Code provided thanks to the Dearbnb Team (Gameshaft Studio).
The Dearbnb demo definitely leaves you wanting more! I can’t wait to play the full game and unlock all the cool areas that will be available to decorate.
Real Estate Empire, But Make It Cozy
The best way I could describe Dearbnb is a cozy Airbnb simulator for design lovers. Have you ever wanted to own a property, decorate it however you wish, and rent it without the stress and pressure that comes with handling tenants and businesses? Then you have come to the right place.
Dearbnb, at its core, is a city tycoon and management game aimed at decorating spaces to later welcome tenants and customers, starting from tiny apartment rooms to more luxurious spaces and full businesses.
I normally don’t play tycoon games much, as most of the time they end up being repetitive and don’t give you enough freedom to decorate your spaces as you want. Dearbnb was not the case.
The Gameplay of Dearbnb
Dearbnb walks you through the first zone you unlock in the game, the Slums. It teaches you the basic controls of the game and your way around it. It’s pretty straightforward and easy to follow. The controls are always shown on the screen in case you forget how to move the items when decorating.
In this area, you can rent apartments across 5 buildings and customize a Pizza and Coffee shop to increase your passive income while you focus on your main task: decorating.
I loved letting my imagination run wild, though as the completionist gamer that I am, I got to a point where I felt I had nothing else to do. I had already decorated numerous apartments and expanded both of my businesses. This left me wanting to explore the areas that will be available in the full game!
Dearbnb also feels like a real estate simulator for beginners. I don’t say it because it lacks complexity of any kind; rather, it has its own complexity when it comes to managing the finances of the properties, but it does so in a way that is so easy to follow and leaves the stressful part out of the picture. For example, you can negotiate the price with your prospects; if you set it really high, they will get angry and leave. You can click the button again, and a new tenant with a new offer will appear. There’s nothing to worry about.
One of my favorite parts was getting a place ready to rent. Some guests will leave small pieces of trash around the room, leaving your furniture either dirty or broken. But worry not! I loved how easy it was to clean and repair the furniture. For cleaning, just drag the mouse around the desired furniture, and for repairing, just click when the screen indicates it. That’s it!
Where Cozy Management, Interior Design, and Property Tycoon Meet
I was impressed to see that the demo of Dearbnb has this perfect combination of property tycoon system and cozy atmosphere. You can grow as much as you want, going at your own pace, without the pressure to hustle and have a long list of tasks to do. The only tasks required to rent a property are placing certain types of furniture, such as a bed, couch, fridge, and toilet. Beyond those prerequisites, you can decorate as you please.
The game softly nudges you to expand your businesses and rental properties to generate more income, as you can unlock new types of furniture to use and create endless possibilities for your interior design skills. The more you personalize the space, the more it increases the value of the property. So, decorate as you see fit!
The only thing you really need to look out for is paying your bills for each property you own. That’s a minor inconvenience I encountered. There is supposed to be a due date for paying your bills; otherwise, you will be paying an extra fee if they are overdue. In the demo, I wasn’t sure how to calculate when my bills needed to be paid, so I ended up opening the properties hub constantly for any surprises.
Let Your Interior Design Skills Flow
As I was decorating more and more, I even started picturing how my dream house would look and tried to replicate it right there. A few hours went by, and I didn’t even notice as I was too busy decorating every inch of the apartment!
You can be as thorough as you want, literally let your creativity flow! The level of freedom and meticulousness the game has is so rewarding. For example, you can even place book by book on a shelf. As a Type-A person, I was immensely pleased with this.
The only thing I struggled with while decorating was following the logic behind the sorting of each piece of furniture, as it became quite difficult to remember the category in which things like candles or pillows were located. That said, if you get lost like me, it has the option to type the name of the object you’re looking for, and it will show you all the matching results.
Final Thoughts on the Dearbnb Demo
I had such a great time playing Dearbnb. It is one of those games where you can relax and lose yourself in your imagination, trying to bring it to life. With the music being so peaceful and the plasticine-like art style, it’s the perfect mix to just stop for a moment and watch how each of your decorated places comes to life on its own. It is a cozy management game at its finest.
While the demo got a bit boring for me at a certain point, I’m pretty confident that the full game promises to definitely level up the gaming experience, as we will be able to manage a cinema, a supermarket, even a theme park, luxurious zones and more!
Can’t wait to see how much more freedom the game will have when the entire map is released and new features are added. The Dearbnb demo is available on Steam, so be sure to check that out!
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