By Theresa Afful
PlanetTiles is an indie city-building and strategy game that involves building your planet with blocks, the number of which you can increase upon completing tasks while playing. PlaneTiles’ main goals are to get the most points and try your best to leave no spaces unfilled on your planet. Since its release, its popularity has increased; it’s received a rating of 8/10 on Steam. After all, developers MythicOwl are known for developing games like the very popular 2018 game, Hexologic.
I worked on many different planets for two weeks and found myself going back for more. I literally couldn’t stop thinking about the different ways I could have placed my blocks in a way where I could filled out all the gaps on the screen. I also thought about how I could have done a quest faster so I wouldn’t lose all my blocks before I could reach the goal. I always wanted to finish and move on to the next planet – to keep going and keep challenging myself. But the game is chill, too, calming. That makes me want to stay with the game as well. The best way to play PlanetTiles is to get a pair of headphones and just vibe out and fully immerse yourself. That way you can get the full experience.
At The beginning, the player receives a certain amount that they would need to increase by completing simple tasks such as placing a single sand tile by itself or building placing exactly four forest tiles placed together. These tasks can be found on the right-hand side of the screen. Upon completion, you gain more points and more blocks. The only way to move on to the next level is to achieve the required points of that level. Until you have reached it you can’t move on to the next level or planet. What makes this game incredibly hard are the blocks because they aren’t just singular blocks. Instead, they are like the Tetris blocks that come in different sizes and numbers. Because of that, placing a block in the wrong place could ruin your entire plan of filling all the gaps and even cause you not to complete the goal.
The artwork is truly astonishing, almost that of a very detailed cartoon. I like the diverse colors used and how nothing looks out of place. One thing doesn’t overtake everything: it’s so well-balanced. When making art you have to use colors that balance each other out; without using the right colors the art wouldn’t turn out as you expected it to. I also appreciated how the background isn’t so vibrant that it takes the user’s attention away from the planet being worked on.
The design feels simple and easy – and appealing to the eye. PlaneTiles’s tutorial is easily understandable and sticks to your brain – meaning you don’t have to go back to the main menu or try to remember what it taught you. The game logic feels natural since all you’re doing is building a planet but also considering disasters that could occur to your planets, like volcanic eruption.
There isn’t a story for this game but it’s still instructing players on how we make our planet – instead of just placing random blocks. That’s kind of a story in itself, your own story. The devs made it so the players have to place tiles at certain places to fill out all the spaces, but also make sure to complete the quest to not run out of blocks.
The soundtrack in the game is something extraordinary and I think it’s even the best part of the game. It’s so relaxing and fits the theme of concentration and building. Though the game is amazing already, the music makes it even more remarkable. I often find myself listening to their soundtrack when doing my school assignment during the break, or even before I go to bed to keep a clear head.
The controls for this game are awfully simple; just hold the left side of your mouse to rotate and also left-click to place a block, and right-click to rotate the current block that you have. If you’re struggling with these controls then I don’t know what to tell you. Keep trying.
The game’s performance is incredible not once while playing did it crash and the frames on my PC were for once stable (as opposed to the other games I play). I would say that the online gameplay is acceptable; there’s no glitching and the playthrough is smooth.
After reading all this I hope you give PlaneTiles some thought when you think about buying games. You really could end up enjoying it – and if you don’t enjoy the gameplay you could enjoy the soundtrack. You could share it with friends so they could vibe to it too. Or you could keep it all to yourself because it’s so good. I recommend you go for itl you surely wouldn’t feel like you’ve got scammed since it’s only $9.99. I normally play story-based games and open-world games because of the amazing animation and the details in the game and generally dislike any other games. But PlaneTiles truly changed my opinion on strategy and city-building games.
Bronx resident and NYVGCC intern Theresa Afful is finishing first year of high school after graduating Mott Hall III middle school.
