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Unpacking set something of a cozy trend by pairing elements like environmental storytelling with room organization, and Kylyk Games and Assemble Entertainment built on that concept with the plant arranging game Urban Jungle. The concept is similar and the inspirations are clear! However, here there are more puzzle-based elements and overt storytelling that attempt to add a little more challenge while also ensuring you know exactly who the character you’re helping is. 

Like Unpacking, we’re following a specific individual in who loves plants in Urban Jungle as she moves from place to place throughout her life. Ayta Borisova first fell in love with horticulture in 1995 with her grandma, where she was staying with her brother while her mom looked for work. However, that was cut short following her mother getting work abroad. Each chapter follows a year and period in Ayta’s life as she settles into a new place and makes it her own by also placing new plants.

The structure of Urban Jungle means that each chapter in the game is a new location and level with challenges, just like Unpacking. So in the first 1995 stage, Ayta is staying with her grandmother and helping her place plants until she hits a certain point milestone by satisfying their needs and unlocking the next chapter. The second jumps to 2001, when Ayta and her brother Nurgun are sharing a room in a new home with their mother. Since Ayta got her first “A” of the year, her mother (and grandparents) gifted her plants to decorate her space. 

Said plants are a random draw. After you use up the ones in your dock and hit a point milestone, you can select two additional ones to add to your collection. Each one has humidity and light needs. They will also be happier or less healthy if placed alongside other plants. There are different variants of each one, which can involve different sizes or cosmetic designs, to offer a change of pace. While some of the “selection” options will be free, you can use earned coins to “pay” for potentially rarer ones. 

This means each stage involves optimal arrangements. Which I found honestly isn’t that difficult. Unlike Unpacking, which often had very specific spots or requirements for certain pieces you’d placed, Urban Jungle is a game that offers a lot of room and opportunities. Need light? Place the plants near a window or turn on an actual light in the room. Need water? Putting one near a watering can, sink, fountain, or hose will work. The plant only likes being around certain other plants? Well, I found there honestly isn’t any incentive to diversify, especially since the plants at each top up are random, so just take only two or three varieties that all get along. I found it is pretty easy to beat the system.

Once you hit the point allotment for a stage, you also don’t need to immediately move on. There are often optional objectives, which can involve tidying up elements of a room or interacting with certain objects, and you can get some coins for plants for that. There’s also a free-play option once you’ve unlocked a stage, which allows a little more opportunity to decorate, rearrange, and play around. Especially if it is a location with multiple room sand stories to it. 

While it isn’t as subtle about its story as Unpacking, I did enjoy the direction Kylyk Games took with Urban Jungle. It is easy to sympathize with Ayta. I wanted her to enjoy what she loved and to have cozy spaces to live in, especially as she dealt with issues with her brother or job. I was also completely unfamiliar with the Sakha Republic and appreciated cultural elements included. For example, after I heard about Yhyakh in the tutorial level, I went online to learn more about it. 

I will also say that Urban Jungle isn’t quite ideal on a handheld gaming PC just yet, so if you’re using a Steam Deck, you may experience issues. I was playing on a Lenovo Legion Go, and using the controller scheme wasn’t ideal at the moment. There are times when moving a plant with just a joystick and buttons doesn’t work. Maybe it won’t automatically realize that yes, there is a table/desk/surface it can be placed on and will still slide along the floor. It might not select the right one. It’s fiddly! You’ll need to still use the mouse and touchscreen to play! I also missed a few optional objectives, such as one involving petting a cat and another with a light being turned on, due to the game glitching and both becoming inaccessible when using the controller scheme.

Urban Jungle is interesting and happens to be one of the better organizational games like Unpacking that I’ve played. I like the defined identity of our avatar and sympathized with her situation. The concept is enjoyable too, and it scratches similar itches. It also encourages a bit of strategy, since you need to take into other foliage, light, and humidity. However, it can also feel repetitive and restrictive sometimes, and the lack of proper handheld gaming PC and fully comprehensive controller keeps it from being a Steam Deck must-have. With a few adjustments to the control scheme, it could be a relaxing way to some time.

Urban Jungle is available for PCs, and a demo for the game is out now. 

The post Review: Urban Jungle Pairs Plants With Unpacking Style Gameplay appeared first on Siliconera.

When Sticky Business launched, one of the things I wanted most was more parts to make stickers either via free updates for DLC. Well, we’ve seen that! The first one, Plan with Me, felt more practical. After all, it was about planners and scrapbooking sorts of things. Meanwhile, the Camp Zinnias DLC feels a bit more practical and versatile, due to the number of animals, plants, and landscaping additions it brings to Sticky Business.

The premise behind Camp Zinnias is that players are now preparing summer camp stickers for customers. While that means more obvious things like merit badge-inspired iconography, there are also items, animals, plants, natural objects, and other elements that are all tied to those kinds of great outdoors adventures. This also means a whole new sticker category, indicated by a tent. In total, there are 104 sticker parts and 10 new customers who will make certain general requests involving those elements and discuss camp life when they do.

