Craftlands Workshoppe vs Meeple Station
Craftlands Workshoppe
Craftlands Workshoppe is a tycoon-like game that’s filled with fun adventures. In this game, you’ve inherited the workshoppe of your mentor, Allcrafts – the only master craftsman who managed to master all the craftmanship skills available, and your goal is to revitalize his workshoppe business and maybe make a name for yourself!The gameplay here is pretty much what I’d expect of a “grind simulator”. What this means is that the game, being a tycoon, requires you to gather resources or buy them, turn them into more valuable goods via crafting, and then sell them off at a nice profit margin - though you don’t have much say as to how much you can price your items. Rinse and repeat.
The game lets you choose between 3 starting professions, namely Alchemy, Cook, and Blacksmith, and from there, you can earn enough to purchase licenses to unlock the other professions. The goal here is for you to master them all. There’s actually a fourth profession, which unlocks the Assembly table, but that can only be obtained once you’ve completed a milestone quest.
Crafting is fairly easy for both Alchemy and Cooking since it either involves waiting out the cooking time or making sure to spend enough energy to brew the potion properly. However, for blacksmithing, there’s a little mini-game that you’ll need to play in order to make an item. Basically, there will be a fast-moving indicator on a meter and your goal is to click whenever it enters a green area on the said meter. If you miss, you’ll have to start over, wasting all the effort and energy you might have spent.
In short, Craftlands Workshoppe is a rather grindy tycoon-like adventure game that has a pretty humorous streak. Due to how grindy it can get, the game might just not be everyone’s cup of tea. However, if you’ve always had a liking for crafting-based tycoons and the idea of managing your own shop, and that you don’t mind spending hours just grinding away gathering materials, crafting items or selling goods, then this game should be right up your alley!
Meeple Station
Meeple Station is a space-themed, sandbox simulation game that focuses a lot on exploration, trading and team management. In this game, you’ll need to build your starter space station and then venture out into the galaxy to find a place to set up shop, so to speak. Mine nearby resources and refine them into valuable bars and other alloys, and trade the resources you have with passing spaceships for resources that you don’t. Don’t forget to assign your meeples with tasks that suit their respective personalities, and give them everything they need to be content despite being cooped up in a tightly-packed space station.The game doesn't have a multiplayer mode (yet), but I can see the potential of having the game mode added in the future where players will be able to trade with each other and even raid other player’s stations to plunder resources. It’ll probably be somewhat similar to Minecraft’s multiplayer mode.
Overall, Meeple Station is definitely an early access game with plenty of potential. Despite the bugs and game issues, it is a rather fun sandbox game to play where you can build your own space station, explore the galaxy, mine and trade for resources, and manage your team of adorable meeples. If you’re interested, Meeple Station is currently available for purchase on Steam. Check it out!