Terraria creator and Palworld dev both had their eye on this city-builder and automation sim hybrid that's already tearing it up on Steam
Wake me up before you Go-Go Town
Go-Go Town is the city-building automation sim that's currently blowing up on Steam with glowing reviews, and it turns out the developers behind Terraria and Palworld had both caught wind of its cuteness.
Go-Go Town zoomed into early access earlier this month on June 18 and instantly courted a crowd thanks to its cute and colorful world. The chibi townsfolk, terraforming, and the player character's mayoral duties also sent echoes of Animal Crossing, which can never hurt, but Go-Go Town is less of a life sim that you might expect from the outset.
Go-Go Town's Steam page tasks you to "build and decorate the town of your dreams" to "convert tourists into townies" - all of whom will need a home, job, and "purpose" (where does one find that?!) provided by you. Alongside the usual life sim stuff like fishing and resource gathering, Go-Go Town also mixes in automation elements with supplies chains, infrastructure that needs micromanagement, and entire industries that need a workforce. A much bigger task than delivering shells in Animal Crossing, then.
I forgot this was coming out!June 26, 2024
Palworld and developer Pocketpair's community manager, who goes by Bucky online, tweeted that "if you're into automation games that aren't as intense as others, then give this a try. It’s fun to see the town come to life and automating all the processes scratches that itch in my monkey brain... Perfect balance between automation and comfy." Terraria creator Andrew 'Redigit' Spinks then replied that he also had his eye on the sim, but "forgot this was coming out."
They weren't the only ones excited to go-go to Go-Go Town (sorry) as the game currently has a 'Very Positive' reception on based on the 570-ish user reviews that have been encrusted into Steam's digital walls.
Players aplenty gushed about the game's wacky, seemingly limitless possibilities. "An alien with tentacles is running the seafood shop. I ride around on a bug. A witch runs the book store. Life is good," one review writes. Another explains that they "sold pet rocks for obscene amounts of cash, shot Baldo with a bubble gun, and committed vehicular homicide with a unicorn whip as a tourist cheered me on with a high-five."
Developer Prideful Sloth, in a recent blog post, has explained that a few complaints are now being worked on too. Bug fixes and worker AI improvements are coming via a patch on July 1. May size was another common pain point that the team planned to expand in a future update, "however, acknowledge that this is something we need to prioritise NOW. So, we are! But we also ask that you are patient with us on this," since the studio needs to make sure the game still runs smoothly with a larger map.
Sign up to the GamesRadar+ Newsletter
Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more
Go-Go Town is only available on PC for now, but a console release is planned in the future.
For more, check out 15 more games like Animal Crossing that are so cute it hurts.
Kaan freelances for various websites including Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, and this one, Gamesradar. He particularly enjoys writing about spooky indies, throwback RPGs, and anything that's vaguely silly. Also has an English Literature and Film Studies degree that he'll soon forget.
After 2.5 million sales, Manor Lords publisher says it "would almost be arrogant" to not be surprised by the city builder's success - but "you cannot count on it to repeat"
Overthrown is a unique sandbox game "relative to most of the genre," with an ever-changing world that separates itself from genre giants like Minecraft