There was a time when making little toys was enough for the toycrafter at the centre of TOYCRAFTER. Not anymore.
Having lost interest in the small stuff, the focus has shifted towards bigger and considerably more unsettling creations – and now it’s your job to cut, paint and piece together doll parts to see what you can make.
Available for just £3.29 on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5, TOYCRAFTER previously released on Steam where it has picked up Very Positive reviews.
At A Glance
- Game: TOYCRAFTER
- Developer: NewGen
- Publisher: NewGen, PerfectGen
- Platforms: Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5
- Price: £3.29
- Genre: Simulation / Horror
Welcome To Your Workshop
The workshop is supposed to be your safe space. You’re alone, you’ve got your tools and there’s nobody around to bother you while you work.
At least, that’s what you’re told.
TOYCRAFTER is built around interacting with the workshop itself. You’ll pick things up, move them around, use tools to cut and paint doll parts, then attach everything together to create your own collection of unique sculptures. There is even a rather mundane side to the whole process. Keeping the workshop tidy and organised is part of the experience.
Which would all sound perfectly normal if the game wasn’t repeatedly telling you that there are no monsters.
Don’t Engage With The Anomalies
This is where TOYCRAFTER gets interesting.
The game describes itself as an experience centred on isolation and the idea of becoming so consumed by your craft that your grip on reality begins to slip. You’re alone in the workshop, and apparently anything strange you see or hear is simply your imagination.
So if something moves, makes a noise or otherwise feels like it shouldn’t be there?
Probably best not to engage with it. And definitely lock the door before leaving.
Make Something Nobody Else Could
At £3.29 from the Xbox Store, TOYCRAFTER is a particularly curious little experience. There isn’t a sprawling campaign or enormous world to explore here. Instead, you’re given a workshop, a collection of tools and an increasingly uncomfortable question about exactly what you’re creating.
The unsettling sculptures are the obvious attraction, but it’s the isolation that gives the whole thing its edge. You’re encouraged to concentrate on your work, ignore the anomalies and carry on as though nothing is wrong.
Perhaps nothing is wrong. Perhaps that’s exactly what you’re supposed to think.
