Publisher(s): Thermite Games
Platform(s): Steam
Release Date: TBA
Teatopia is one of those games that feels absolutely peaceful and a bit like a slice of life game. The basic premise is that you inherited land from your grandfather, and you have to build your own farm up and integrate your life into the community at large. While the demo I played was a bit limited in content, I really enjoyed what I found and it made me want to see everything Teatopia has to offer.
The graphic art style is absolutely gorgeous. Quite frequently, Chinese-inspired slice-of-life games will go for a paint-and-brush art style that seeks to invoke calligraphy in the gamer’s mind. Teatopia instead uses vibrant colors that pop off of the screen with clearly defined art to bring its world to life — and I kept commenting on how beautiful everything was during my demo. The character models are 3D and the world itself is 2D, which helps to really make the NPCs stand out among everything else going on. Teatopia is truly a very cozy world to exist in.
Of course, gameplay is what makes or breaks a game. Thankfully, I was able to try out a handful of activities in Teatopia ranging from fishing, breaking rocks, and planting crops. The gameplay mechanics for farming and clearing land thankfully aren’t out of the ordinary. I also was able to try out the fishing mechanics — and while they were a bit rough (it is a minigame experience!), I was pleased with that too. After GDC 2024, I popped over onto the official Teatopia account, and I saw there are other gameplay mechanics such as building a waterwheel connecting the local stream to your crops to help irrigate them. This game simply oozes creative potential for gameplay and exploration.
Teatopia, which has a Kickstarter that will eventually be launching, honestly has a lot of potential. During my demo, there was a lot of talk about being able to cook all sorts of dishes, raise animals, make tea, play gambling games like Cee-lo, and more in the world. I checked out all of the videos the development team has put out, and I was more than a little impressed with how they are committed to making sure even tiny details like having the plants sway when you walk past them are included in Teatopia. We unfortunately do not have an officially confirmed date for the Kickstarter to go up. However, just from my brief time with the game? I think it is something worth keeping an eye on as it heads ultimately towards release.
Are you excited to make tea and raise animals? What about gamble and fish?
Let us know in the comments below what you want to see in Teatopia!
