Baldur's Gate 3 is now in the top 20 of Steam's best-reviewed games of all time, alongside other standouts like Stardew Valley and Hollow Knight.
26.01.2024 - 11:05 / rockpapershotgun.com
What do you do after running away from the big city to start a new life in the country? You run away from the country to start a new life in the big city, obviously. Former Stardew Valley developer Arthur "Mr. Podunkian" Lee has announced Sunkissed City, a life simulation game set in a delightful coastal burb that's reportedly "pumping with funky vibes and quirky characters", together with migraines, stretches of dead water and horrible sewer monsters.
Teased last year, and now formally announced with a Q4 2024 release date, the game casts you as a new starter or "Peco Pioneer" for the friendly Pico corporation. You responsibilities include "fostering a relationship with Apollo's vibrant community and putting in a good word for Pico's new eco-focused initiative". Is there some kind of connection between this eco-focused initiative and the aforesaid ecological/monster-based calamities? Please - I am a journalist, it would be unprofessional of me to speculate.
Functionally Sunkissed City appears to follow closely in the bootprints of Stardew, with the same bustling top-down look. It's perhaps slightly less production-minded, but it's hard to get a sense of the graft involved from the Steam blurb. Amongst other things, you'll decorate your home with furniture, fancy wallpaper and the like, fish on the beach, tend to gardens cultivated by "plant-punks", forage for herbs and whatnot while hiking up Pinnacle Peak, and take on odd jobs such as warehouse loading gigs for pocket money. There's also the opportunity to read in the park, give yourself a makeover at Salon Flamingo, expand your wardrobe at Threads, and take in a dish of coffee at the Weird Dog Cafe. Or you could head into the sewers and check out those monsters. I'm not sure whether combat is involved.
Let's not forget those quirky characters. You can build up relationships with each person individually to hear more about their lives, offering them gifts that might earn you favours in return. I didn't intend that last bit to sound like a euphemism, but needless to say, romance is a possibility. The forests, meanwhile, are full of mischievous critters called the Keby, who appear to be your major allies in your quest to sort out Apollo City's mysterious underlying environmental issues. There's also online and split-screen co-op, with custom difficulty and accessibility settings per player.
I'm not the target audience for Stardew, but I really like the look of those street scenes, with all the crowded-together signs and graffiti. If it's not enough of a departure for you, you might prefer ConcernedApe's upcoming Haunted Chocolatier, in which you run a sweetshop staffed by ghosts - it'll be more combat-focussed, apparently.
Baldur's Gate 3 is now in the top 20 of Steam's best-reviewed games of all time, alongside other standouts like Stardew Valley and Hollow Knight.
Students, busy-bodies, stoners, and gamers have been chilling at their desks with Lofi Girl - the YouTube channel featuring lofi beats and a studious anime girl - for almost a decade. One Steam Next Fest demo now makes that experience kind of playable with a life sim that's perfect for serial procrastinators.
A newcomer to Stardew Valley found themselves with some unbelievably bad luck after a Meteorite appeared on their farm. The Stardew Valley random event can strike when players least expect it, but usually it's something to be excited about.
Stardew Valley's 1.6 update is almost done, with developer Eric Barone saying he's "done adding major new content to it now." He's now in the "bug-fixing and polishing phase". When it does arrive, it'll be Stardew Valley's first major update in over three years.
Stardew Valley creator Eric Barone has updated fans on the progress of the game’s long-coming 1.6 update, claiming that it’s approaching completion.
Stardew Valley developer Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone has revealed through a post on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) that the much-anticipated 1.6 update for the game will be larger in scope than originally planned. He has also revealed that the update is currently in its bug fixing and polishing phase, which indicates that the update is likely close to release.
The creator of Stardew Valley, Eric «ConcernedApe» Barone, has revealed how far along development on the highly-anticipated Update 1.6 is. While a release date was not given, the creator noted that development on the update is in its final stages, exciting many Stardew Valley fans.
Stardew Valley creator Eric «ConcernedApe» Barone has shared an update on the farm-life sim's highly anticipated — and long-in-the-works — 1.6 update, saying he's now «done adding major new content» and that it'll «definitely» be out this year.
A former Stardew Valley developer known as Arthur «Mr. Podunkian» Lee announced his new game, Sunkissed City, is officially coming later this year. The self-developed game combines many well-loved features from Stardew Valleywith the thrills of city living, giving fans of the farming sim an experience with a new twist but a similar feel.
Mr. Podunkian revealed the Steam store page for their upcoming city life simulator, Sunkissed City, which is coming to PC sometime in late 2024.
Arthur Lee (AKA Mr. Podunkian), a game developer who previously worked on the 1.4 and 1.5 updates for ConcernedApe’s farming sim Stardew Valley, has unveiled the title and planned release window of his own urban life sim game.
Developer Arthur 'Mr. Podunkian' Lee, who worked with ConcernedApe on Stardew Valley, has announced the release window for his own forthcoming life sim.