I don’t often play interior designer games, but I do play The Sims and have played inZOI, which has interior and exterior designing as a main feature. That’s what drew me to try out a new interior designer game, Small Spaces. The other concept about this game that grabbed my attention was that it was about interior design for smaller spaces such as apartments. The idea of decorating a place with less space is a fun and interesting challenge. I decided therefore to give Small Spaces a go, and I was pleasantly surprised. This is probably one of the better interior design games I’ve played, and it’s in Early Access as well! Let’s delve deeper into why you should try this one out.
Small Spaces is now available in Early Access on Steam for $12.99.
Story – Turning Small Spaces Into Homes
Small Spaces in the strictest sense doesn’t have a story, but that’s totally fine. The aim of Small Spaces is to simply use your creativity as an interior designer to decorate small-scale places like apartments and studios. However, you are working to a brief given by clients. While you can more-or-less design a space however you like, you do need to meet certain requirements if you want to earn rewards for all your hard work. For example, you’ll need at least a bed and a dresser for a bedroom, or for a bathroom, at least a shower or tub, toilet, and sink.
Each level has a backstory on the location, client, and any specific wishes.
With each space you are given to work with, you are presented with a brief regarding the clients who live there. You get a little backstory about them, their careers, hobbies, interests, what personal touches they’d like in their living space. This is the only part that could count as a story, but none of the jobs are connected. They’re just there to explain what you’re designing, who it’s for, and any specific requests.
I like this extra touch of each job having a detailed description on the location, the clients, and what they want. You don’t feel as if you’re left with vague directions, but neither do you feel stifled in your own creative choices. It gives more context to what you’re doing, making you feel like a real interior designer who has been given a real job to do. However, never does it actually feel like “work”, where you stress about failing and letting the client down. Small Spaces is designed to help you unwind and relax while designing these stylish and beautiful living spaces, with a different checklist in each job to make them feel more varied.
Gameplay – Be an Interior Designer
The gameplay of Small Spaces is straightforward: you are an interior designer, decorating various small living spaces for different clients. Sounds simple, but it doesn’t mean it’s boring. It’s one of those creative games that make you feel chilled out… and want to carry on playing.
Different Levels
Small Spaces has a simple set-up so you can get to work on a living space very quickly.
You can choose from 3 different locations: New York, Berlin, and Tokyo. In each of these places, you get 3 living spaces to decorate. This gives you 9 levels altogether, which is actually plentiful. Notably, you can replay the same levels after you’ve done them once. The only thing to note is that you have to play through each level to unlock the later ones. They’re not all unlocked at the start. This isn’t a bad deal though since there are only 3 levels for each location, so unlocking them all doesn’t take that long.
Every level you play is different from one another. They vary in size (although not too big so they can still be classified as “small”), and contain different rooms and layouts. Some even have more than one floor to work with. This stops the different spaces you design from feeling the same, getting too repetitive.
When you select a level, you’re presented with the brief, then you can hit the confirm button to go ahead and get started.
For each location, there’s a theme. For example, the New York levels have an Industrial design.
Get Designing!
Once a level loads up, you can just sit back and unwind as the design work begins. To be honest, it doesn’t really feel like “work” because it’s not boring or stressful. It’s very relaxing, calming, and therapeutic. You do have a few requests to meet if you want to earn rewards, but even these don’t take the edge off the calming vibes that Small Spaces provide.
In Small Spaces, all the objects used to decorate the spaces are divided into categories. Starting with the rooms, you have Living, Sleeping, Bathroom, Kitchen, and Working. They’re then sub-divided into categories like Seating, Tables, Storage, Lighting, Décor, and Plants. Finally, each of these categories have their own individual categories. It’s far less complicated than it sounds! It’s quite easy to quickly navigate your way to finding the objects you’re looking for. This means you can spend more time focusing on choosing the objects and placing them.
On the left side of the screen, you can see the list of specific requests from the client. This isn’t a huge distraction, but it’s there as a subtle reminder. If you want to bag those rewards at the end, you need to check off every item. However, it’s not detrimental to your creativity. You’d probably be putting in these objects anyway, and the extras aren’t ridiculously demanding. Someone might ask for a dozen potted plants or lighting, but that’s it.
You can create stunning living spaces with the objects and tools provided… and your own creativity.
One thing I was initially concerned about was how easy – or difficult – it was to play Small Spaces when it came to the design part. Fortunately, Small Spaces succeeded in making it a pleasantly easy-to-play experience. The controls aren’t overcomplicated or frustrating. The process of placing, moving, rotating, and recoloring objects is very smooth. I did occasionally run into issues with selecting objects, especially with multi-floor levels, but it wasn’t too bad an experience.
Buy More Design Options With Rewards
One driving factor in playing Small Spaces isn’t just the designing itself, but the rewards system. It’s simple yet effective. If you meet the specifications for a level, including the main and bonus, you can gain stars upon completion. You can then use these stars to buy rewards in the shop.
The shop is a great place where you can buy extra items or features to put in the spaces you decorate. You can purchase furniture, modules, and materials. The system is balanced out so you can eventually buy every item in the shop, so long as you gain maximum stars in each level. This system actually works quite nicely because with the limited stars you earn and the cost of each purchase, you feel as if you have to choose wisely.
If the design options isn’t enough, you can buy more from the shop.
Plenty to Do in Early Access
Since Small Spaces has been released in Early Access, it’s important to remember that this game is not yet finished. It’s got plenty of room for growth and further polish, but in its current state, it holds up very well. Performance-wise, it runs well without any issues. There are only 9 levels you can design, but to be honest this is fine because it gives you enough to go on with, and you can replay levels as well to try out new design ideas.
The only thing I would like is more décor objects, namely rugs, wall art, wall objects, and curtains and blinds. Otherwise you’re given a very generous selection of objects to deck out each level. I do know that more content is planned to be released for Small Spaces, based on what the roadmap says. It looks like more good stuff is coming soon.
Small Spaces already looks polished in its initial Early Access stage, so think how it will be in full release.
Graphics & Audio – Stunning
One thing I was a bit concerned about before starting Small Spaces was whether the graphics would be any good. They turned out to be amazing. It’s a beautifully realistic game. Everything feels so real and organic. The lighting is excellent too. The one thing I would say is that when it transitions to night, it does get very dark in the level (and I couldn’t access the Skip Time button). However, placing a light object fixes this.
I should also add that the UI layout of Small Spaces, including the main menu and HUD assets, were very clean and well-presented.
I also didn’t have any problems with the music that plays throughout Small Spaces. It’s the perfect music to listen to while decorating a space. It never became annoying and I didn’t want to switch it off. It helped me become absorbed in the chilled-out vibe of the game, feeling like there was no rush to get anything done.
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- You start off small, then the levels get bigger, with more floors and rooms.
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- You have more space to decorate with an extra floor.
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- More levels get unlocked as you play through each one.
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- Based on whether you met the specifications, you’ll earn points to spend in the shop.
Small Spaces was played and reviewed on PC with a key provided by Pretty Soon.
