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"Settlemoon is a single-player Simulation game with an intriguing story and splendid mechanics, where you build and manage a sidescrolling town that grows in real-time. The game features beautiful visuals, a delightful soundtrack, and allows for relaxed commitment, with no fail states and the ability to customize your town with hundreds of decorative items. Explore the mysterious world and uncover its secrets at your own pace."

Settlemoon screenshot
Settlemoon screenshot
Settlemoon screenshot
Settlemoon screenshot
Settlemoon screenshot

89%
Audience ScoreBased on 210 reviews
story19 positive mentions
optimization2 negative mentions

  • Charming and unique art style with adorable characters that create a cozy atmosphere.
  • Engaging story told through visuals, allowing players to discover the narrative at their own pace.
  • Relaxing gameplay that doesn't demand constant attention, making it enjoyable to check in periodically.
  • Lack of clear instructions and tutorials can lead to confusion about game mechanics and objectives.
  • Pacing can feel slow, especially in the early game, which may frustrate players looking for more active engagement.
  • Some players may find the UI and interactions cumbersome, particularly when managing multiple adventurers and resources.
  • story
    112 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's story is unexpectedly deep for a city-building idle game, exploring themes of grief and nostalgia through primarily visual storytelling, which some players find both charming and cryptic. While the narrative unfolds slowly and can be challenging to piece together, it resonates emotionally and adds a layer of engagement to the gameplay. Overall, the art and music complement the story, creating a cozy yet poignant atmosphere that encourages players to invest in the world and its mysteries.

    • “A deep story that you'd never expect from a city-building idle game, with none of the stuff that makes most idle games a drag or cash grab. Be warned that grief is a significant story element, so make sure you go into the game with a sound mind if you are worried it will hit too close to home, like any tragic story.”
    • “The storytelling is very subtle; you have to read between the lines a lot (and do a bit of investigation) to truly understand what happened and what is currently happening.”
    • “The story is told primarily without text, but it tugs on the heartstrings, and the recent postgame update adds a second loop with some extra closure.”
    • “At the end of the day, this is a game that tells a sad story and wastes a lot of your time doing it.”
    • “However, it's otherwise a bit harder to get captivated by the game's story when it's usually told in a rather minimal manner.”
  • gameplay
    68 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The gameplay of Settlemoon is characterized by its passive, idle mechanics that encourage players to engage with the game at their own pace, focusing on town-building and resource management. While the game offers a charming aesthetic and a relaxing atmosphere, it is often criticized for its lack of clear explanations regarding its mechanics, requiring players to discover and infer how systems work over time. This unique approach can be rewarding for those who enjoy piecing together gameplay elements, but may frustrate players seeking a more straightforward experience.

    • “The game mechanics are unique, fun, easy to learn, and mesh well with its surprisingly touching narrative.”
    • “It's really nice having a game that lets you figure everything out slowly; it's a game with a surprising amount of depth to its mechanics!”
    • “The pacing is excellent, the villagers are adorable, and puzzling out the mechanics for yourself is a blast.”
    • “There isn't much gameplay, so if that's what you're looking for, you might not enjoy this.”
    • “The game is designed to make a lot of its exact mechanics unclear, with very minimal tutorializing.”
    • “The nature of the game doesn't necessarily help the onboarding experience either, since the game encourages you to be relatively hands-off for large portions of gameplay, and you're likely not going to be paying close attention to it in order to get a good sense of what every system actually does, which exacerbates these problems.”
  • music
    54 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The music in the game is generally praised for its charm and relaxing quality, with many players enjoying the unique feature of adventurers playing individual parts of a song, creating a dynamic and atmospheric soundtrack. However, some users find the music repetitive and lacking in variety, leading to moments of frustration. Overall, while the soundtrack enhances the game's aesthetic and mood, there are calls for more diverse tracks to maintain engagement over time.

    • “The environment is beautiful, the animations are eye candy, and the music is eerie, comforting, and nostalgic all at the same time.”
    • “With beautiful art direction, a good story, and great music, it's a real treat.”
    • “Instead of having specific individual songs that play during gameplay, travelers will come by your settlement and play individual parts of a song by themselves, and then other travelers will join with their own instruments.”
    • “Personally, I find the music to be bland compared to other chill chiptunes.”
    • “Whatever fun I had providing for adventurers and planning their escapades was undermined by the oppressive gloom of the soundtrack, the story, the overall vibe... and the uncomfortable OCD-farming aspects of the gameplay itself.”
    • “There needs to be more songs to justify its inclusion.”
  • graphics
    38 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The graphics of the game are widely praised for their charming and endearing pixel art style, which effectively conveys emotions and gameplay mechanics through minimalist visuals. Players appreciate the unique aesthetic, character designs, and the relaxing atmosphere created by the art and accompanying chiptune soundtrack. Overall, the graphics contribute significantly to the game's cozy and nostalgic feel, making it a delightful experience for fans of pixel art.

