It’s almost an unspoken rule in games. Grass is green, evil must be defeated, and in RPGs combat is a primary game mechanic. Surprisingly, that isn’t the case for Littlewood. The self-described “peaceful RPG” is about to reach the end of its campaign on Kickstarter and promises the full RPG experience—without all the fighting.
Littlewood is unusual in that its story begins after you’ve saved the day. Your character rescued the town of Littlewood from an evil wizard, although you don’t seem to remember many details. Now, all that’s left to do is get the town back on its feet. The price of its freedom has left the town little more than rubble and weeds. It’s up to you to breathe life into it once again.
Players must harvest local resources to build the town back up. Chop trees, mine materials, and plant a variety of fruit trees and veggies. All in order to create different types of buildings, expand your town, and grow your economy.
A fair amount of time is also allotted to meeting with the locals and convincing them to stay in town. Hang out with them and you’ll build lasting friendships. They might even help unlock your lost memories…
Seasoned solo developer Sean Young recently released a demo for Windows, Mac, and Linux, which offers a well-rounded look at most of the features you can expect from the game.
See the World, Grind the Levels
There’s also a big wide world out there. Outside of your village lies the rest of the world of Solemn, including enchanted forests, mining caves, and fishing hamlets to explore. While you whip your town into shape you’ll build up an extensive array of skills. You can master everything from mining and fishing, to bug catching, and even tarot readings.
Inspired by Animal Crossing, Runescape, and Dark Cloud, Young‘s intent is on crafting an experience of relaxing gameplay. All surrounded in bright visuals and peaceful, chipper music. The Kickstarter campaign emphasizes how important it is to him to include a fully customizable home, as well as being able to personalize your whole town in minute detail. He also promises to make level grinding fun, something that may actually need to be seen to be believed.
The demo covers a fairly small scale of what’s promised for the full game. You’re confined solely to the town and are only given a few in-game days to master the basics. It’s absolutely worth checking out though, as it doesn’t take long to fall in love with the town and its inhabitants. Though, do bear in mind – it does come with some bugs.
With only a few days left of its campaign, Littlewood has already smashed through all but the last of their stretch goals. If all goes well we can expect it to release on Steam Early Access by the end of March.
