When I was younger, I don’t know about anyone else, but I spent a heck of a lot of time building houses in the Sims just to not really play out their lives. I can’t believe it’s taken nearly 20-something years to create a game that feels like it is inspired by that very feeling. Might and Delight’s latest project, Twinkleby, is a floating-island decorating sim that feels like it was designed to scratch the exact itch of anyone who spends hours in The Sims’ build mode before ever pressing play.

This is a game that strips things back to decorating, arranging, and making your neighbours happy, without pressure or peril. Did it scratch my itch or continue the scratch cycle? 

Sims Lite in the Sky

Twinkleby feels like “The Sims: Decorating Mode” spun out into a full game. There are little floating islands that are essentially your blank canvas, just waiting for you to decorate. It isn’t quite as easy as that from the get-go, however. You will start off with limited decorating features, which is fine – your poor friends will just have to be a little bare for now. 

Twinkleby’s slower pace is much more accessible for those looking for pure cosy vibes. If you’re after progression or challenge, you might be left wanting more and needing to look elsewhere, I am afraid. If you are looking for cosy, simple, charming and joy-finding, you will find this in Twinkleby’s islands whilst you tinker, decorate and quietly watch your world take shape. 

Trick or Treat or a Friendly Song? 

Your neighbours are the heart of the experience. Each has different traits and requests; some might want a rainy day, others a certain piece of furniture or a time of day. All of these requests you will be able to meet pretty quickly. Each new island you explore will allow you to unlock things such as different weather, which will change the terrain. You may want an autumnal fall of an amber palette or have your island snow-covered enough to build the snowmen. Meeting their needs builds goodwill and unlocks rewards. 

Once all the new inhabitants of the island feel happy and full, they will grant you a little sing-song. I am not going to lie, when this happened, I thought “maybe I passed out and hit my head” because I absolutely had no idea what was going on. As their song chimes on, each neighbour will give you ‘stellars’. The singing is very playful and adds charm to Twinkleby overall, signifying that you could (if you wanted) move on to another island.

However, the island is your oyster, and you can always return to an Island, kick its lodgers out and redecorate. Cleverly, sometimes, chests will fall from the sky, and you can grab these chests. At first, you won’t always have the tools to open them, as they require keys that are given to you by your loving lodgers. There will be times when you may have to return to the island once you have the right key, which may prompt you for a little change-up. 

Stellars are little stars that become your currency in Twinkleby. You accumulate stellars as they fall randomly like glowing orbs on the island, or when you place a piece of furniture down. The more stellars you have, the more you can buy at Molligans Antique shop. It’s playful moments like these that give Twinkleby its charm, even if they’re sometimes a touch uncanny.

Floating through Time and Space

A really unique quirk of Twinkleby is how you may remove things from the house you are decorating or decide you no longer want a resident in a particular house. Normally, this would come with just ‘deleting’ the object or placing the object in some sort of pixelated bin. Nope, not on Twinkleby; you just throw them off the island, yeah, you heard it. PUBLIC MURDER.

Okay, that’s an exaggeration, but yes, you can throw people, trinkets and furniture off the island. I actually only did it once to see, and then I couldn’t really bring myself to do it any longer with people, but I did think it was a fun way for furniture to go back into your inventory when your having a shake around. Hurling a chair into the abyss will never get old. 

And yes, you can throw things off your island. Furniture, trinkets, even neighbours if you’re feeling particularly heartless. Personally, I couldn’t bring myself to evict anyone who’d arrived so earnestly, but I’ll admit that hurling a chair into the abyss never got old.

Star-Crossing Lovers

Twinkleby’s art style is lovely, bright, whimsical, and dare I say…. twinkly? It absolutely vibes with the cosy aesthetic. The characters and the world around them give off strong Animal Crossing inspiration. Although this is more Animal Crossing diorama than village sim. Unlockable weather, seasons, and terrain types keep things visually fresh, especially when you can change the time of day, too. 

Controls can feel a little finicky at first, especially with camera movements. It does get easier and feel a little more intuitive when you get used to it, when you find the rhythm, but it’s not without its bumps. When trying to place items just so, they do become intuitive after some practice. 

If you’re the type who adores the creative freedom of decorating without worrying about timers, dangers, or complicated systems, Twinkleby is a delight. It can be a short and cosy burst of play or a long-term project, depending on how deeply you want to dive into endless decorating. I think eventually you can make what appears to be a whole town. 

Stellar So Slightly Twinkle Kind Of Brightly

That said, patience is sometimes required. There were stretches where I simply had to leave the game running, waiting for neighbours to be satisfied so I could collect more stellars. Personally, I think this did feel a bit superficially simple. It absolutely fits the cosy genre in and of itself. However, for me, it felt sometimes, a tad… boring?

Very quickly, you get the gist of what’s going on and what’s to come. The waiting for them to be happy, especially around 4-5 islands, feels a bit monotonous. This will and likely would change once you’ve collected MANY of the other items.

At times, it almost became a decorative screensaver until something new unlocked. I think for those who are on the hunt for pure cosy, no danger, and true charm, this is for you. It is really simple, maybe too simple. It’s perhaps for you if you have and you are looking for a cosy game that maybe has a cute story or more complexity, depth and breadth to it. This may not be for you.

Twinkleby is on PC via Steam (review platform), available now.

Developer: Might and Delight
Publisher: Might and Delight

Disclaimer: In order to complete this review, we were provided with a promotional copy of the game. For our full review policy, please go here.

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