👍 Slow Down With These Serene City-Building Games

Really, Cloud Gardens and Terra Nil aren’t that different from Islanders, Dorfromantik, or Townscaper. They tap into ideas of growth and progress but tweak who or what this should benefit. In a way, these two games are simply logical evolutions of a city-builder genre that Islanders developer Schenepf describes in terms of its closeness to arboreal cultivation. Like that pastime, there are next to no anxieties in these quiet, minimalist variations of their complicated forebears, just the gentle pleasure of watching buildings and plants flourish. “Taking care of something is satisfying to so many people,” says Schnepf. “Just like growing a garden.”