ShantyTown is a criminally undersold placement puzzler where every AC unit, plant pot and store sign is manually added to buildings, which themselves can stack, bridge and intertwine in a unique “shantytown” type way. Now, the sleeper indie hit has 70+ new items to personalise your buildings even further, and score a chance at easier need fulfilment too. The update is available now for all owners of the game.
When I played ShantyTown I couldn’t put it down. For 3 consecutive nights I sat down excitedly to discover new locations, new building types and new puzzle-adjacent challenges. Under the surface of a simple townbuilder placement game, ShantyTown tells a real story, and that’s something the genre could sorely use more of. Even on release, the marrying of form and function was astounding:
“The best thing about ShantyTown is that this level of freedom isn’t just for a creative sandbox. From the very start buildings have requests for light, utility and comfort. Placing items and other buildings nearby fulfils these requirements. This gives a sense of direction amongst the frankly absurd sense of freedom and creativity the game instills. You’re managing your resources, checking upcoming requirements, and focusing on optimising placement but at the same time your town will end up looking entirely different to mine, or anyone else’s.”
New placement game ShantyTown has something the genre needed: An emotional core
ShantyTown brings the indoors out
The new update adds 70+ decorative items that were previously “baked in” to building interiors into the player’s toolbox. This means you have far more control over specific minutiae, and can mix-and-match to an unprecedented level. ShantyTown always excelled at combining a creative sandbox feel but with narrative and puzzle gameplay giving the player a forward momentum and progression. These new items expand the creative freedom even further and will help your lovely end-of-game screenshots of each interconnected area feel even more like your own.
The new items are part of 11 groups, which is how you’ll draw them from your pile of goodies. This means you can plan ahead and solve the light puzzle elements in new ways.
ShantyTown demo updated to match the main game
If you never played the original and your curiosity is piqued, the ShantyTown demo has also received an update at the same time as the main game. This adds a lot of the Quality of Life changes that the main game has received since launch, making sure the demo is the best impression of the current experience it can be.
The full game is also 50% off right now to celebrate, so if you need a few nights of calm, but oddly deep townbuilding then head over to Steam soon!
