There is AI-generated images in this game's content and it is not disclosed on the Steam page nor is there any statement/transparency from the developers on this. Because of the negative environment and ethical impacts generative AI has and the lack of proper labelling and transparency, I can't recommend right now
AI use. That's it, that's why I'm not playing anymore. Non-disclosed AI use at that.
Genuinely felt really fun to play! Probably would've gotten old quickly but for a free-to-play it was cute and I enjoyed the bird watching hobby... but then I did one of the puzzles and could tell it just was not made by a person. A giant picture frame blends into a town and disappears behind a house? No. I was genuinely really close to spending money on this game -something I never do- because I thought it was really good and wanted to support the developers!
Now I'm just disappointed.
I want to be clear in saying that I really do enjoy Heartopia. It has a very cute and easygoing vibe that is a lot of fun to wind down for a few hours at the end of the day. Right now, the biggest thing keeping me from recommending it is that the PC version feels like an afterthought.
Everything is formatted and served to you as if it were going to be played on your phone. Build mode camera is aggrivating with no clear way to swap between the X,Y, and Z-Axis, making it frustrating to use the free/advanced build mode. Looking up controls for the camera leads me to recommendations to "pinch" for zooming in and out. For obvious reasons, this does not work on a computer.
A small, nitpicky issue is also that all the text will prompt you to tap or otherwise use your finger. This doesn't impact gameplay but indicates a lack of polish that I think was not given to the PC port. It shows, at least to me, that proper attention wasn't really given to the difference in platforms.
By far the worst issue though is the lack of controller support. I and many others probably wanted to be able to play this handheld. It's a huge disappointment that there is no controller support, walling me out from using my steam deck completely. There's no reason why this shouldn't have controller support.
"Remember MySims? What if it was a f2p Chinese slop filled with microtransactions instead? Oh, and it asks for way more permissions on your PC than what it needs, but don't worry Winnie isn't spying on you."
I played this game A TON in the past days (when it released on PC through TapTap and Mobile).
Let's get the bad out of the way: the PC controls are BAD. They need a big quality pass for the camera controls, advanced building mode etc. And they need to add controllers controls.
Setting the controls aside, i have enjoyed this game so much as an online cozy game and easily made a lot of friends by just living in this little cute world.
It has elements that i wish Palia had, because in Heartopia you get paired with other random players for each login and you see their houses in the world, not instanced away.
So you can visit them, water their flowers (to give them bonuses), heart them, hang out with them and its just fun.
The houses in Heartopia, once you unlock advanced building mode, are built piece by piece and expanded with plots as you progress: you can have a giant mansion and build it how you want it, full of furnitures that you unlock in game.
I don't like Gacha cosmetics, but to be fair in Heartopia there are soooo many items to unlock with normal in game gold by just playing the game that i didn't feel the need to spend real money at all (aside of 3€ for the montly sub).
I suggest you get past the questionable PC controls and play the game, give it a little time as you unlock more and more features as you play, and there are a lot of them.
You can adopt pets, train and play with them (they hang out in your house!), catch bugs, cook, plant crops, tend to animals around the world, build your nice house, play public events like sea fishing by traveling with a boat with other people, group bug catching and much more.
Each day you get different set of clothes and furnitures in the towns shop, and after a few days you will have adorable features unlock like the drawing one, which allows you to draw pixel art in game, then apply it to furnitures, put it on picture frames (you can also put other in game photos there), and sew it on clothes to wear.
Or the book writing feature.. You get a desk with a PC to put in your house and you can sit there, then it opens a text editor to write your book! You can put pictures taken in game or drawn, choose a cover, write and format the test in chapters. Then you can publish the book and make it public, it will then get sold in the game library to other players. You can also hold the book in your hands in game and read it anywhere. Absolutely adorable.
The online is nice as it feels pretty seamless as you get paired with random players or friends. I had many cute moments, like a player sitting on the porch of my house, so i went and cooked some food for them. Then i could share it with the share button which offers them the plate and they eat to recover energy. After that we added each others as friends, i had many little moments like these that are fun.
I have been enjoying Heartopia a lot despite the bad PC controls, so if you like cozy games you should at least try it for a bit in my opinion.
Heyyy girlies, wanna do some gacha like bad bitches?? *Lines up nose upon the rainbow mix of various gacha powder*
Performance is janky + the mobile interface is yuck, but it is quite an addicting life sim grind tbh.
Heartopia is SO addictive and SO adorable. ⋆𐙚₊˚⊹♡
Everything is pastel, cozy and feels like a little online safe space where your brain goes quiet for once. I went in “just to try it” and suddenly hours were gone. Classic. ♡(˃͈ ˂͈ )
Now let’s be honest because I love you and I’m not lying for anyone.
The controls are… not it. The camera being dragged with the mouse is annoying. Yes, you get used to it. No, that doesn’t mean it stops being annoying. It’s like a pebble in your shoe.
You adapt. You still notice it. (•̀ - •́ )
BUT.
The farming? I adore it. It scratches the exact right part of my brain.
You can decorate, dress up, vibe and just exist without being stressed.
