A Construction Sim That Trades Creativity for Chaos
“If you build it, they will come”, said the mysterious voice in the 1989 classic Kevin Costner movie, Field of Dreams.
Those were some wise words indeed, as history has repeatedly proven that if you erect something of interest in a field or a town, people will flock to it, regardless of whether it’s a grand public library or a simple public toilet.
In the world of video games, particularly within simulation genres, this principle is king. From the sprawling metropolises of Cities: Skylines to the blocky landscapes of Minecraft, we are used to building things from scratch, creating incredible designs, and crafting virtual places that we would love to live in in real life.
Buildest is a game all about making something from the foundations up, but is the process fun, or does the game stick too rigidly to its blueprints?
A Catastrophic Start
The game kicks off with a whimsical little story. Suddenly, and without explanation, all the houses ever built in the world just disappear. In a catastrophic cultural wipe, all the architectural knowledge required to build these houses and other buildings has also vanished forever. How has this happened?
Well, there is a space monster who, for his own inscrutable reasons, is making all this happen. So, architects come from a portal – from a different time, I think – and they are here to help everyone build again. This becomes your task. It’s a fun introduction with a horrible stories vibe, infused with a very British sense of fun.
But it’s the building itself where Buildest truly hopes to come alive.
The core concept of the game is to construct buildings from various time periods in history, all while following a very strict blueprint. The historical eras you’ll be working in include the time of Roman villas, recognisable traditional Asian houses, and, of course, classic Egyptian structures.
The gameplay places you as the on-site leader, holding a huge megaphone within a circular construction arena. The process begins on the outside of this area, where you must gather the required building materials, such as sand or wood. These raw materials can then be processed into finished goods like bricks or support structures. Once you have the materials ready, you task the builders who are hanging around the site to begin construction of the actual building.
Megaphone and Materials
The controls can feel a bit awkward at first, with some button combinations not feeling immediately natural, but you soon get used to them, and navigating the arena becomes quite simple. Each construction job comes with its own challenges too; there are strict time limits to race against and budget requirements you must adhere to, both of which determine how well you are graded on the job.
In a humorous touch, you can even use your megaphone to shout at the builders if you’re that type of boss, motivating them to work harder and faster. As you progress through history, new building materials and more complex structures are introduced, keeping the challenge fresh.
Overcooked Chaos
You really need to enjoy this specific process, because this is the absolute essence of the gameplay loop that you will repeat throughout the four- to five-hour campaign that sits in Buildest. And some gamers will be disappointed that you won’t be able to design the buildings yourself; your job is purely to take command and provide the materials for the build. Everything needs to be placed in the exact right place, and there isn’t any wiggle room for creative choices. This lack of creative freedom is a key point to understand about the game – I personally enjoyed the puzzle-like nature of adhering to these strict rules, but I definitely think that dedicated sim game fans, those who are used to more creative freedom, will likely struggle with this rigid approach.
I believe the area where Buildest could be most successful is in its co-op mode, which allows you to play with up to four players. The gameplay loop in multiplayer closely follows the chaotic structure of games like Overcooked!, where you are constantly juggling different jobs against demanding time limits, all while trying to coordinate your building efforts. It has that same frantic, cooperative vibe to it, which could be an enormous amount of fun in a party setting with friends. I found the solo experience to be perfectly fine, but I must admit the core gameplay loop did start to become a bit stale by the time I reached the fourth of the seven different historical time zones.
The game has a nice, colourful visual design where the world looks like a big cartoon. The builders are fun little squat characters that sometimes act very excited when you complete a level. The different eras and themes that each location has do a good job, with the different buildings and costumes relating to that time. The UI has a great look to it, and the opening cutscene is great and sets the game up perfectly. The sound design is upbeat, and each of the different eras has distinct pieces of music to accompany them. As there is only one track per level, they can become a bit repetitive, but not too badly.
A Fun, Flawed, and Focused Builder
Buildest feels like a hard one to mark because, on one hand, it has a family-friendly, co-op, party-game feel to it, but at the same time, you must keep to the strict rules of building without any opportunity to go outside the box. This might annoy some, especially if they are used to the creative freedoms offered by games like Minecraft. However, I found the experience to be fun, and I liked journeying through the different eras and seeing these historical buildings take shape. The problem is, if you want a design experience that feels freer, there are other games out there that do the job better.
Important Links
Build Your Way Through History in Buildest on Console – https://www.thexboxhub.com/build-your-way-through-history-in-buildest-on-console/
Buy, Optimised for Xbox Series X|S – https://www.xbox.com/en-gb/games/store/buildest-xbox-series-x-s/9pbnv0tvg04z
Or enjoy an Xbox One version – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/buildest/9NFGNSNS4KZH/0010
