Tranquil Puzzling in Dorfromantik

It's a fact that as you get older your gaming preferences experience a marked change--I no longer have any desire to play anything competitive and mostly am just looking for something that's perfect to relax with (although, there is a time and a place for a suspenseful game).  Recently I came across a game that perfectly fits the relaxation bill and manages to feel relatively simple while also requiring some skills to be truly masterful.

Each landscape you create is unique.

What is it?

Dorfromantik is a puzzle game where you piece together randomly generated hexagonal tiles to create a cute landscape filled with forests, rivers, cities, and fields.  Each new map starts with one simple blank tile and a specific number of tiles for you to lay.  Tiles can be rotated and points are awarded for how well you can match each side to the surrounding tiles--the most points are awarded for a "perfect match" meaning that all the sides match with the surrounding tiles.  Certain tiles have objectives, which are indicated by a number floating above it--this means that if you connect the correct number of the same type of tile you are awarded points as well as a certain number of extra tiles--this could mean connecting tiles with trees into a forested area with a specific number of trees or linking together railroad tiles.  The game continues as long as you have tiles, so the ultimate goal is to keep gaining tiles.

Pros:

+ The gameplay is deceptively simple but requires a lot of forethought to truly master.  All you're doing is placing tiles and trying to rotate them to make the best matches, but it's harder than it sounds.

+Multiple gameplay modes.  The classic mode scores each map you create and the game ends when you run out of tiles.  There's a leaderboard and each time you end a map your score and place on the leaderboard is reported.  This is as close to competitive gameplay as Dorfromantik gets.

If you just want to relax and place a never ending stream of tiles into the ultimate landscape, you can opt for creative mode.  There's no scoring, so no pressure.

+The music fits the gameplay perfectly.  Soft piano accompanies each map and even if I'm listening to a podcast, I don't usually turn it off.

+The achievement system offers up unlockable tiles for meeting certain goals.  These new tiles add more life to your landscape--a beaver dam tile places some cute little beavers on a water tile; granary tiles challenge players to sting together certain numbers of field tiles.  The achievements aren't the kind of thing you stress over, but are simply things you'll accomplish the more you play.

+ Each map you build is unique and it offers up infinite replayability.

Cons:

- It's a puzzle game with one premise--lay tiles, build landscapes.  It's probably not everyone's cup of tea.

Recommendation:

Dorfromantik is a great little puzzler that's perfect for relaxing.  Your sessions automatically save so there's no pressure to play for long periods and it's a great accompaniment for listening to your favorite podcast.  It's fun to see each map turned into a cute landscape and see how you stack up to the rest of the world (I think my highest score so far is something slightly over 18000--I managed to crack the top 20,000--I'm definitely not a master, but I don't care).