    • “The art style is perfection for this.”
    • “Charming and nostalgic graphics.”
    • “Extremely cozy idle game with an incredible art style!”
    • “There's also nothing in the way of graphical options outside of fullscreen to my knowledge, and there's a hard cap of 60 fps for anyone running a faster monitor.”
    • “Settlemoon as a game is really great at capturing my attention now and then with its story that catches you, its chill aesthetic and audio and very calming gameplay, but it probably won't be your kind of game as much if you're looking for something more active rather than passive.”
    • “A cute pixelly game with a cute art style and a lot of cute art, about being sad, depressed, isolated and burnt out, and then finally letting go of that MMO you'd become over-dependent on.”
  • emotional
    18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Players express deep emotional connections to the game, highlighting its ability to evoke genuine feelings through its touching narrative and charming art style. Many were surprised by the emotional depth of an idle town builder, with themes of love and loss resonating strongly, leading to moments of joy and heartbreak. Overall, the game is praised for its heartfelt storytelling, making it a standout experience that transcends typical gameplay expectations.

    • “The game mechanics are unique, fun, easy to learn, and mesh well with its surprisingly touching narrative.”
    • “Having completed the game, it was a genuinely touching experience.”
    • “I don't know how, and I don't know why, but this little idle game made me feel so much more than most other games ever have.”
  • atmosphere
    8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The atmosphere of the game is widely praised for its charming and cozy qualities, enhanced by a combination of beautiful pixel art and evocative music. Players appreciate the nostalgic and calming environment, which contributes significantly to the overall experience, despite some design flaws. The blend of sound and visuals creates a unique ambiance that encourages exploration and emotional engagement.

    • “I have grown to like the cozy and calming atmosphere.”
    • “Settlemoon is a very cute town-builder; I can confidently say it has a charming atmosphere and a wonderful nostalgic air.”
    • “There is such an atmosphere created between the sound and art.”
    • “It adds a lot to the atmosphere, and I hope more games do things like this with its music in the future :)”
    • “Really chill atmosphere.”
  • stability
    3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Overall, the game is considered stable with minimal bugs and glitches, though players report occasional frame rate drops and a maximum playtime of about 8 hours before experiencing freezes.

    • “The game is mostly bug-free, providing a smooth experience overall.”
    • “While there are occasional drops in FPS during certain actions, they are infrequent and do not significantly impact gameplay.”
    • “The stability of the game is commendable, with only rare instances of random FPS drops.”
    • “Again, you only have 8 hours maximum before the game freezes.”
    • “The game frequently crashes, making it nearly unplayable.”
    • “I experienced multiple game-breaking bugs that ruined my progress.”
  • optimization
    3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Players appreciate the game's emphasis on strategic optimization, particularly in managing tasks like stocking shops, which encourages a more relaxed approach to gameplay. Instead of focusing on constant micromanagement, the game allows for a more thoughtful progression, where players can plan their actions and return later to see the results.

      • “Progression at a certain point requires actual strategy and optimization even while doing something as mundane as stocking a shop.”
      • “It's a good idea to open up, post quests, stock your shops, and then check back in the morning or after work rather than stressing over minute-to-minute optimization.”
    • humor
      2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

      The humor in the game is highlighted through amusing admin popups and the presence of quirky critters that add a lighthearted charm to the town-building experience. Players appreciate the blend of simplicity and fun, enhanced by a whimsical narrative and engaging mysteries.

      • “I kept hearing about this on my favorite kart server, so glad to follow the funny admin pop-ups!”
      • “It's a pretty simple and fun game about building up a town with funny little critters walking around in it, along with a few mysteries and a nice, simple story surrounding it.”
    • grinding
      2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

      Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and frustrating, as it involves repetitive item placement to optimize boosts, which is not intuitively clear. This laborious farming process detracts from the overall enjoyment, overshadowed by a gloomy atmosphere and story.

        • “Whatever fun I had providing for adventurers and planning their escapades was undermined by the oppressive gloom of the soundtrack, the story, the overall vibe, and the uncomfortable OCD-farming aspects of the gameplay itself.”
        • “Additionally, what synergizes with which, and how much of a boost you get isn't exactly immediately obvious at a glance, and you're just going to have to tediously place down items to try and maximize the value you get out of these boosts.”
      • character development
        2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

        The character development in the game is highlighted by its charming and visually appealing pixel art style, which enhances the overall experience. Players appreciate the cute and simple designs that contribute to the game's aesthetic, though specific details on character growth or depth are not mentioned.

        • “Really cute and simple little management game with a really nice pixel art style and charming character designs.”
        • “The pixel art is absolutely gorgeous to look at: from character designs to backgrounds and the extra art in booklets, everything looks great!”
      • monetization
        1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

        The monetization model is perceived as favorable, resembling that of mobile games but notably lacking the pressure of microtransactions, which enhances the overall player experience.

        • “I feel like it has that mobile game feel, but without the need for microtransactions.”
        • “The monetization system feels overly aggressive, pushing players to spend money to enjoy the game fully.”
        • “It seems like every feature is locked behind a paywall, making it frustrating for free-to-play users.”
        • “The constant prompts to purchase in-game currency really detract from the overall experience.”

      Buy Settlemoon

      62h Median play time
      44h Average play time
      8-80h Spent by most gamers
      *Based on 2 analyzed playthroughs

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