‘Nifty Island’ Is Already Better Than Most NFT Sandbox Games

Uninterested in voxel-style crypto video games? Desire a sandbox sport that pays homage to your favourite NFTs—and allows you to construct your individual customized island without cost?
Nifty Island has already made a splash amongst crypto gaming followers, lots of whom are incentivized to take a look at the sport due to its promised future airdrop the place players might, mainly, get free cash within the type of tokens.
However airdrops apart, Nifty Island is definitely sport given its present beta state, residing as much as my expectations and exceeding them in some methods. For one, the construct mode is one the place many gamers will spend most of their time. The workforce has carried out a pleasant job of fine-tuning a variety of instruments and providing an honest quantity of free objects, foliage, and terrain instruments to permit gamers to create some fairly cool stuff and customise their islands fairly a bit.
I simply began enjoying @Nifty_Island and also you guys already constructed insane maps 😳
I can be livestreaming tonight at 3PM UTC. Go to my island right here: https://t.co/9zNDxPDuu3 pic.twitter.com/MlTAMCKzdU
— yellowpanther.moca 💎 (@yellowpantherx) January 18, 2024
Regardless of solely launching this week, some spectacular maps have already been constructed with base-level supplies, from delivery container yards to elaborate rockscapes that appear to be colossal, historic shipwrecks.
Nifty Island is a builder’s paradise. For freshmen, it’s a bit of difficult to determine easy methods to transfer the digital camera round whereas constructing, so I typically thought I used to be inserting objects on the bottom solely to seek out out later that they had been, actually, in mid-air. Oops!
Followers of video games like Animal Crossing, Roblox, The Sims, Minecraft, and Fortnite’s Artistic mode—who additionally occur to be OK with crypto and NFTs—are going to like this sport. For these people, it’ll fill a distinct segment gaming repair that they’ll’t fulfill elsewhere, together with with the ability to play as their very own NFT avatar.
Given the ongoing NFT backlash from many players, nevertheless, Nifty Island’s NFT-forward method received’t enchantment to everybody. You do need to login with some sort of crypto pockets or Sequence email-based proxy pockets. I discovered Sequence’s integration the simplest, as connecting to the sport with my Coinbase Pockets required a cell app signature, facial recognition, and so many further steps that I’d most likely solely full if I used to be going to play the sport on an ongoing foundation.
Certain, perhaps Nifty Island is buying and selling on the user-generated content material (UGC) surge that’s been hovering lately—however then once more, players have all the time wished to customise a sport world to their liking and really feel like their involvement could make a huge impact.

Added some rock formations and a seashore home to our starter island. Picture: Decrypt
Scorching take: Lots of the most well-known NFT-powered builder video games already in the marketplace are prohibitively costly, boring, and straight-up devoid of different gamers.
Regardless of the infinite stream of name collaborations and short-lived hype from the heyday of the “metaverse” increase, players haven’t been flocking to crypto-powered worlds in droves. Let’s face it: Not everybody has infinite quantities of time and money to spend their days furnishing a land plot that value them $450,000, simply so they might “reside” subsequent to Snoop Dogg.
Nifty Island’s enchantment is in its flexibility, simplicity, and affordability. You is usually a inventive designer, a aggressive gamer, or a curious explorer with out actually feeling such as you’re lacking out on anybody else’s enjoyable. It typically feels low-stakes and informal, like a chill place to blow off steam whereas listening to the sport’s epic-yet-relaxing synthwave soundtrack.

The Nifty Island discover menu already has lots of choices for a sport in beta (there is a search function that reveals numerous locales). Picture: Decrypt
And on the subject of NFTs, Nifty Island makes it comparatively simple to earn “blooms,” which, as soon as collected en masse, will be redeemed for brand new playable avatars, buildings on your island, and different perks. Oh, and there are many methods to indicate off your affiliations with numerous NFT collections, too, if that’s your factor.
However yeah, you’re going to wish a lot of blooms.
This can be a first take a look at @Nifty_Island
-build no matter you need for FREE
-play for FREE
-be an NFT pfp YOU need!
-play TODAY!Sponsored by @Stardust pic.twitter.com/Z3QLQJaj88
— Jonah 🎮 (@RealJonahBlake) January 17, 2024
Even in beta, Nifty Island has rapidly earned a spot among the many finest social NFT video games on the market. It’s visually interesting with enjoyable motion mechanics, crisp audio, and tons of epic worlds made by different gamers. Nifty Island feels prefer it’ll enchantment extra to players below 25, however some older millennials would possibly discover the sport’s wealth of constructing instruments interesting sufficient to convey again the vibes out of your RollerCoaster Tycoon and SimCity days.