Thank you to Prideful Sloth and CULT Games for this early access copy!

Go-Go Town is an adorable city builder and management game where you’re the mayor. Your job is to plan, build, and prosper! Rise through the ranks as you surpass other towns as a prime tourist spot. Turn the rundown town from not to hot by cleaning it up and building things people want to see. Food stalls, knick knack shops, and beautiful parks all make for a fun experience for visitors. There’s a little more to it than just building things people want to see, though. Being mayor isn’t easy! 

What’s New

The first time I was given the chance to play Go-Go Town, it was a simple and limited playtest that barely scratched the surface of the game. This time, there’s so many new features and cool additions to the game that it’s like playing a whole new thing! There are new areas to explore, upgrades and progression that didn’t exist, plus fun cosmetics. 

You now start the game with a humorous and easy tutorial that walks you through how to play while setting up a simple story behind why you’re suddenly a mayor. You can access the information via your in-game phone at any time, too. Then, you’re set off on your own to explore town and do almost anything you want. You are limited in what you can build until you unlock more things. However, you can build something and move it any number of times you want with ease. So it’s easy to redesign if you change your mind! 

As the mayor in Go-Go Town, your prime objective is to restore the town. To do that, you’ll build interesting attractions to lure in visitors. To do that, you’ll need construction materials! Go mine some stone to turn into bricks, and cut down trees to turn into planks. Eventually, you can automate those jobs by hiring some of your new inhabitants. As you progress further through the game, you’ll be able to automate just about everything from farming and fishing, to courier services and trash pick up. In order to progress, you earn EGO points you can use to unlock more options. You’ll get the chance to have town decorations, upgrades to farming, fishing, mining, and forestry, as well as new home types, shops, and more! Progression is easy, but still satisfying. 

What Else Is New

Your handy in-game phone now has several apps to help you manage your town, too. The tourist tracker lets you know if any of the visitors are unhappy so you can fix the problem. The calendar shows you what time trains arrive, but also lets you schedule your leaderboard challenges. These challenges can be scheduled once you’ve bought every EGOTech currently available, and completing a challenge increases your town rank, unlocking more EGOTech to buy. Challenges are pretty easy to complete, and can be rescheduled with no negative outcomes should you fail. My first challenge needed me to earn 100 coins (which will happen through your shops), build some shops, and build a few lamp posts. The leaderboard app shows you how your town ranks amongst other towns. Keeping an eye on your apps will help you learn how to progress, but also lets you see how far you’ve come! 

The potential new residents that show up in Go-Go Town now require you to meet some demands before they’ll accept an invite to move in. That means you’ll need to pay a fee, build something specific, or even just give them a high five! You can then assign them to a specific home and give them a job. Hiring residents will help you automate the town and take some tasks off your plate. If you’re getting overwhelmed, though, you can close the train station to visitors. This lets you restock shops, redesign and redecorate, build, clean up the trash and spills left behind, or even explore the new areas and biomes in peace! Of course, you won’t earn any money, but that’s an easy trade-off for momentary peace. 

While you’re designing the town, don’t forget to give yourself a redesign! Visit the little kiosk next to the train station to change your hair, facial features, and clothes. As you find loot throughout the world, they’ll be sent to this kiosk. So, you can change clothes and add fun accessories like heart-shaped glasses. There are even a variety of hats to choose from, plus different baskets to carry your stuff in. 

Overall

Go-Go Town is such a great game. It’s exactly as chill as you need it to be since you can close the train station, but even then, it’s not an overly demanding or hectic game. The art is lovely. The music is perfect and not overwhelming. Being able to decorate and manage a town makes for a cool concept, but with the addition of the progression tiers, it’s a super engaging game. There are an almost endless list of possibilities for your little town, too! 

There is a new demo available for the current Steam Next Fest, too. Even more exciting is Early Access drops on Steam June 18th! That’s just next week. So, if you haven’t already, add the game to your Steam Wishlist to be notified when it’s live.