As someone who spends every working day being passively chilled out by mellow lo-fi beats, I'm incredibly excited to more actively relax with Tranquil Isle, a new self-styled "lo-fi townbuilding roguelike" launching this year.
I somehow missed Tranquil Isle's announcement in February, but now that I've seen the genuinely beautiful, atmospheric footage in the reveal trailer, I'm all about it. It's such a vibe! The idyllic island landscapes, the moody pastels, the sparsely arranged but evocative score - I want to live here.
Vibes aside, Tranquil Isle just sounds like an interesting concept I'm eager to try out.
"While away the hours on the sunkissed shores of your own tiny paradise!" reads the Steam description. "Tranquil isle is a combination of townbuilder and roguelite, set on idyllic, randomly generated islands. The sun will rise and set as you work to grow your town, managing resources and upgrading skills to keep everything humming along nicely."
The main roguelite mode, with procedurally generated maps and resource management aspects, sounds like where I'll be spending most of my time, but there's also a sandbox mode built "purely for aesthetics and vibes" that strips the game of those elements if that's more your pace.
Not to kill the vibe, but there's a lot about Tranquil Isle that we still don't know; are there any other roguelike elements beyond procedural generation and vague "upgrades?" How deep is the townbuilding stuff? "There's no combat, no trading, and no micromanagement. Just focus on making your little islands the best they can be," is pretty much all we have to go on in that regard.
I want to know more about what specifically I'm managing, what are the consequences, if any, for failing, and what progression looks like. The trailer shows an island being populated with some buildings, but that's about it. It doesn't even show any residents, which leaves me to wonder if it's even humans living here or creatures like in Animal Crossing.
All that said, I badly need a good new cozy game to play in between all of the nightmare-inducing horror games and all-consuming JRPGs I play, and Tranquil Isle definitely looks like it could fit the bill quite nicely. From solo developer Tom Daly, it's due out sometime in 2024.
Here are some more upcoming indie games to keep on your radar.
Balatro creator reacts to The Game Awards noms by telling you to play other indie games that weren't nominated: "I just happen to be the lucky one to be propped up"
Finally, our first look at the chaotic gameplay footage of The Binding of Isaac multiplayer, the online update we've been waiting a decade for
