When games such as Sim City and Theme Park first emerged, I was absolutely obsessed with them. It was only a matter of time before I felt overwhelmed by the complexity and layers of gameplay in successive sequels and similar titles, however, but I’ve always appreciated the somewhat laidback charm of those earlier, city and park building games.

That’s a charm that Boardwalk Builders possesses in spades, with a relaxed, friendly aesthetic and straightforward gameplay too. Things start simply as you create and build your boardwalk, but even as you progress, things don’t ever feel too overwhelming.

In Boardwalk Builders, you’ll create a beachside attraction and add numerous stalls if varying types, to attract customers, make money and upgrade your facilities. There’s a cool, and somewhat unique mechanic that allows you to combine two neighbouring stalls into an entirely new type, but other than that everything should be pretty familiar to even the most inexperienced of players of this genre.

Adjusting the quality of goods or the experience of games and rides will increase or decrease the cost to run it, but will also make it more attractive or profitable depending on how you also set prices. There’s plenty to unlock as you progress, and everything feels relatively intuitive.

The pixel art aesthetic is really cute and very well done; in certainly a fan of the game’s relaxed, cute ambience.

The very brief tutorial could probably do with being a little longer, however, and dig into a few of the extra things you can look at and adjust on the facilities you add to your boardwalk.

It’s also the case that it can feel at times like Boardwalk Builders plays itself, like an ‘idle’ title; there’s not a great deal to tweak or interact with once you’ve got your ‘engine’ going, which is, admittedly, more blessing than curse for certain types of gamer.

It’s a blessing in that this can be a really chilled out and therapeutic experience, so if you don’t mind the lack of depth or general interaction once things are ticking along by themselves, Boardwalk Builders is incredibly relaxed, laidback fun.

More experienced park building veterans may not be the right audience for Boardwalk Builders, but those of us who appreciate a gentler, more unhurried time are likely to get a lot out of this charming indie game.

Boardwalk Builders is out now on Steam, and launches on Nintendo Switch (with Switch 2 compatibility) on the 24th of September, 2026.

Many thanks to publisher Flynn’s Arcade for providing me with a game key for review purposes.

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