Today, nDreams and Purple Yonder announced the Little Cities Attractions Update, available now on Quest 2. We’ve gave the update a try earlier this week and spoiler alert: we think it’s pretty neat.
Released earlier this year, Little Cities focused on distilling the city simulator experience into a small package that put intelligent and native VR design first on Quest 2. Now, the team at Purple Yonder are slowly expanding the game with new features and free updates, the first of which added hand tracking support back in August.
Now, the new Attractions Updates gives Little Cities players new ways to decorate and embellish their cities with their own style and design, while adding increased depth to the gameplay across all maps. There’s a new tab in the build menu for Attractions – a collection of items ranging from beach chairs to parks to donut shops. These new items will let you add your own flair to your cities, but also serve a larger purpose – each attraction will help increase your Style Rating, an additional new system by which the game rates your city.
The Style Rating works on two levels – with a three-star rating and a 450 point score. The more attractions you place, the better your overall ratings and the more points you accrue. However, much like existing buildings and items in Little Cities, attractions each have their own optimal placement around the map. Paying attention to where you place attractions will help you boost your Style Rating even further. Certain parks are best near residential areas, for example, while others are better placed near industrial zones to lighten up the mood. Likewise, beach elements are, as you would expect, best placed along the coastline. Some special attractions also have secret pairings with existing buildings in the game that will grant a huge rating bonus when discovered.
Jumping into the Attractions Update earlier this week, I was pleased with how well the new elements integrated into the existing gameplay. If you’re completely new to Little Cities, then the new attractions should only add increase depth to the gameplay without feeling tacked on or overwhelming. If you’re an existing player like me, then you’ll be pleased to know that attractions give you reason to return to the game and upgrade your completed cities.
Most attraction items are small in size, usually only occupying a 1×1 tile, so they will often fit into gaps that develop naturally with the asymmetrical layout of each map. This means that when I opened up a completed city, I was able to go back and place new attractions across my existing layout without making any major modifications to the roads or buildings. You’ll start with only a few attractions unlocked and will have to work your way through unlocking the full set, granting a small new progression system to any returning players.
The Attractions Update is a neat addition that bolsters the game’s already fantastic city simulator gameplay. If Purple Yonder keep pushing out similar free updates, then Little Cities looks set to flourish even further with deeper gameplay and more expansive features.
The Attractions Update is available now for Little Cities on Quest 2. You can read our full review of the game here.
