Go-Go Town! (GGT) is basically Dinkum with automation. The first few hours feel clunky as you learn how the various mechanics play, but once the automation loop begins, it quickly becomes one of the most satisfying cosy games I’ve played.
What’s unique about GGT is tourism and how it impacts growth. As tourists arrive, some will have a question mark above their head, indicating they’ve a request before you can invite them to join your town. I love this system for two reasons.
The first is how easy these challenges are, some being as simple as paying coins or EGO. The second is how naturally they integrate into gameplay. Several times the question mark guided me to build a particular set of items, items I’d naturally needed to progress, or to use items I recently unlocked to beautify my town.
I also loved how I didn’t need to immediately construct housing for townies, only when I wanted them to begin working. My first townie, Baldo (their actual name), needed a home before he’d join. Once moved in, he became my corporate slave – Making wooden trinkets and pet rocks in enough quantity to compete with Amazon.
Unlike similar titles, there aren’t friendship or romance mechanics. Sorry Baldo, you’ll need to wait until you get featured in another game.
There are four industries making up the backbone of your town: mining, forestry, farming, and fishing. Resources are gathered, refined, and crafted into products before being sold through your growing collection of businesses. Decorations are mostly drop and go, while buildings require additional materials (and grand openings) before becoming operational, but the overall progression is easy to understand without feeling overly simplistic.
Tier 1 introduces mining and forestry, with Tier 2 unlocking the other two, along with cleaning, and finally the biggest introduction in Tier 3 with couriers. This is where you begin to see the developers’ vision, and when GGT truly comes into its own. Having resources and goods automatically move between buildings, alongside automated cleaning, frees you up to explore and decorate.
The production loop involves assigning workers to gather and refine materials, others to deliver supplies to stores, and workers to manufacture products. This earns you coins and generates tourist happiness, earning EGO. EGO is used to unlock new buildings, recipes, and progression upgrades.
The hard caps on coins and EGO were a love-hate relationship for me. I loved that the caps were high enough for each tier, but disliked not being able to prepare for future tiers by stockpiling resources. It makes sense from a progression perspective, otherwise you’d simply blast through each tier, but it’s still worth mentioning.
Finally, a game that lets me terraform my town with the click of a button, sinking my teeth into really making it look like home. I loved how the drone let me build wherever I wanted, not being restricted to where I was standing.
I also absolutely loved how I could manage the UI through the widget menu. These are two brilliant quality-of-life features more games need to include.
My only gripe with building was changing the appearance of buildings. I wish the blueprint showed me the colour and style, rather than simply changing the blue wireframe design.
Discovering random upgrades while exploring felt natural, rewarding curiosity rather than forcing it, and eventually you’ll earn enough coins to purchase plot expansions. Interestingly, despite the world being surprisingly large, I never actually needed to expand my town because there was already plenty of room.
Different vehicles, including trucks, skateboards, and bikes, are available to help you traverse around faster. Better yet, the truck doubles as additional storage, making gathering materials that much easier. Everything is well thought-out – It just works.
Now for my biggest gripe with the game, the birds would cause absolute chaos. They peck at rubbish, annoy tourists, and while they aren’t too difficult to deal with, they constantly interrupt the cosy atmosphere. I wish there were an option to disable them.
Garbirds also appear far too frequently if you’re not careful. Tourists were the source of this frustration. I see why Japan doesn’t like tourists, because honestly, my tourists were testing my patience.
I give them a variety of food that they enjoy, only to have them announce they’re throwing their rubbish on the floor, before becoming upset that the town is messy. May the lord have mercy on my patience. It’s even more frustrating when the bin is right next to the store where they are. This becomes a much smaller issue once the systems are automated, but it’s worth a mention as it makes the opening hours more involved (in a bad way) than I’d like.
Despite the birds, they’re only a small pain point in the gem that is GGT, and a must play for cosy gamers! Collecting creatures, minerals, and all sorts of trinkets while exploring above ground, underground, random forests, mines, or sewers is fun. While the first few hours are slower than I’d have liked, once automation begins the gameplay loop becomes incredibly satisfying.
GO-GO TOWN! REVIEW
The best word to describe Go-Go Town is satisfying – The gameplay loop just works. Whether you’re focused on the story or messing around in creative mode, you always have something to do, there’s always a goal, and progression is consistent. It’s truly a gem which I’m surprised I’d never heard of until its 1.0 release.
PROS
Automation removes busywork without leaving you with nothing to do
Drone building and a customisable UI are my biggest QOL features
Large world with plenty of room for decorations and expansion
CONS
Opening hours are filled with busy work
Tourist rubbish and Garbirds are annoying
No jumping can make navigating town awkward
