BOXROOM is a cosy way to organise your Steam library in a nice little games room.
Whilst cosy games aren’t always something I’d seek out, I’m partial to a nice relaxing one from time to time. Wanderstop had a lovely chilled out aesthetic, although was quite narrative focussed, but the likes of Powerwash Simulator 2 always seem to scratch an itch. Something about tidying things up is surprisingly therapeutic when it’s a video game instead of reality — don’t look at the state of my living room. Anyway, BOXROOM has a similar idea to this but has the interesting twist of having you organise your Steam game library in an ‘actual’ physical space. It’s in Early Access right now, but it certainly fills that same tidying up niche that I inexplicably enjoy.
You’re given a space with a desk, a shelf and box full of your games. That’s it. Do as you wish. Do you want to leave the games in the box? You can, but you’re sort of missing the point. Feel like putting them on the shelf in alphabetical order? Go for it. Want to scatter them on the floor? Do it. The point of this is very much to create a nice, pleasant space where you could have sat and played games back when you had the free time you no longer have because you’re now an adult with adult responsibilities. Curse you life!
In build mode, you have access to a number of catalogues with a variety of different furniture in. Drag something you like onto your action bar and you can go ahead and add it to your room. It’s a cute way of going about things rather than having you sift through menus, but it’s a little irritating to have multiple catalogues rather than one with an index page. It can feel like a faff trying to find the one that you want. Anyway, these are filled with shelves, desks, computers, sofas, and all manner of different things you might want to have in your play space. In addition, you can get a box with your games in, ordered either alphabetically, by Steam play time, or completely randomly. As a man of culture, I got ones in alphabetical order.
You’re then free to place furniture and game boxes as you wish. You can even carve out more space by breaking down blocks within the space, giving you a larger room, or perhaps another room altogether. Sadly, the doors didn’t seem to be working properly with the build I was using, so something more open plan is the order of the day for now.
These glitches are a bit common as it stands though. Yes, this is Early Access, so expect things to not work fully as intended. There were a bunch of annoyances though, ones that really need to be ironed out before you can consider this something that you might enjoy tinkering with. Doors open into single block rooms if they even attach to a gap at all. Light switches clip into walls. Games that you placed on a shelf will completely vanish when you load the game, almost as though BOXROOM can no longer identify them in your Steam library. There’s a lot of lag too, especially when you initially load one of your games, though this may be due to the size of my library. I’m sure these things will be dealt with over time, so if this is a game you’re interested in, patience may well pay off.
Still, there are a lot of sweet inclusions here. You can put up picture frames and have a game from your library fill that frame. When you pick up a game, you can study it like an old fashioned game box, even opening it to look at the disc and maybe even some screenshots within it. You’re even able to launch your games from here if you so wish, although that’s an inclusion that I can’t really see anyone going out of their way to use. It’s something fun to include though. Adorably, you can even have your bedsheets be a game’s cover art if you’re so inclined.
Whilst BOXROOM is in a very early state at the moment, it’s a delightful concept that cosy gamers with a sizable games library will enjoy having a tinker with. It may be worth giving the game a little time to grow before diving in mind, as it’s still pretty janky in places. I’m sure it will grow though, as there’s already the inclusion of a sticker album for games that have collaborated with the devs, so if you have Cult of the Lamb or Among Us in your library, you can unlock additional content. This is certainly unique and will hopefully find an audience that supports it.
BOXROOM is available now in Steam Early Access.
