I think Lazy Bear is a bit of an underrated studio. Not that their games are amazing, but they have a formula that I think they've been molding for a while that really comes together here to make for a pretty darn good time.

The minmaxing focus of "how do I create a given resource in the most efficient way" isn't exactly appealing mechanically, but it is, frankly, very stimulating. You have to remember a lot of recipes, where to get what ingredients, which part of Bandle City contains which aura, which workbench does what, whether or not you can create something in a workbench on the other side of the world, what pieces are needed for which lecture, your plants are constantly growing and more!

By taking away any and all action elements, the game might get a bit dull for some, but I personally found its art, soundtrack, and even sounds of the little Yordle running against different terrain to be enough to keep me going. Sure, I would occasionally throw something on in the background, but if I didn't, I was always pleasantly surprised. The soundtrack often has this effect of being played through, like, a piece of glass or through distant speakers. Really adds to the feel of this being a kind of a storybook or a tiny world inside some snowglobe contraption or something like that.

The constant stimulation combined with a very laid-back tempo where you, the player, decide whether you're ok with waiting a bit while working towards another goal or using up some more resources to have things happen faster (or skip time by going to sleep, mimimimimi). I think it's a pretty unique game in that regard, most if not all other resource-management games have some form a lose state or action elements that can skip a day if you fail at them, but here it's kinda just you earnestly working towards helping a bunch of pals or just upgrading your lil backpack house. It's a pretty good vibe once you get in the groove of things.

Ultimately, it is kind of a sim of walking back and forth, but if you ever played these kinds of games on your GameBoy Advance or early PC days, I think you can understand the joy of just walking around all chill-like in a very pretty world with some objectives to keep you busy, ones that aren't intrusive but are there if you wish to follow them, and maybe some minigame or two. Think, like, Lego Island. Maybe these types of games don't have much of a leg to stand on anymore, but I'd like to think that Lazy Bear has something going here, and I hope the failure of Riot Forge does not discourage them from exploring it.

Which, also, I am extremely distraught about the end of Riot Forge. I think people don't realize how good they have it when they can get small projects like these games in a universe that's already established, familiar, and comforting. Really, no matter what you think about the individual games, I think it's a tragedy that we stopped letting creatives make small games like these in big universes. How awesome would it be to have stuff like this for all these other franchises? It's basically been my dream buisness model, but it seems like in the current landscape it just cannot exist. Feels bad. Real bad.