If there's one thing the city builder and management sim genre is missing, it's a cozy game full of cats and tanukis.
Enter Minami Lane, put together by the adorably named co-developers Doot and Blibloop and available now on Steam. As you may have guessed, Minami Lane is a tiny, cozy, casual management sim that tasks players with designing their own Japanese-inspired town.
The very wholesome aim of this game is to maximize the happiness of the villagers that live in your town and to complete quests to fill the street with love - it doesn't get much cuter than that. Except it does! Alongside all the human inhabitants, Minami Lane players will also encounter several adorable tanukis and cats - and yes, you will be rewarded for petting the cats in this game.
With a playtime of around 2-4 hours, Minami is a bite-sized city builder with management sim elements. You'll spend a good chunk of your time designing and personalizing the street, adding a variety of shops and attractions like ramen shops, Boba cafes, bookstores, and villager's homes - all of which have unique inventories and require different types of management.
You'll also need to work hard to keep the residents happy as they'll have their preferences and offer feedback each day on how the street is shaping up. Add things like floral bouquets and karaoke, and pick up trash, to attract more customers to your stores and make the residents of Minami Lane just a little bit happier.
If you're more of a fan of designing a street than managing it, Minami Lane also has a sandbox mode that allows players to focus on creativity and relaxation without the stress of objectives, which makes this already chilled sim even more laid back.
Minami Lane is available now for PC via Steam and only costs $4.99. Due to its recent launch, there's also a 20% discount available for a limited time.
Find out what other hidden gems are on the way with our upcoming indie games list.
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