So I’m obsessed with these new parts. The execution means they transcend the whole camping theme. All of the new animals, birds, and fish are creatures that could pair well with any of the existing items in the game. The new outdoors elements and badges also go so well with the things in the base game too. This is truly the type of pack you dream about. It might seem like it’d be too focused or niche. However, once you get into it, you find all of these ways to make the elements work with existing pieces. 

This also means the new customer objectives seem really manageable. In some situations, I might have felt forced to clutter up my virtual shop and waste my time on designs I didn’t really want to make to advance. Due to the range of elements in this add-on, that never came up. It’s a nonissue. Whatever requests people might have feel really easy to work with and make your own. 

The Camp Zinnias Sticky Business DLC is really handled so well. Spellgarden Games packed it full of a lot of parts that are so practical and fun. The design and execution makes it easy to find a way to make them work for you. There’s a lot to it. Especially considering the low price. If you wanted more natural or animal elements for your design, I think it is worth your time.

Sticky Business and its Camp Zinnias DLC are available on the Nintendo Switch and PC.

The post Sticky Business Camp Zinnias DLC Opens Up More Scenic Options appeared first on Siliconera.

I keep coming back to Sticky Business. I want to experiment with the restrictions to see what designs I can create. It’s like one of those virtual paper doll creators I enjoyed in high school, only with a little bit of a simulation surrounding it. It is a little light on the actual “game” elements, but it’s very good at establishing a cozy, creative vibe.

In Sticky Business, you start with a blank slate. After naming your storefront, something that really doesn’t come up after that, you are plopped into a creator. You can use the “parts,” divided into categories, to make a sticker. There are a handful of sizing options, occasionally you’ll be able to change the color (if you paid for the extra color), you name it, and then you choose if it is a plain one or printed on a special kind of paper. This takes up a certain amount of the “day,” if you are playing on a timed mode. Once you have stickers, you pay coins to print them after placing them on sheets. Orders come in, you fill them, and you ship them out. The downside is, it also doesn’t really explain what some “game” like elements mean. Parts used in the stickers you sell earn experience, but I didn’t really see how that influenced anything.

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There isn't any real "to-do" list. Once you come to the shop for the day, the first order of business is to basically pack any orders that came in. You can add extras like shredded paper grass, decorative tissue paper, or candy, with candy adding a percent increase to the money you earn from that order. You need to head to the mailbox after the whole lot is done. It might be worth printing more of certain stickers you are selling, if your stock is low. Maybe then you upgrade your offerings by increasing space for sticker designs, getting new sticker options, getting new colors, or picking up more sticker backings for the printer. If you run out of things to do or the day ends, you head to bed and wait for it all to start again. You never have any obligation.

There are some optional requests, if you pay attention. Some customers will tell you about their lives and situations when you place orders, but you don't have to listen. However, even though sometimes some would request I make stickers with a particular subject like rats, they would then… go on to not buy ones with those designs. (To be fair, one who requested a boba tea sticker and another with a "derpy face" did go on to buy that and advance their "storylines.") But this is largely a situation where there's no risk and all reward. In Sticky Business you will always earn hearts to acquire new sticker elements or money to expand your options and print more stickers. People will buy your stickers, regardless of the designs.

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Now, I realize that might sound a bit harsh. However, this in no way means Sticky Business is bad. I feel it’s more like an outlet than anything. The number of available designs is rather limited. (For example, there are no humans to use in your sticker designs at all, with a lil’ goblin being the only real humanoid figure.) I’d have loved if I could have changed the primary color in all stickers, rather than only some offering the ability to select a different one. But what is there is still pretty ample, and it affords a lit of creativity if you’re willing to play around with elements and styles.

For example, because the color palette is a bit limited, you can work with that to adjust the way elements flow together. As such, I was able to give the goblin the frog part as a face, put a bowl in its hands, and make a lil’ soup gremlin. (It is a very popular design.) The green of the potion liquid, tentacle, and frog head are all so similar that I made an iguana lounging. It’s an incredibly delightful game to play when you feel inspired and like you need to take a minute to breathe, play around with the limited selection, and perhaps come up with something special.

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Likewise, the freedom also means you can turn this into a profitable “factory.” The smaller the sticker, the more on the page. Which means the more money you can make from a single sheet. In turn, that means lower costs and more orders. Including a lot of different elements means if someone is keeping track of elements like animals or magic, those are represented.

As such, Sticky Business is genuinely a perfect outlet. While the sticker part options are a bit restricted and I hope DLC or updates add to the library, it’s such a relaxing time sink. I had so much fun setting things up just so, knowing that no matter how it looked my virtual customers would love it. It’s quite a relaxing and validating experience.

Anyways, look at my stickers!

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Sticky Business will come to the PC via Steam on July 17, 2023.

The post Review: Sticky Business Is a Pleasant Creative Outlet appeared first on Siliconera.