I have no place being a tycoon of rollercoasters or designing a zoo, let alone being a PC builder. However, I thought maybe it was time to try my hand at being a carpenter in my very own Little Big Workshop. I find these top down games extremely therapeutic and relaxing and has been quite some time since I’ve given one a go. Little Big Workshop gives you your very own business where you can grow and export your own goods.

This sounds incredibly pedantic but I’m really specific about tutorials these days. There needs to be a balance of showing you the basic ropes, but also allowing you the opportunity to learn and evolve without having your hand held all the way. I really thing that the team really nailed (pun intended) the balance in the workshop. Starting from building some immaculate wooden garden gnomes, furniture and children’s toys you’re guided through the process of setting up your shop and hiring staff, putting together the right workstations and most importantly the blueprint process. After shown the basics you’re set free to continue the joys of running your business and told there’s an advanced help menu if you ever run into trouble which I really thought was great.

Typically in these style of games it’s really about plonking things down and allowing your staff to manage them. But in Little Big Workshop the blueprint process adds the tool that keeps your brain active while you’re relaxing with this style of game. The blueprint menu is where you need to choose the right materials for the piece you’re building, ensure you have the right workstations and then assign the work to them. As you move up, the demand for more quality products increases as well as the difficulty of building them. It’s not as simple as pulling up a blueprint and just pumping it out. You need to ensure the materials meet the standard of the client, and that your staff can keep up with the build of it. Obviously having the right machinery is key also so that you can actually construct the right parts.

As your business grows, your space needs to grow with it. You need to ensure that you have the right areas for building, shelving for storing of materials and finished product and also your break room. If you don’t look after your chubby cheeked little employees, they just faint and can’t work for you. You really have to step your game up and give them some nice plants so they feel comfortable, coffee to keep them jacked up when they’re working 24/7 and some stimulus like a chess board or video game to distract them from the harsh factory world. Not only do you have to give your workers a lovely break room, but you also need to provide some aesthetics in their work spaces. I liked to keep it nice with some Venus fly trap style plants which my workers seemed to enjoy. Employee happiness is key!

Of course with any game you want some form of progression and Little Big Workshop has that in a few ways, starting of with your factory equipment. Your factory starts off with some basic woodworking, moulding, sewing and assembly equipment that you can purchase, and then as your product line differs the equipment must too. The technology changes too moving from hand made components to robotically produced parts. You always have to keep and eye on your machinery too, because just like real life they break down and explode. Expansion is a must too, creating warehouse space for your finished products and also storage for your raw material. A break room needs to expand to accommodate your fleet of workers so that they can chill out. Another form of progression is the relationship with your clients. They can come to you at any time with orders and they have a timeline that you must adhere to. Keeping them happy but also trying to produce sale items in the open market means you have to prioritise their work over others.

Your skill tree is also vital to allow you to become the mogul in the factory world. Gaining XP and skill points is a must to keep your business thriving. As an example, one of the skills you can gain is being able to predict where the market is going with the products you can produce. I found this vital because I was making products and then losing money because I was either selling them at the wrong time or producing things that the market didn’t want. Every so often challenges are thrown your way like rats coming in or mould growing in your store rooms. This was really great when you get comfortable building and then suddenly an external factor appears that you had to deal with.

From a graphical and mechanic perspective, Little Big Workshop is incredibly smooth and pleasing to the eye. When you first pan into the mini factory world set atop a life sized desk with bits and pieces scattered around like calculators, a telephone, pencils that really give you the feeling that this is your factory in your larger human world. I always have difficulties with these kind of games with the camera perspectives and sometimes they’re too close or far. Little Big Workshop really gets this right with the camera views and the ability to navigate around your factory really nicely. The graphics are amazingly smooth and your workers are great little, almost toy looking characters. With these style of games too the speed up mechanism is a must and that is of course included that helps you when you’re trying to build shelves and skis for your demanding clientele.

Okay so let’s be honest here, I definitely went bankrupt a few times. I am a shocking business owner and I did let a lot of my employees get severe illness from mould. But in saying that, I’m still a pro business owner. Sometimes you have to have your business fail to learn and I certainly did learn. I came back stronger, leaner and more powerful than ever and took over the market as the world’s leading vendor of random furniture, toys and tools! Overall, Little Big Workshop I found teaches you some underlying business strategy at the same time as chilling out and playing a fun game. I really enjoyed delving in and trying to get my business to be successful, through multiple failures I learned different ways to do things and not go bananas buying machinery I wasn’t going to use and employees I couldn’t pay.