This kind of smart, walkable, mixed-use urbanism is illegal to build in many American cities. Welcome to Minami lane, a relaxing street builder.
The gameplay involves designing streets to complete quest goals. Largely, you’re mostly just trying to make people happy, and make enough money to continue building infrastructure to make them happier. A simple gameplay loop of paying attention to their needs and what they’re saying, and adjusting each day to try and make sure you’re meeting their needs. Oh, and finding the tanuki that hides as a stray object in each day, or petting cats.
The games got cozy vibes through the entire game, with wonderful art and music. Every element you touch, from adjusting ramen bowls and seeing the ingredients populate it, to just the buttons you click to do it oozes with the love that was put into this games style. It’s a vibe that even with a days-based quest in the limited demo, it was a generous enough timeframe to let me learn the game systems without feeling super pressured. I really have respect for the balance that goes into giving goals to help guide the gameplay, but not making a cozy game stressful.
Minami Lane launches tomorrow (February 28th 2024) on Steam and will cost 4.99. A steal for the quality of work from what i’ve seen in the demo. I’m looking forward to picking it up, though it’s a shame I leave for vacation tomorrow, but hopefully will play well on my aging gaming laptop at the hotel.