Town to City Early Access Impressions

The Premise of Town to City

In Town to City, we get to build an idyllic 19th-century Mediterranean town and help it flourish into a prosperous city. It is in the same style as Station to Station, another game by the same developer, which Mina reviewed and loved back in 2023. 

 Gameplay

In Town to City, we have free rein on how to build our town – there is no grit, and the roads can be drawn as freely as if using a paintbrush. We can place various buildings, including houses, shops, and amenities, as well as natural elements, all to keep our residents happy and encourage more new families to move in. And it is as in other city builders – the bigger the population, the more buildings are unlocked.

 As our population grows, we can build different towns that can develop independently or thrive together until the entire region develops and prospers.

 Town to City has two game modes – Story mode and Sandbox mode. In both cases, we have a lot of freedom in building and movement, but in Story mode, we have to fulfil some quests and unlock buildings one after another, while being careful how our economy is doing. In Sandbox mode, there are no conditions or restrictions, allowing us to create freely with all buildings and decorations unlocked.

 In Story mode, we have to fulfil some tasks to unlock more buildings. As in other games of the genre, we need to develop the settlement and research new buildings to unlock them. There are different types of buildings, including residential, shops, and so on. We can also research various kinds of decorations, including how to decorate residential buildings.

 We also have different types of families that move in – some with special conditions and others without. Special conditions include wanting a home near a market or one with a lot of greenery around. If we manage to complete the conditions, the families are much happier. There is an in-game debuff, which essentially reduces population density and happiness points. It means that if we overpopulate some areas, our residents will be less happy. We can counter that by spacing out the residential buildings or adding more decorations.

 Town To City offers a variety of customization options to enhance the appearance of our settlement. We can set up lighting, plant flowers, and create urban forest parks, as well as decorate houses and buildings, including by changing their colors. The game is rendered in voxel graphics, also known as 3D pixel graphics, and, put simply, it looks gorgeous. To fully take advantage of the game’s beautiful visuals, we can use the Photo mode to create inspiring wallpapers or commemorate milestones within the game. The soundtrack of the game is also great and quite fitting to the rest of the game.

 Some Technical Bits

 Town to City has basic Display, Graphics, and Audio settings. The game features a tutorial at the beginning, which can be deactivated at any point in the settings menu.

When in Sandbox mode, starting a new game, we can choose between five different maps, each with its own unique terrain and climate. We can also specify the game rules, such as the ‘no money’ rule, unlocking everything, 100% happiness, disabling construction time, and special building limits. We can also adjust the build cost, upkeep, income, worker productivity, and other multipliers as needed. We can reset to defaults at the beginning of a new game. When changing the game rules, we also disable achievements.

 Town to City has a demo available on its Steam page. The game also features Steam achievements, but not trading cards.

 The State of the Early Access

For a game in Early Access, Town to City feels quite complete, with nothing I could think of missing, and no bugs or crashes. The developers have an extensive roadmap for what’s next, with the first update already live, adding autumn-themed decorations, including trees with beautiful orange leaves. These are unlocked through a new item in the research menu. Also included are a new sandbox map, the ability to rotate the square brush, an increased maximum brush size (with a performance warning added for extremely high values), and the option to pause family spawning at the station.

The developers have stated that they intend the Early Access stage to last approximately 6 to 8 months, and that the current state of the game represents about 75% of the final game content. Future updates include Halloween-themed decorations, The Big Animal update, which will feature pets and farm animals, as well as new buildings and quests, all of which are scheduled to arrive sometime this year. For next year, they’ve planned the Big Expanded Campaign, which will add a new city with its own new mechanics.

Final Thoughts

I don’t usually play city builders, and I don’t have much successful experience playing them. My cities usually go bankrupt quite badly, while I go crazy with the decorations. Town to City feels like a city builder made for me – I can decorate to my heart’s content while still maintaining a thriving economy. If you are a city builder aficionado, you will still like Town to City, for it feels cozy and relaxing, with gorgeous graphics and a great soundtrack.

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