Placement games were 2021’s most calming video game trend

Many games are sold because of their action-packed gameplay or rich, intricate stories. We guided Master Chief through yet another Halo, and defeated evil Nazis. Vanguard, Call of Duty. There was another sub-genre, however, that exploded onto the scene in 2021, just beneath those loud, flashy and brassy games. I call them placement games, and they’re all about putting things into a little digital world and feeling good about it.

Unpacking The most famous is likely the one who slipped onto the scene in the fall. His simple task was to open cardboard boxes and then unpack their contents. Over the course of the game, the things you unpack, and the locations you unpack into, tell a wordless story about one person’s changing life conditions in the early 2000s. This was possible only by one simple mechanical concept. Unpacking’s narrative was praised for how cleanly and clearly it approached its topic.

Placement was at the core of everything. Deciding what goes in Unpacking It happens in two stages, with the first being entirely mechanical. Some things are intended for certain places — the toothbrush can only go on the bathroom counter, for instance, while the desktop computer cannot be placed in the kitchen. The final step is almost completely aesthetic. Video games do not dictate the exact position of books, toys, or video games. The game allows the player to look at the space and decide how they should be placed as their protagonist enters. This is just a way for them to fulfill their organizational needs.

Image: Witch Beam/Humble Bundle

Some people may be happy to just blitz through the streets, but I doubt it. Unpacking I believe that it is possible to achieve the highest level of control by doing very little manipulation. UnpackingThe company wants their players to question and consider why they have placed certain objects where they do. It’s a great game! Sims This game encourages players to place action figures or books on shelves and play the role of the character they only know by their possessions. We’re meant to create a baseline of what it means for this character to live in a new space, and to think through and consider how, and why, they might place things to make their new home as pleasing to them as possible.

These contemplative spaces are a good place to play placement games. Although they share some of the same goals and interfaces, the mechanics are not the only thing that make them valuable in the long-term. DorfromantikThis game, available in an early access version last spring, elevates this idea to another level. This game involves using tiles to build a peaceful, picturesque countryside. You may be given quests that require you to make rolling fields or forests to dominate the map. This will limit your ability to place tiles. The game’s main objective is to create a world that fits your vision. This is all about creating something that feels and looks good. It’s anti-spectacular.

Image: Toukana Interactive

These games have a lot in common with what Max Kreminski, a PhD candidate at UC Santa Cruz, has called “gardening games,” which are broadly about responding to and tending a video game space rather than dominating and exploiting it. You can also arrange placement games to make these worlds look exactly how you wish them. Every tile may not be included. Dorfromantik This has direct utility for me in helping with some quests. Most of the time, it’s about choosing if I want my little forest home or my micro-city to have a small pond.

I’ve been curious about Why? These games are so enjoyable to me, that I decided to do some research on how people enjoy looking at things. The answer, unfortunately, seems to contain a lot of “who knows?” Lots of researchers have made claims that people seem to enjoy looking at complex things, for example, but it seems like there’s broad experimental disagreement about how much complexity is It is too many. Others have discovered unity-in-variety or the notion of various stuff being perceived as related. This is a pleasant way to see the world. It makes perfect sense, considering that some of what I enjoy is in this way. Unpacking Oder Dorfromantik This is because it is an example of a large unifying system.

After digging deeper I discovered that experimental research has also been done on aesthetic arrangements. According to South Korean research, older adults who tend to garden more often have better mental health and experience less cognitive impairment. They also seem to be stronger. Based on the findings of two Japanese research subjects, Japanese researchers also claim that ikebana, an old method for flower arrangement, has direct benefits in stabilizing emotion and decreasing anxiety.

Image: Thomas van den Berg/Noio

I’m as cynical as they come with these things. However, it’s hard not to feel that my stress levels are lower when I place plants in the neglected landscapes. Cloud GardensThe release of this book was made available to the public in an early version. Like Unpacking DorfromantikIt is driven by some game mechanics but it is mostly about cause and effect relationships of planting plants on structures that once supported a distant humanity. While playing this game, my most frequent thoughts aren’t about growing things optimally. What would hanging vines look like draped over that road sign? A pile of tires might make a tiny cactus-grove. The object’s total shape is what I want to pursue, similar to a floral arrangement. I use game mechanics as a guide and don’t need too much intervention.

Also, we might think about TownscaperA strange and quirky little game in which you build a small town based on your artistic whims. It is a game that allows you to explore your feelings about how a small world might grow, and it might be the “core” experience of a placement game in that its sole concern is freeing you to arrange and manipulate to your heart’s content.

It’s impossible for me to say why these games rose to such prominence over the past couple years, and why they seemed to hit so hard in 2021 in particular. Maybe many of us are feeling like we’ve lost control, and these games give a little bit back. Or maybe it’s that these games give us a quiet respite from the violence and confrontation and in-your-face explosions that are so central to the wider video game culture. I can’t say. But I do know that I have spent a lot of time with placement games this year, and I’m hoping that they build and expand from here, like a little map or a reedy vine.