Small Spaces, which has a demo out now on Steam, is such a lovely idea for a game. It’s not just the focus – this is a game about creating places you might like to live, and specifically, as the name suggests, rather contained ones. It’s also the clear-eyed emphasis on how most people actually live in the modern city. In New York, whose real estate market I am a complete expert on thanks to heavily sculpted reality TV “documentaries”, apartments are sold by the square foot and space is at an absolute premium. Even a multi-million dollar pad can look a little pokey.
Small SpacesPublisher: Pretty SoonDeveloper: Niklas TomkowitzPlatform: Played on PCAvailability: Release TBC, but there’s a demo on Steam.
Then there’s the question of that specific creativity that comes from restrictions: small room design often leads to unusual rooms. This is a bit of a horror show, but a colleague at Eurogamer was once offered a flat in Hove where, to enter the bathroom, they had to duck through a half-height door and then crawl along a low corridor on their knees. That was distinctly suboptimal in terms of living arrangements, but they were at least left with a story to tell. I often wish I still had the estate agent video.
Crucially, Small Spaces doesn’t just let you get at building homes without any structure. There’s freedom here, but there’s also a prompt to get you started. Each room you build is a design commission from a client with specific needs and often an additional hope for what the space might contain. Maxine, for example, has 161 square feet to play with in her shared apartment in Manhattan. She has a single small room: she needs a bed, but she’d love it if she had a reading nook too.
Real talk: when I first saw the space available for Maxine’s living quarters, I had a very self-contained panic attack. Then I re-read the brief. Phew! Shared house set-up. So I don’t need to cram a shower and a hotplate in here too. That was a definite bonus, as I had a hard enough time placing a double bed. But the bed went in, a few plants and lamps made it all a bit cheerier, a rug was – well, the rug’s fine I guess – and the reading nook? Books on a dresser, and a few cushions on the floor. That’s life in the big city, Maxine!