I’ve been meaning to write about Towns for a while and since it fits neatly with my thoughts about ‘living’ game worlds, this seems as good a time as any. In its isometric countryside, the player takes the role of a town mayor, building up from a patch of wilderness and attracting newcomers with housing and entertainment. However, your settlement sits atop an ‘orrible dungeon so among the folks you’ll need to attract are heroes, who will need incentives to quest into the depths and fancy equipment if they are to delve deep. Majesty meets Dwarf Fortress? Play now or journey downtown for more details.

Yes, it’s another game at an early stage of development but I find this one particularly intriguing. Let me namecheck something else it reminds me of: Din’s Curse. Perhaps because there’s the potential for all manner of towns that are only linked by their preposterous positioning on top of a hole in the ground that happens to be filled with evil. Development seems fairly rapid and I’ve seen plenty of progress since I started following it a few weeks ago.

You can download the latest public build now and see if it seems like something worth devoting an eye to. This version, 0.35, will be the last trial version. As I understand, from here on in only those who preorder will receive new versions.

Hopefully the game won’t fall foul of feature creep. The basics are sound and if future updates concentrate on passing heroes, and the systems for crafting and selling them equipment, there will be a perfectly functional simulation to tinker around with. It’s already possible to craft (and possibly find) magic items of a Diabloesque nature. It’s crucial to remember though, you’ll be handing all your fancy bits and pieces to braver men. You’re the major, not an adventurer. You’re probably rotund and further weighed down by symbols of office.

In a lovely touch, the developers have even answered the question as to why the town has been built just where it is.

Why is there a dungeon right where they decide to build their settlement, isn’t it kind of counter-intuitive of them to do so? Well, there was this king… oh, shut up, it’s fun!

And it is already fun with the potential to become much more involving. Two long tutorial videos follow that will be a great aid to anyone wanting to play. The UI isn’t terrible by any means but it can take a while to learn. The audio recording isn’t the best so you might need to PUMP UP THE VOLUME. You might also want to boost your bass for the heavy duty explosions.