Shelter's developer is now making a cozy decorating game called Twinkleby

Twinkleby Announcement Trailer - A cosy decoration game coming in 2025 - YouTube

The developers of the emotional animal parent Shelter games have just announced their next project and although it's definitely still what I'd call "cozy," it's pretty different from the studio's past work. Twinkleby, announced today for release in 2025, is a "relaxing decoration game" about a floating archipelago of islands.

"In Twinkleby, you will furnish your Victorian dollhouses and the gardens with an ever-expanding collection of decoration pieces," Might and Delight says. "As you play, flying boats arrive to drop off new residents who make themselves at home on your islands. These quirky characters will interact with your creations and each other. They all have personalities of their own, and you need to figure out how to make them happy, because they’ll make sure to reward you for it."

Twinkleby - A small village on a cartoony 3D island floating in the air with a new resident arriving on a flying sailboat. — (Image credit: Might and Delight)

Twinkleby looks like it's cozying up to the trend of little decorating games like Tiny Glade or Summerhouse, referencing the control you have over its "diorama" environment and that it has no fail state. You'll decorate tiny dollhouses to attract new residents to the archipelago and collect shooting stars to spend on even more items at Molligan’s Antiques while setting the weather and seasons in your village however you like at will.

It's nice to see Might and Delight announcing a new game after Book of Travels (which I rather liked) didn't do so hot sales-wise in 2021 and led to layoffs at the studio in the same year. It is a shame that the studio's signature art style—beautiful abstract textures on low-poly models—didn't survive, though. Whether that's a result of the team cuts or a creative decision made for other reasons, I don't know.

Instead, Twinkleby has the bright colors, small rotund characters, and bubbly interface that will likely get compared to Animal Crossing. It does look pretty darn cute, even if it isn't what I expected to come out of a Might and Delight announcement and I am, as ever, a fan of decorating games.

Twinkleby - a small house diorama in a cute 3D cartoony style with an inventory of miscellaneous furniture open on the side. — (Image credit: Might and Delight)

Twinkleby does not have a set release date, but is planned to launch sometime in 2025 on Steam. I wish them well as they venture into the tiny and twee side of cozy games.

Lauren has been writing for PC Gamer since she went hunting for the cryptid Dark Souls fashion police in 2017. She joined the PCG staff in 2021, now serving as self-appointed chief cozy games and farmlife sim enjoyer. Her career originally began in game development and she remains fascinated by how games tick in the modding and speedrunning scenes. She likes long fantasy books, longer RPGs, can't stop playing co-op survival crafting games, and has spent a number of hours she refuses to count building houses in The Sims games for over 20 years.

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.