AND YOU CAN WALK AROUND AND HOLD HANDS WITH OTHER PLAYERS. I physically cannot cope with that.
It’s too cute.
Illegal levels of cute. ⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂)⸝♡
The fishing event deserves its own little crown. It’s genuinely fun and cozy and makes me want to invite everyone. ♥
If you love multiplayer cozy games where you can farm, dress up, hang out and feel soft for a while, this one is dangerous in the best way. Just be prepared to side-eye the camera controls while smiling the whole time.
Also yes, I am accepting fishing buddies.
Feel free to add me in game - UID: fm10m0m
I’ll be farming. Holding hands. Probably fishing and cooking mushrooms ⁺˚⋆｡°🍄₊
Aggie ~ Soraphina ݁ ˖Ი𐑼⋆
Temu Animal Crossing
I like the game but the steam version just uses your mouse like its a touchscreen. Literally no controller support. It also needs weird permissions and runs horribly on HDD. Hopefully gets fixed. I even waited for the steam version in hopes the stupid permission thingy was removed from the TapTap version. Been encountering a couple bugs (not insects) too. I'd rather recommend the mobile version even though I'm struggling to run it, at least with that I get to lie down in bed.
Also, theres no way to earn extra gacha pulls without paying but its mostly cosmetics. Like the in game shop has already some good stuff.
Tried to play this with my girlfriend and realized it wanted access to all devices on my Local Network. Now in the process of revoking this permission. Steam really just allows CN data miners and hackers to just release whatever AI slop they want nowadays, huh?
The PC controls suck as this is literally just the same port of the mobile that is on TapTap. Does not disclose use of genAI for art featured within the game.
very clearly mobile first before pc - which sucks lmfao the controls feel clunky, everything feels so far apart ui wise. the gacha is also gross, almost little to no way to earn pulls, horribly time-gated. big map with 0 incentive to really explore aside from grinding mats - npcs feel lifeless and soulless, the main town has a bunch of buildings that serve as nothing but backdrops. you dont even feel incentivised to talk to npcs. all in all - meh. maybe it'll get better, maybe it won't, but if you're looking for really deep gameplay then this really isn't it.
I was super excited to play this game but when i try to log in, they ask me for permission for my local network. I pressed block and it won't let me login. Since when games ask access for local network? PLEASE DON'T PRESS ALLOW!!!!
Holy sh** dont download this mess, it's awful to control and will make you wanna neck yourself within 5 mins, the camera being your worse enemy is made manifest in this game. It has zero intrest for the player for so long that it makes hand holding feel like the norm, avoid at all cost.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This Game Isn't Worth The Cost At 0 Dollars!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
There is AI-generated images in this game's content and it is not disclosed on the Steam page nor is there any statement/transparency from the developers on this. Because of the negative environment and ethical impacts generative AI has and the lack of proper labelling and transparency, I can't recommend right now
AI use. That's it, that's why I'm not playing anymore. Non-disclosed AI use at that.
Genuinely felt really fun to play! Probably would've gotten old quickly but for a free-to-play it was cute and I enjoyed the bird watching hobby... but then I did one of the puzzles and could tell it just was not made by a person. A giant picture frame blends into a town and disappears behind a house? No. I was genuinely really close to spending money on this game -something I never do- because I thought it was really good and wanted to support the developers!
Now I'm just disappointed.
I want to be clear in saying that I really do enjoy Heartopia. It has a very cute and easygoing vibe that is a lot of fun to wind down for a few hours at the end of the day. Right now, the biggest thing keeping me from recommending it is that the PC version feels like an afterthought.
Everything is formatted and served to you as if it were going to be played on your phone. Build mode camera is aggrivating with no clear way to swap between the X,Y, and Z-Axis, making it frustrating to use the free/advanced build mode. Looking up controls for the camera leads me to recommendations to "pinch" for zooming in and out. For obvious reasons, this does not work on a computer.
A small, nitpicky issue is also that all the text will prompt you to tap or otherwise use your finger. This doesn't impact gameplay but indicates a lack of polish that I think was not given to the PC port. It shows, at least to me, that proper attention wasn't really given to the difference in platforms.
By far the worst issue though is the lack of controller support. I and many others probably wanted to be able to play this handheld. It's a huge disappointment that there is no controller support, walling me out from using my steam deck completely. There's no reason why this shouldn't have controller support.
"Remember MySims? What if it was a f2p Chinese slop filled with microtransactions instead? Oh, and it asks for way more permissions on your PC than what it needs, but don't worry Winnie isn't spying on you."
I played this game A TON in the past days (when it released on PC through TapTap and Mobile).
Let's get the bad out of the way: the PC controls are BAD. They need a big quality pass for the camera controls, advanced building mode etc. And they need to add controllers controls.
Setting the controls aside, i have enjoyed this game so much as an online cozy game and easily made a lot of friends by just living in this little cute world.
It has elements that i wish Palia had, because in Heartopia you get paired with other random players for each login and you see their houses in the world, not instanced away.
So you can visit them, water their flowers (to give them bonuses), heart them, hang out with them and its just fun.
The houses in Heartopia, once you unlock advanced building mode, are built piece by piece and expanded with plots as you progress: you can have a giant mansion and build it how you want it, full of furnitures that you unlock in game.
