Stonehearth

Stonehearth by Radiant Entertainment is your textbook city builder. Originally released in 2015, this game has come a surprisingly long way since then with the addition of many new systems, graphics updates and more, that have made it a rousing success to many players since its inception. Bright, colourful and beautifully animated, this game has a lot to offer so let’s jump in and take a look at it.

Gameplay

This is a city builder and a pretty straightforward one but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have the occasional thing that make it unique and interesting. You will start off in a procedurally generated world, this means that it will be different, every time you play it. This is something that massively boosts its replay value and must never be overlooked. Your job as the player is to care for your colony of tiny people called “Hearthlings.” Hearthlings can be tasked with objectives that building, farming and defending their lands from attackers. Your objective is to provide food, shelter and more quality-of-life improvements so that they may thrive in this hostile land.

As I mentioned, there are a few dangers in the world like orcs and skeletons and more, it is up to you to ensure that they don’t mess with your progress or harm your Hearthlings. Like Age of Empires, Banished, Cities: Skylines, there is a great amount of resource management required but with practice comes perfection.

Art Style

The art style in this game is absolutely stunning and strongly reminiscent of Minecraft but with a more pastel colour pallet. The little characters are wonderful to look at and, I must say, absolutely brilliantly animated. As the characters are moving around, be it fighting or picking fruits, they have a tremendous amount of personality and it all looks and runs so smoothly that I was nothing short of blown away.

A considerable amount of care has gone into the design of this game and it really shows. From the look of the crops all the way to the fire and general lighting choices made which elevate this title to an outstanding level. If you’re looking for a game that puts its looks near the top, then this is for you.

Music

Oh, my goodness. The music in this game is absolutely adorable and its everywhere. The Original Soundtrack is extensive and honestly, I listened to it the whole time I wrote this little review, its absolutely stunning; one of the ones you can listen to whenever, even if you’re doing something else.

Its subtle and captivating, adding a tremendous amount of personality to each scene of gameplay. The style of music of course changes depending on the season as well as the situation, if you are fighting or harvesting crops, there is always a delightful and powerful soundtrack accompanying you.

Pros:

• Excellent colours
• Light looks great
• excellently animated
• Fantastic soundtrack

Cons:

• Can get repetitive