The cozy, rural life sim formula that the likes of Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley have mastered continues to be the foundation for a steady stream of new games. All trying to tap into a more relaxing reality where fishing, farming, and flirting with your neighbors is all you have to worry about, they remain hugely popular. Dinkum, which puts an Australian spin on this core experience, has been building itself up in early access for quite some time now, but it’s now finally out in 1.0.
Just like Stardew Valley, Dinkum is the endeavor of just one developer – James Bendon – who’s been toiling away at the life game for many years. It launched in early access in 2022, but we were intrigued by it even earlier than that. It’s shown a lot of promise, and its 93% lifetime user score on Steam is a testament to that. So much promise, in fact, that Inzoi and Subnautica publisher Krafton has got behind it.
It’s set in a world inspired by Bendon’s homeland of Australia, so even though there are resources to gather, crops to grow, fish to net, and insects to catch, there will also be some typically dangerous Aussie animals to steer clear of. Or you can hunt and trap them, if you’ve got the right tools for the job.
Whereas Animal Crossing has you funneling repayments to a tight tanuki in your early hours, Dinkum gives you control of your town by not only letting you expand it to attract new residents, but charge them rent for staying there and earning a passive income alongside your farming, foraging, and other side hustles. Interior design fans will be pleased to hear that they’ll be catered for in Dinkum as well when it comes to home building and customization.
After years of updates, Dinkum has just received the biggest of them all – the update that pushes it into 1.0 – and it’s full of new features and improvements. The Creative Mode takes down pretty much all guardrails and restrictions, allowing you to free-build whatever you want, spawn in items, and change the time and weather. When it comes to putting guardrails back up so that you can make it a controlled co-op experience, there are loads of new island settings that will let you set custom permissions. The amount of stuff you can craft has also been expanded – Bendon says that you can now build two-seater planes that you can fly around your island and display cases for the bugs you catch.
Dinkum’s 1.0 update is now live, and if you want to try before you buy, a free Steam demo is available too.
For more, check out the best co-op games and the best games like Stardew Valley.
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