I don't like Gacha cosmetics, but to be fair in Heartopia there are soooo many items to unlock with normal in game gold by just playing the game that i didn't feel the need to spend real money at all (aside of 3€ for the montly sub).
I suggest you get past the questionable PC controls and play the game, give it a little time as you unlock more and more features as you play, and there are a lot of them.
You can adopt pets, train and play with them (they hang out in your house!), catch bugs, cook, plant crops, tend to animals around the world, build your nice house, play public events like sea fishing by traveling with a boat with other people, group bug catching and much more.
Each day you get different set of clothes and furnitures in the towns shop, and after a few days you will have adorable features unlock like the drawing one, which allows you to draw pixel art in game, then apply it to furnitures, put it on picture frames (you can also put other in game photos there), and sew it on clothes to wear.
Or the book writing feature.. You get a desk with a PC to put in your house and you can sit there, then it opens a text editor to write your book! You can put pictures taken in game or drawn, choose a cover, write and format the test in chapters. Then you can publish the book and make it public, it will then get sold in the game library to other players. You can also hold the book in your hands in game and read it anywhere. Absolutely adorable.
The online is nice as it feels pretty seamless as you get paired with random players or friends. I had many cute moments, like a player sitting on the porch of my house, so i went and cooked some food for them. Then i could share it with the share button which offers them the plate and they eat to recover energy. After that we added each others as friends, i had many little moments like these that are fun.
I have been enjoying Heartopia a lot despite the bad PC controls, so if you like cozy games you should at least try it for a bit in my opinion.
Heyyy girlies, wanna do some gacha like bad bitches?? *Lines up nose upon the rainbow mix of various gacha powder*
Performance is janky + the mobile interface is yuck, but it is quite an addicting life sim grind tbh.
Heartopia is SO addictive and SO adorable. ⋆𐙚₊˚⊹♡
Everything is pastel, cozy and feels like a little online safe space where your brain goes quiet for once. I went in “just to try it” and suddenly hours were gone. Classic. ♡(˃͈ ˂͈ )
Now let’s be honest because I love you and I’m not lying for anyone.
The controls are… not it. The camera being dragged with the mouse is annoying. Yes, you get used to it. No, that doesn’t mean it stops being annoying. It’s like a pebble in your shoe.
You adapt. You still notice it. (•̀ - •́ )
BUT.
The farming? I adore it. It scratches the exact right part of my brain.
You can decorate, dress up, vibe and just exist without being stressed.
AND YOU CAN WALK AROUND AND HOLD HANDS WITH OTHER PLAYERS. I physically cannot cope with that.
It’s too cute.
Illegal levels of cute. ⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂)⸝♡
The fishing event deserves its own little crown. It’s genuinely fun and cozy and makes me want to invite everyone. ♥
If you love multiplayer cozy games where you can farm, dress up, hang out and feel soft for a while, this one is dangerous in the best way. Just be prepared to side-eye the camera controls while smiling the whole time.
Also yes, I am accepting fishing buddies.
Feel free to add me in game - UID: fm10m0m
I’ll be farming. Holding hands. Probably fishing and cooking mushrooms ⁺˚⋆｡°🍄₊
Aggie ~ Soraphina ݁ ˖Ი𐑼⋆
Temu Animal Crossing
I like the game but the steam version just uses your mouse like its a touchscreen. Literally no controller support. It also needs weird permissions and runs horribly on HDD. Hopefully gets fixed. I even waited for the steam version in hopes the stupid permission thingy was removed from the TapTap version. Been encountering a couple bugs (not insects) too. I'd rather recommend the mobile version even though I'm struggling to run it, at least with that I get to lie down in bed.
Also, theres no way to earn extra gacha pulls without paying but its mostly cosmetics. Like the in game shop has already some good stuff.
Tried to play this with my girlfriend and realized it wanted access to all devices on my Local Network. Now in the process of revoking this permission. Steam really just allows CN data miners and hackers to just release whatever AI slop they want nowadays, huh?
The PC controls suck as this is literally just the same port of the mobile that is on TapTap. Does not disclose use of genAI for art featured within the game.
very clearly mobile first before pc - which sucks lmfao the controls feel clunky, everything feels so far apart ui wise. the gacha is also gross, almost little to no way to earn pulls, horribly time-gated. big map with 0 incentive to really explore aside from grinding mats - npcs feel lifeless and soulless, the main town has a bunch of buildings that serve as nothing but backdrops. you dont even feel incentivised to talk to npcs. all in all - meh. maybe it'll get better, maybe it won't, but if you're looking for really deep gameplay then this really isn't it.
I was super excited to play this game but when i try to log in, they ask me for permission for my local network. I pressed block and it won't let me login. Since when games ask access for local network? PLEASE DON'T PRESS ALLOW!!!!
Holy sh** dont download this mess, it's awful to control and will make you wanna neck yourself within 5 mins, the camera being your worse enemy is made manifest in this game. It has zero intrest for the player for so long that it makes hand holding feel like the norm, avoid at all cost.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This Game Isn't Worth The Cost At 0 Dollars!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
