Review of ‘Wall Town Wonders’: Perhaps Too Laid-Back for Today’s Mixed Reality

Imagine a game that feels like it’s stepping right out of the future. Enter Wall Town Wonders, a casual gaming experience that hints at the promise of an augmented reality (AR) future where AR glasses are as common as the smartphones in our pockets. It’s the kind of game where you manage tiny, Sims-like villagers as they go about their animated lives, sailing across your living space in hot air balloons, while you continue with your daily routine. Visually, it’s a treat, but the question remains: does it pack enough gameplay depth for today’s XR headsets?

Wall Town Wonders Details:

Publisher: Cyborn
Available On: Quest 3/3S
Reviewed On: Quest 3
Release Date: November 21st, 2024
Price: $20

Gameplay

As far as casual games go, Wall Town Wonders sticks to a low difficulty level, perfectly matching its laid-back ambiance. The initial playthrough is all about exploring the quaint charm of your mini metropolis. You might find yourself drawn to watch a mini-chef whip up a pizza or following villagers as they fly a bi-plane across your living room. Once you get past the hour-long tutorial, the game shifts focus to its assortment of mini-games, which you unlock by constructing new buildings. Defending your vertical farm from bugs using a wrist-bound mini-crossbow, fishing in your living room, or guiding planes with hand gestures are just a few of the activities you’ll engage in.

However, much of your adventure involves waiting as your village’s bustling occupants produce essential resources like wood, money, and food. The essence of the game revolves around constructing over 100 different buildings, upgrading structures, and creatively arranging them to design your unique town. The result is a beautifully crafted diorama energizing your room with the busy life of its tiny inhabitants.

Despite its autonomous design—where villagers carry out tasks independently—players can step in and engage directly, irrespective of being treated to optional mini-games. You’re free to watch your population busy themselves or partake in mining, farming, and exploring alongside them.

Not too long into the game, though, my interest began to fade. I found myself longing for more exciting engagements beyond the three hours I devoted. The mini-games intended to engage players during resource downtime felt rather like chores.

Immersion

There’s something genuinely endearing about virtual dioramas. Their smaller scale makes everything feel richer and livelier—a spectacle of detail that can turn a European village scene on your walls into something irresistibly cute. However, despite leaps in virtual desktop technology and XR productivity apps, I find myself taking off my headset to pen this review, like most of us, leaving only precious evening hours to dive into gaming or social apps.

I envision a future where headset resolutions are crisp enough to comfortably replace my monitor, and headset wearability becomes seamless enough to forget I’m even wearing one. This capability would redefine these ‘pick-up, put-down’ games. Wall Town Wonders seems to wish for us to overlook the current XR limitations, offering a randomly curated set of mini-games and an aquarium-like tranquility that feels a tad too casual for a fixed gaming session on the Quest.

If you’re akin to players who delight in games like The Sims or Townscaper, you might find my sentiments don’t resonate with your experience of Wall Town Wonders. Fair call!

Yet, there’s a reliance on simple laser pointers for in-game interactions. You can perform brief pick-up missions with villagers, or spawn useful items, like arrows or watering cans, directly from your wrist. The game strives to implement hand-tracking from the get-go, but the finesse required often nudges you back to using controllers, which feels like a missed chance to enrich interactivity beyond basic point-and-click dynamics.

Comfort

The game’s variety and sheer number of buildings encourage you to walk around, using all the wall space your room can offer. Playing while seated is possible, but you’re bound to find yourself pacing. Though most structures can be kept at eye-level for accessibility, some ground-based tasks can make neck strain a possibility for sensitive players. However, by placing the village comfortably at eye level, Wall Town Wonders innovates an approach that works better than peering down at a tiny map, offering a breath of fresh air to the town sim genre in XR.

Wall Town Wonders Comfort Settings – November 21st, 2024

Turning

• Artificial turning ✖

Movement

• Artificial movement ✖

Posture

• Standing mode ✔
• Seated mode ✖
• Artificial crouch ✖
• Real crouch ✔

Accessibility

• Subtitles ✔
• Languages: English, Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish
• Dialogue audio ✖
• Adjustable difficulty ✖
• Two hands required ✖
• Real crouch required ✖
• Hearing required ✖
• Adjustable player height ✖

Overall, while not without its charms, Wall Town Wonders may lean too heavily on simplicity and aesthetic appeal to completely win over dedicated gamers looking for depth and engagement in VR.