LakeSide aims to show city-building from a whole new angle – as it transplants the construction game genre into the 2D sidescroller perspective.
There are some things in life that there can”t be enough of. Or have you ever heard someone say “Hach, I wish there was less pizza in the world”? Exactly! And in the same way, I maintain that there can never be enough (good) construction games out there for us to look forward to. You know, when you eventually get through four seasons of Anno 1800.
One game in particular caught my attention recently, LakeSide rekindles the flame of rare sidescroller building games, looks fantastic and brings a very special mechanical knack to the table. So grab a slice of pizza and let me tell you about this special upcoming city-building sim.
What is LakeSide about?
First things first: LakeSide throws the traditional bird”s eye view of classic building games out the window and instead opts for a very special angle: the opposite river bank, as the name so boldly suggests.
From there you let your gaze wander to your city, which you build and manage in 2D sidescroller style. Thanks to the detailed pixel look in the first trailer, this already looks fantastic (after all, the city-building sim genre comes from a long tradition of pixel graphics).
Although there have already been some sidescroller building games such as Wiggles, Clonk or, to some extent, the Kingdom series, LakeSide is difficult to compare with them apart from the perspective. Its focus is on the construction of monuments, of which there are supposed to be 15 – in addition to 50 building variations, which are random depending on the gameplay.
For whom is LakeSide exciting?
Yes, that”s right. In LakeSide, chance plays a part in building and no two playthroughs are the same. Each time you restart the game, different types of buildings are available to you and you unlock new types and wonders of the world as a reward – all on one of three different maps.
The different buildings in turn offer you bonuses such as higher income or faster food production. So you have to constantly adjust your strategy without LakeSide taking on the overwhelming production chain complexity of Anno 1800. Instead, the focus is on building a respectable city, steadily growing the population and taking care of your inhabitants – without any war or real-time battles.
LakeSide seems to emphasise relaxed beautiful building – but still offers much more management and strategy than, say, a Townscaper. So it could be a relaxing and refreshing break from a heated round of Anno 1800, in which everything is on fire again, your workers are on strike and the pirates are attacking – but in the best case, without becoming too shallow. Because what would building strategy be without a bit of head scratching and building puzzling?
What do we like so far? What remains open?
What do we like so far?
- Exciting perspective: The sidescroller perspective brings a breath of fresh air to city building and offers potential for mechanics that would not be possible in the bird”s eye view.
- Beautiful visuals: LakeSide looks like a love letter to beautiful architecture, and the pixel art is detailed and expertly crafted.
- Relaxed building: LakeSide could offer a change from building games with permanent pressure, war and catastrophes and become a relaxed counterpoint in which beautiful building is the main focus.
What remains open?
- Enough demand? At the same time, LakeSide must offer a certain degree of difficulty to motivate. We hope it doesn”t turn out to be too shallow.
- Long-term motivation? Construction strategy is a difficult genre to balance and long-term motivation is one of the biggest challenges. On Steam, there is talk of random events, but will they be enough to create the typical “There”s always something to do!” effect of building games?
- More than a sandbox? Different game modes like a campaign or special challenge modes could help. So far, however, only a free sandbox mode seems to be planned.
We will find out more in the course of 2022 when LakeSide is supposed to go into Early Access on Steam. This is planned for about a year and should bring more world wonders, building types, events and maps. Until then, you can pass the time in our list of upcoming building secrets, where you will find even more potential city-building gems for your wish lists:
Building games with a scurry factor: The best Settlers alternatives on Steam
Editor”s Verdict
I love to add variety to my city building. Always playing Anno or Settlers doesn”t make me happy in the long run. That”s why I”m a big fan of smaller building gems that don”t tie me to the screen for a thousand hours, but offer me a relaxed after-work round in which I can build and tinker without too much pressure.
LakeSide not only looks great, but with its random building types it also has the potential to offer me exactly this variety in my construction library. That”s why I”ll definitely be keeping an eye on this unusual sidescroller game.
