Tiny Glade players are remaking fantasy worlds in astonishing detail
If I’ve learned anything from this job, it’s not to underestimate the cozy gaming community. The fans behind classics like Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Minecraft have built some of the most intricate and incredible worlds using the games as their canvases. Now, players of the indie title Tiny Glade are using the adorable building game to recreate fantasy worlds from series like Harry Potter, The Legend of Zelda, and more in incredible detail.
Created by Pounce Light, Tiny Glade is a sandbox game where players build towns using a combination of building styles that take inspiration from medieval architecture and cottagecore aesthetics. The game doesn’t have any combat and doesn’t require players to manage any resources, so people can build whatever they want. Since its release on Sept. 23, players have been sharing some of their incredible fairytale-esque creations online, like the below recreation of Hogwarts from the Harry Potter universe.
A full video on YouTube, posted by Lazrb, goes over the Hogwarts build in detail. Everything is recreated — from its dramatic castle towers to its nestled courtyards. I love all the flourishes that Tiny Glade has that allow the builder to really capture the worn-in look of the locale. You can see them dive in and add decorations like crawling wall vines and overgrown bushes to old walled areas that really sell the vibe of the build. And my personal favorite part? They added Hagrid’s little shack.
People are also remaking scenes from The Legend of Zelda in Tiny Glade. These towns are a bit more sparse than the example above, but I still love seeing favorite spots like Kakariko Village and Lon Lon Ranch from Ocarina of Time.
The game’s landscapes aren’t just suitable for recreating fantasy worlds from video games and books. Friend of Polygon Becky Chambers is using Tiny Glade to remake environments from a tabletop game. She said that the game appealed to her because of the “limited toolset and semi-automated nature of the décor.”
“It’s visually gorgeous and gives me plenty of crayons to play with, but it doesn’t give me all the crayons, and that just makes me have to be even more creative,” Chambers said via text. “Also, I don’t have to be super precise in order to make something that looks great. It matches the vibe I am after with TTRPGs as well. I’m not into number-crunching; I just want to sit around with good friends and let my imagination run wild. Tiny Glade hits that note perfectly.”
And if fictional worlds aren’t your thing, players have also shown that Tiny Glade can be an effective tool for remaking historical landmarks as well. So, if you’re the kind of person who is super into building castles of all kinds, Tiny Glade just might be your thing.