created by the combination of art and audio is fantastic.”
- “Summary: a chill, simple city builder with nice atmosphere and ease of play.”
- “Charming game, nice visuals, nice atmosphere.”
grinding
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and detrimental to their overall experience, as it often leads to frustration rather than enjoyment of the game's mechanics.
- “This causes a bad experience and makes using the game's mechanics tedious.”
optimization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
Players note that while there may be advanced strategies for optimizing unlocks, relying on them can detract from the overall enjoyment and intended experience of the game.
- “There's probably some sort of hardcore super meta strategy for getting the most optimized unlocks, but I felt like playing it that way sort of defeated the purpose.”
- “There's probably some sort of hardcore super mega meta strategy for getting the most optimized unlocks, but I felt like playing it that way sort of defeated the purpose.”
story
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Users express frustration with the story, particularly regarding the lack of engaging missions and the absence of trading mechanics, leading to dissatisfaction and a desire for more interactive elements.