Playing Shroomchitect reminds me of caring for my childhood Tamagotchi

polygon.com:

For most of my childhood, my Tamagotchi and I were absolutely inseparable. I doted over my virtual sprite, feeding it and cleaning up after its messes — I was basically glued to the tiny toy. I had an orange model, and I spent much of the late 90s wearing the keychain around my finger like an oversized ring. I would fidget with it, and swing it around, awaiting the next notification; at that age, even five minutes felt like an eternity.

But one fateful day, I swung that Tamagotchi a little too hard. It flew off my finger and smacked right into the wall, and that was that. It was dead, and my parents did not let me get another one. For years, I’ve attempted to replicate that sensation of tending to passive little sprites. And I’ve finally found something like it in a very small game on Itch.io, called Shroomchitect.

Designed by PUNKCAKE Délicieux, Shroomchitect is an atmospheric sim game where players are given a tiny mushroom inhabited by three to five “Shroomies.” These Shroomies vibe under the shade of their mushroom, ready to be given directions. They have various needs (which are tracked via meters) and caring for them requires directing them to eat, sleep, forage for materials, and chat — the last of which is absolutely adorable because they get little thought bubbles like “Elliot was so fun to talk to!”

In this sense they’re much like Tamagotchi, but appropriate for an adult. I can say this because I recently tried to play with a Tamagotchi again, and I was genuinely put off by how frequent and loud the beeping reminders were. (I’m also now much more sympathetic to my parents.) Shroomies’ needs are much more interesting: They can build some structures onto their mushroom, as well as campfires and beds. They can