Little Cities Preview

I’d be the first to admit that I’m not the person I’d pick to play a game about building a city. I find games that don’t have clear objectives difficult to connect with. However, as the only person on the team with an Oculus Quest 2 and the time to play it, I took on the task of playing this city-management simulator, Little Cities.

On the face of it, Little Cities is pretty easygoing. You have an island, and it’s your task to populate it, provide commerce and industry, and ensure it doesn’t all burn to the ground. You start by building a residential district, an industrial district, and a commercial district. Then they need power and water. But then you need more residents - make sure you keep them away from the industrial zone, otherwise people will be unhappy! Wait, why are there not enough shops, don’t you want to make money!?

This is the creation of a wife and husband-led team, and although on paper it doesn’t sound like new ground is being broken, it’s definitely the first time I’ve heard of it being in VR. Despite what I wrote before, it is actually quite a relaxing experience! Once your city is up and running, you’ll unlock new buildings such as a botanical garden and airport, which can be costly. While you’re waiting for the town to make money, you’ll just be watching the cars driving around. Police cars will zoom off, sirens blaring. Fire engines will hurry to blazing infernos. If you zoom out enough, you’ll even be passed by jets! Let me tell you, it was a bit of a shock to suddenly hear that as it flew through my head!

That’s one of the joys of Little Cities. Just zooming out to take in everything you’ve created from miles above. Of course, if you like you can zoom in and get a better look at things - hear cars and machinery, and wonder what kinds of people live in the house that you put far too close to the mobile cell tower…

Unfortunately, I only got to experience one archipelago for this preview. I say unfortunately, because I really enjoyed this game. While there are no set objectives, you do level up your city to unlock new buildings. That turned out to be enough for me, so I’d keep an eye on the wants and needs of my townspeople, and cater to them. For instance, if they wanted more shops, I’d create a block of commerce. It’s easy to keep track, as everything you need is on your watch.

I really did like the design of the information that pops up when you look at your watch. Everything is boxed out in 3D boxes, which was an unnecessary but fantastic feature. There are even more in-depth hints displayed above the watch, such as warnings when some people aren’t getting any network coverage, or that there aren’t enough police stations.

That’s actually the only issue I had with Little Cities. You have to wait for hints to pop up. I’d have liked to have some more information available - is the city going to run out of water soon? How are power levels? Will I have to demolish houses to fit in a medical centre when I get to Level 15? The build I played had no tutorial though, and the game is still a while away from release, so the team has time to think about that sort of thing.

I honestly didn’t have a relaxing VR game on my headset before Little Cities. It wasn’t something I’d even thought about, though. I was very pleasantly surprised by Little Cities, and I look forward to playing more in the future.

Little Cities is coming to Oculus Quest in 2022.