Heartopia is a new slow life sim-style cozy game that can be played on mobile phones (iOS and Android), and on PC through a program that lets you play mobile games (TapTap). I was impressed that although I could see some of my ping times spike to very high levels (1400), the game still ran pretty smoothly.
You’ll be able to customize a character and get a house right away. There are multiple house styles to choose from, so even at the beginning you’ll feel like your house is yours, not a carbon-copy of everyone else’s.
The game only takes up 10 GB of hard drive storage space, so if that is a concern for you, this game won’t take up your hard drive the way many other multiplayer-based games do. Installation was fairly easy, but I did need to give permission for TapTap to connect to any device on my network.
| If you get stuck on screen during the privacy and EULA agreements and it isn’t responding, close the game. In the TapTap launcher (if that’s what you are using) select the option to Verify File Integrity. Try it again, and it should work as long as everything installed properly. |
I’m not a huge fan of that, but it won’t properly connect the login (at least if you’re using Google login) without that permission. After giving permission, the login process was simple.
Now that we have some of the most basic information, here are the pros and cons I’ve experienced so far. Other people may have different experiences based upon their internet speed and reliability. Keep in mind that this game will be evolving as it grows, so there may be many changes and improvements in the future.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| A decent amount of character customization options at the beginning with more to unlock later. | Long play sessions (we’re talking 8 hours or more) may become extremely laggy (on TapTap). Closing the game (and Tap Tap) and reopening may fix it. |
| There aren’t a ton of skin tone options, but there are a nice variety of shades. | The promotional website and even the loading screen show a wintery scene, but I have not encountered a snowy area yet. |
| There is a chat feature to use with friends you make. | The chat window restricts the amount of characters you can type, so you’ll often need to type multiple chats to say something. |
| The tutorial guides you through the features of the game pretty well, and it doesn’t take that long either. | Once you’ve finished the introductory quests and the resident request activities, there’s not much direction which could be confusing for some. |
| Decorating is probably easiest on mobile, but the PC version isn’t too bad once you get the hang of it. | Currently, there does not appear to be any controller support. |
| The clothing and furniture selections for in-game currency and real-life currency are very good. There’s also a wide selection. | There is no way to flag your character as AFK (away from keyboard) if you’re taking a quick break. There is also no way yet to flag yourself as unavailable in case you don’t want to be bothered by other players. |
| The gacha system was not overtly pushed during my playtime. | Crafting recipes can use a lot of resources, so some may find resource gathering a bit grindy. |
| The hobby system offers the ability to learn extra skills so you can choose how to spend your time. | NPC chats are a bit simple, but the main draw will be chats with other players if you want more in-depth conversations. |
| The crafting mechanic is nice, with a large library of decor items to craft once their blueprints have been unlocked. | It seems that player houses disappear when the players are offline. This can make quests like watering a neighbor’s garden difficult to achieve depending on when you play. |
| Crop growth rates seem good, and certainly will be nice even if you’re just checking in on the game now and then. | Daily quests will not carry over to the next day if you can’t complete them. They reset at the server daily reset time. |
| Heartopia is a free-to-play game. | Your house may change plot locations (plot numbers), which can be a little confusing. Your house icon will always be yellow. |
| There are collections for everything from clothing to hobbies. If you love completing collections, this will be awesome. | |
| There is cross-save between PC (TapTap) and mobile. Just sign in using the same account and method. |
The game ran well for me, which is impressive since I have an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 graphics card. The game still looked nice and I didn’t have to make any changes to the graphics settings.
If you’re curious about the game, just keep in mind that it’s a “slow life” sim game. You’re supposed to take your time to get settled and be calm.
It’s a great game if you’re needing to take a breath from the busyness of the world, or if you need some help remembering how to do that. You’ll do a lot of resource gathering, exploring, and hobbies.