‘Nintendogs’-style idle game ‘Weyrdlets’ gets free demo

Idle desktop games are a new trend in gaming, and Weyrdlets looks like it’ll give you a hefty dose of Nintendogs nostalgia while its cute creatures keep you company during your computer time.

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Weyrdlets is an idle desktop-game from Malaysian indie studio Weyrdworks, and it now has a new Steam demo that you can try out for free. Rather than taking all your attention like a more traditional game, Weyrdlets aims to help people be more productive by adding cute, supportive creatures to their screens.

The game has an integrated to-do list and timer, so you can use it to keep track of your tasks and keep you on the right path. When you need a little break from work, you can pop into the game proper to collect items, change your pet’s appearance, and curate the interior of their home and its furniture like in Animal Crossing.

While your pet is on your desktop, you can pet, grab, feed, and play with them, all without having to move away from your spreadsheets or Twitter feed. Whether or not this helps or hinders productivity will be down to each individual. Some people find short, regular breaks stop them taking longer ones, while others might get too invested in their pet and end up distracted.

As well as productivity tools built into Weyrdlets, the game also has a self-reflection logger to help with mindfulness, so you may prefer it for those tools than the pets.

Weyrdworks Studios was founded in 2016 and launched Super SteamPuff the same year, a game that won Apple’s best of Apple app store award.

In other news, Sims rival Life By You has been delayed indefinitely because “additional development time is needed.”