Another indie title has been released that’s giving players some much-needed relaxation: Summerhouse. There’s no combat, no movement, and nothing to stress you out except the limitations of your own imagination. Plus, there are collectibles, and that’s always a good thing.
Summerhouse, a game by independent developer Friederman, is all about building using a limited number of tiles and decor items. You start the game with only a few tiles to build with. As you place them down, you’ll start to get new pieces featuring people and animals that will bring your creations to life–if you’re lucky.
Summerhouse is about building houses and feeling the vibe
Summerhouse is reminiscent of playing with building blocks, either as a child myself or with my daughter now. The possibilities are only limited by what you can imagine – you can build a giant castle or a tiny cottage, hang laundry between the windows and put climbing vines all over the walls. Or, if you feel like it, you can build a skyscraper that looks like it would topple over in reality. The limit does not exist.
You technically don’t even need walls. You can place windows, doors, and endless decor pieces wherever you like, as long as it’s within the building boundaries set out by the level. There’s no limit to how many objects you can place, so you can make incredibly cluttered designs that somehow end up looking as though they were always meant to look that way. At least, that’s the hope.
Although Summerhouse lacks stress, it doesn’t lack frustrations, though they have more to do with expectations vs reality than with the game itself. I’ve played a lot of hours of Summerhouse, and I have found it difficult to create buildings that live up to the ideas I have in my head when starting a build. That said, I have, at times, begun to play and then somehow lost three hours before I look at the clock again.
It’s incredibly easy to get lost in the simple art style, and if you’re not a fan of the default pixelated look, you can turn that off in the settings to give the game a smoother look. The wind blowing through the trees in the background and the quiet, calming music adds to the atmosphere, allowing you to simply relax and wile away the hours.
Getting new building blocks in Summerhouse is not only easy but enjoyable, and some of them are absolutely adorable. For instance, by placing some power lines next to some swaying grass, two pieces that you have from the outset, you’ll be rewarded with a new block featuring a little sheet ghost who comes to visit at night time.
You can make up your own stories for the people who show up, like the dog who sits on the steps waiting for his owner or the mysterious caller who stays on the pay phone all day.
Summerhouse is a game of imagination, and it’s got a shocking low base price on Steam of $4.99 USD. At that price, what have you got to lose?