4.1, 449 votes
The butler Austin is desperate. Because when he visits his parents in his old family mansion, he must learn that they have no money for the renovation. Therefore, it seems that the once beautiful country estate will have to be sold. This is, of course, unthinkable, and you'll do everything possible in the role of Austin to prevent a sale. To do this, of course, you'll have to lend a hand yourself and restore one room after another.
If you now think that Homescapes is a game that focuses on these renovations, you are mistaken. This is only the story, which has little to do with the actual gameplay. Homescapes is a puzzle and riddle game with the proven "connect three of a kind" principle. And since there is a wide range of such games, the lovingly designed background story is an essential feature to stand out from the competition.
Homescapes also succeeds in this brilliantly. Austin the butler is a character that also appears in the partner game "Gardenscapes" (here you don't renovate a house, but spruce up the garden). But not only Austin is a lovingly designed character. Your parents also have their own personalities and provide numerous laughs in the cutscenes. There are also various other people who live in the neighborhood and interact with Austin.
To save Austin's dilapidated family mansion, you'll have to repair and beautify various things step by step. This can be as much about applying wallpaper as about buying new furniture. But no matter what you do, you'll need stars to do it. You collect them by playing different puzzle levels.
In puzzle mode, you are shown a playing field with many different colored tiles. You can swap adjacent tiles to create combinations of at least three tiles of the same color. Various powerups like bombs and similar things can also be used. The objectives of the levels can vary. For example, in early, easy levels you only have to remove a certain number of bricks of a certain color. In later levels, more difficulties are added. For example, it is possible that stones are wrapped in bubble wrap. A first successful combination removes only the foil, but not the stone. A possible goal here could be to remove all the bubble wrap.
Depending on how many moves you complete the goal, you will receive different numbers of stars. You can use these at any time between levels to renovate the house. All changes in the house are also visually implemented. So you can always see how your current progress is. The renovation starts in the foyer of the house. Until you collect enough stars to complete this room and advance to the next one, you'll have to complete about a hundred levels. But don't worry - these are designed to be extremely varied, so there's no chance of getting bored.
Homescapes has managed to revolutionize the well-tried "match-3" principle. On the one hand, the different levels show a lot of variety. New, challenging elements are added again and again. The goals quickly become much more demanding and require not only good planning when playing, but also a bit of luck. In addition, there is the very lovingly designed background story, which always offers the player new motivation to play another level. After all, you want to finish renovating the house. Or should your parents actually be forced to sell the house and move in their old age? To make it more fun for you, you can choose from three different designs for each element you renovate, and thus design the rooms according to your own wishes. Besides, you can visit other players, admire their designed house and support each other with small powerups.
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