Steam's Idler Fest... oh no.
The backlog is getting bigger but the number of played games too!
Okay, so, Steam did a thing.
I am a sucker for idler games.
The first one I ever played was AdVenture Capitalist and I subsequently went through a phase. One of my favourites was Plantera, leading me to buy, finish and 100% Plantera 2 on its release day. I recently backed a Patreon to get my grubby hands on Vending Dokan (initially to support the devs behind SunnySide going through a rough period, but I also just really liked it?!). And then a while back, someone suggested Magic Archery to me, another one I absolute adored!
The good news is that a lot of these idler games seem to be free, and as a good friend of mine would say: free is my favourite price!
So this week, I’ve added a few idlers to my catalogue - many free, and yes, some I bought despite actively not trying to expand my backlog, sue me.
Join me in playing these while also doing other things at the same time, exactly the way the ADHD overlord intended it.
Game #1: My Slime Garden
Remember how obsessed I was with Ooze Keeper in my previous blog post? I’ve been struggling with a persistent little stomach bug the past week and I haven’t played much else other than Ooze Keeper and RimWorld. So the slime is still strong in this one. What could be better to start with than a slimey idler game like My Slime Garden, right?
Wrong. It isn’t an idler. It just got caught up in my idler download spree and now we all have to live with that happy little accident.
At first, I had no idea what to do, as the game doesn’t have any kind of tutorial. So okay, it’s not ideal that I had to ask around on the Discord to figure out that the goal is to roguelike your way through island battles, but once we got there, we got there.
My first slime, a pink one, got killed quite instantly. I wish I could fully blame the little cutie, but… its D-rank stats may not have helped, but I figure it’s more of a player skill issue.
Finally collecting 100 coins (at intervals of 2-3 coins, it was a failful grind), I hatched a mystery egg and got this little cutie.
With its slightly better stats and my slightly better skills, we got the hang of it and played the game for a bit, actually surviving for a few consecutive levels at a time, hurray! Little Blue deserved a rice ball, but then my focus was used up for the day.
👍 Play it. It’s a free game, it’s cute, it’s fun for a while, oddly addictive as well. Good time-filler for if you have a bit of time to burn and nothing to burn it on, and then lose track of time because the battle loop is quite fun. I haven’t got to the breeding yet, so I will check back later to see how that goes, but I expect it to be cute as well!
Game #2: Chillquarium
Chillquarium has been on my wishlist for a while so yes, I know, technically I’m not playing anything from my backlog BUT what if we consider my wishlist part of the backlog, huh? Yeah, let’s do that.
As the name suggests: Chillquarium is very chill, much aquarium, wow.
This is the ultimate stress-free fish-collecting experience. You buy a booster pack (yes, it’s an aquarium, BUT IT’S CARDS), place your fish in the tank, feed them, and watch them grow - both physically and in value. Sell them for quick cash immediately or let them appreciate over time, then use your earnings to buy even more fish (duh) and decorations for your tank.
It’s completely non-punishing, with an optional auto-feed feature that makes it both accessible and lazy-friendly. And the best part? Collecting all the different fish, of course! They start as silhouettes, and when they grow up, you learn their names—just like in the Animal Crossings or Stardew Valleys of this world, when you discover a new species, but without an annoying fishing mini-game, hurray!
👍 Chill, cosy, relaxing, addictive, and perfect for anyone who loves chill idle games. And fishies. Love all the fishies.
Game #3: IdleOn - The Idle RPG
Okay, let me just start by saying IdleOn is equal parts insanely cute and adorkably funny. And it is SO addictive!
The premise is quite straight-forward: go here, kill x enemies, collect y drops, craft z items, level up, rinse repeat. Unlock new vendors, unlock new skills, delve deeper into the maps, find the boss portals - basically everything a regular MMO would do, but as a sidescroller with idle mechanics.
And what’s more: you can have multiple characters! Adventure with one while the other is mining copper ore. Have one grind the lower level bosses while you go crafting.
Right now, there is a Valentines’ event going on, and they have CUTE RABBITS.
👍 I have played for a couple of hours and I have yet to scratch the surface of the vast content this game has to offer. Definitely one to go back to!
Game #4: Mr. Mine
Mr. Mine looked very promising, but I’m honestly a little… not disappointed, but bored?
It’s a lot of “the same” in the beginning of the game, which I felt didn’t progress fast enough into something interesting like a new ore or a new mechanic or a new character. I quite literally fell asleep waiting for something to change, which is ironic, me going into an idle animation while playing an idler game like this.
👎 From what I saw on the screenshots, the game looked like it had a lot to offer but I simply couldn’t get through the initial snoozefest to get there. I’ll try again later.
Game #5: Install Fee Tycoon
Huge nostalgia boost with Install Fee Tycoon!
The whole game feels like a throwback to Windows XP days—complete with Clippy, shady ZIP-files, and the kind of spyware installers our grandmothers used to fall for. Interesting little puzzles make you think like a ‘90s script kiddie - or their middle school IT teacher looking for the harmful files they’ve hidden. The humour is on point, and the whole game is a nod towards the monetisation tactics in the game industry.
👍 At its core, it’s a very basic idler game, but it does exactly what an idler needs to do. Numbers go up, dopamine goes up, brain goes brr.
Game #6: Cookie Clicker
A friend of mine has been raving about Cookie Clicker. It’s technically not a backlog game in the sense that I bought it this week, BUT it has been on my wishlist forever and with a friend’s recommendation, it is an honorary backlog item, alright.
There isn’t that much to say about Cookie Clicker. In a good way.
It’s your classic idler/clicker game. You start with “click the cookie, you get one cookie”. After a few cookies, you can buy an upgrade that clicks for you, slowly. And then another upgrade, and another, and another - and before you know it, you have an army of grandmothers baking cookies for you and you somehow managed to grow cookies on a field, all while dozens of tiny hands are clicking that initial cookie for you.
Same conclusion as Install Fee Tycoon:
👍 At its core, it’s a very basic idler game, but it does exactly what an idler needs to do. Numbers go up, dopamine goes up, brain goes brr.
The award for 🔥 Most Addictive 🔥 easily goes to Chillquarium. This is my new go-to game to half-play while I half-watch a tv series or when I’m half-working on something else. It’s so satisfying to see my widdle fishies gwow - okay, no, we’re not doing that - to see my little fishies grow big and then sell them for a big whopload of buckaroos.
Install Fee Tycoon was the 🌍 Most Immersive 🌍 game of the week. The whole game just oozes nostalgia with its whole Windows XP vibe, Clippy as a companion, its references to early internet nerd culture - I’m here for it!
Deciding on where to put ⚙️ Best Mechanics ⚙️ was a little harder this week. Most of these have very similar idler mechanics, all good in their own right, but not very innovative or standing out from one another. The only game that really jumps out in its creativity in regards to mechanics, is IdleOn. Even if the mechanics are very neighbourly borrowed from the standard MMO formula, applying them to an idler game is a feat.
I loved this week! A few of these games are keepers, like IdleOn and Chillquarium, for sure! If you have other idler games to suggest, please let me know on Steam.
Want to tackle your backlog as well? Or just want to chat about mine?
Click here to join the Steam group to share and discuss all of these games!
Not sure yet and want to see how I keep it up first? That’s fair, too.