Rusty’s Retirement is winning hearts on Steam by not demanding your full attention
“That was a mistake. Now I can’t get anything done. 10 out of 10,” comments a player in the community section of Rusty’s Retirement.
It’s one of over 1,000 user reviews within just two days of release, the overwhelming majority of which are positive.
And it’s also a nod to the game’s biggest feature: The farming sim doesn’t start in full screen, but sticks to the bottom (or side) of your screen while you do other things.
Well, or not done anymore, as the quote proves! And this is what it looks like:
No pressure, no hectic
Rusty’s Retirement appeared almost unnoticed on Steam on April 26, but quickly built up a considerable fan base with its unique concept : With over 14,000 simultaneously active players, the little 7-euro game even worked its way close to the top 100 most-played Steam titles worldwide – and the trend is rising.
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The principle is simple: You grow plants, water and care for the farmland and finally harvest the crops. This generates gold and biofuel, which are needed for farm expansions and diligent robot workers.
Rusty’s Retirement deliberately does not rely on time pressure or highly complex management, but rather sees itself as an idle clicker that you can easily take your eyes off for a few hours.
“A blessing for my lack of concentration “
Since the game only takes up part of the screen, you can comfortably do other things and type emails, for example.
The Steam page says: “Zoom in or out for a less distracting view, or alternatively turn on focus mode, which slows down crop production. “
The minimalist style ensures that your PC still has enough juice for other tasks: Rusty’s Retirement only requires an Intel i3 processor, 4 GB RAM and 256 MB hard disk space.
What players are saying on Steam:
- The perfect game if you have too many monitors with not much happening. – RileyX
- It’s a cute little game that you can really play on the side. – Seedi
- It’s a blessing for my lack of concentration! Planting a few tomatoes quickly helps enormously to focus on the task at hand again. – Pirek
Distraction, relaxation, deceleration: In times when many games often build up a lot of FOMO pressure through hard grinds, battle passes or limited events, a small game can perhaps do more than you think. What do you think of the concept of desktop farming? Let us know what you think in the comments below:
