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0 Cosy meets roguelite in Tom Daly and Future Friends Games new release Tranquil Isle. Design your perfect paradise in your favourite styles as you try to earn your high score or just freely build. Tranquil Isle is currently available on Steam and you can also grab the soundtrack whilst you’re there!
Tranquil Islands filled with houses, taverns and more!
I sunk a bunch of time into this game building my own little towns and cities but is it worth adding to your steam library?
Gameplay
There are three game modes to choose from when it comes to Tranquil Isle: standard, sandbox and classic. Within the standard version you will progressively unlock more buildings and islands by building and increasing the population of your world. Sandbox mode allows you to build freely and explore all of the buildings on offer. Finally, the classic mode is where you get a fixed seed for the month that you can climb leaderboards with. As well as game mode, you can choose the style of your islands. I often found myself playing with the Wayo design as it was the one that I felt was the most interesting to look at but there is plenty of choice to fit with players’ preferences.
Worlds can also vary in size, with the small world size naturally leading to faster games.
It’s a very simply game to play with vibes similar to that of Tiny Glade. Every game starts with the placement of your Town Centre. From that buildings range from standard houses to docks, mansions and stables, all of which you can choose as you grow your little civilisation. However, it goes further than that. Each building type is buffed or debuffed depending on what you surround it with. It was a nice feature that kept the simple play style prominent without making it feel like there wasn’t much point to playing anything other than sandbox mode.
Graphics & Audio
The cutesy vibes continue past the loading screens with little figures going about their day. It was really cool to see the way that they interacted with the specific buildings that you put down. Tranquil Isle goes as far as giving wild animals character as well as horses that you can see in their stables. It adds a level of character that makes it really engaging to play.
The art style itself is consistent across all types of map and highlight the cosy, simple nature that Tranquil Isle excels at. The audio only adds to it by creating an ambient, calming environment that you can zone out to and enjoy the game.
Longevity
Tranquil Isle provides an opportunity for any length of play. Small islands can take as little as ten minutes to max out whilst sandbox mode can leave you building for as long as you want to. It’s definitely something that you can pick up and put down as often as you want. Especially as each island set up is different in terms of the amount of challenge. I think this is one of those games that you will sink hours into without really meaning to because once you get in the zone you’re there for the long run. I might have accidentally stayed up way too late a few times now…
Final Thoughts
I keep calling this game cute and cosy but that is not to its discredit. This game is really well made and you can tell a lot of love went into making it. It was a fun little game to play and I’m sure I will dip in and out of it from time to time. I’m excited to see where this goes and I would love to see some other island types to add a bit more variety to what’s available. This was my first real adventure into a roguelite and I enjoyed every second.
All in all, I’m very happy to give Tranquil Isle the Thumb Culture Gold Award.
Disclaimer: A code was received in order to write this review.
You can find our other PC reviews here if you’re looking for more to add to your game library!
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