Stardew Valley meets Minecraft in your next gaming obsession

Just in case you’re after a new gaming obsession, I’m here to tell you about Town To City.

It’s a city builder set in the 19th century Mediterranean where you create an idyllic small town, helping it to grow into a prosperous city.

There are two modes, story and sandbox mode, and the game doesn’t place any arbitrary restrictions or challenges on you, so you can feel free to take your time growing out the city.

I think what makes Town To City really enticing is it doesn’t function across a grid, so your buildings can be placed pretty freely.

Houses, shops, along with other structures and props can be placed pretty much anywhere, as long as they fit with the scenery.

Granted, this has become more of a trend with builders in recent years, as games like Islanders and Manor Lords have proven, but it’s nice to see more games taking that approach.

“Truly grid-less building sets you free to lay out your town however you like,” reads the official description for Town to City on Steam. “Plan out carefully ordered rows of houses and city districts, or grow outwards organically with residences, amenities, parks and plazas connected by winding streets and alleys."

It continues, “Beautify your settlement to your heart's content with a plethora of customisation options. Set up lighting, plant flowers and wooded parks, and decorate houses and buildings to complement or contrast. With gorgeous voxel graphics as a base, it's easy to create something beautiful that you'll want to capture with the in-game photo mode."

“As your town flourishes, you’ll need to meet the needs of your growing population. Provide amenities that will cater for everyone – from workers to artisans and the bourgeoisie – alongside specific requests by individual residents. Get to know each person as they arrive in town and watch them settle down to form new families in the homes you built for them.”

Town To City doesn’t have a release date yet, but it does have a free demo available for you to check out. For fans of Cities: Skylines or The Sims, this might be worth a shout.