FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – May 27, 2025
In Small Spaces, you don’t decorate to win. You decorate to feel. This meditative interior design game invites players to furnish realistic, mostly small apartments — and find calm in creative constraint.
After a viral demo, Small Spaces is now available in Early Access on PC via Steam. It’s the debut solo project from Berlin-based developer Niklas Tomkowitz, published by Pretty Soon (Backpack Hero, Havendock).
Small Spaces is what happens when you cross the creative depth of The Sims Build Mode with the mood of architectural photography. There are no timers, no scores — just an empty apartment, endless design possibilities and a spark for your creative flow to design a place you'd want to live in.
Design freely and furnish homes for fictional characters and complete small objectives to design beautiful, yet functional spaces. At any moment, step into first-person, walk around and experience the space you designed as someone who might actually live there.
“I wanted to make a game that brings players into a creative flow effortlessly”, says Niklas Tomkowitz, the developer behind Small Spaces. “I think the process of design can be such a rewarding and meditative activity and my vision for Small Spaces is a game that inherently helps resolving creative blockages and never lets you struggle with a blank canvas.”
From viral demo to a polished early access
Over 100,000 players tried the original demo — and gave feedback that shaped the game’s evolution.
“From the beginning I knew that Small Spaces is a community game at core. That means that while I have a vision for the game myself, it’s the player feedback that helps me make the game the best it can be.
Since the demo, the game has grown dramatically in content, usability and performance. My goal was to bring the demo to a point where it can live up to its potential. Early Access already starts with nine apartments in three different locations and hundreds of new furniture pieces… and this is just the beginning!”
Early critical praise
The first media feature on Small Spaces came from Christian Donlan at Eurogamer, who praised the game not just for how it plays — but for what it quietly expresses.
“Such a lovely idea for a game,” he writes, highlighting how Small Spaces gently reflects how people actually live in modern cities, where space is scarce and every inch matters. For Donlan, the game reads like a subtle commentary on real housing challenges, wrapped in accessible, creative play.
But beyond the concept, the moment-to-moment experience struck a chord too. He calls the game “a treat”:
“It's a bit like browsing an IKEA catalogue (...) There was still a strange sort of pleasure to be had as I switched to first-person and stood inside the space I had made.”
This isn’t just cozy. It’s believable.
Small Spaces avoids the cutesy abstraction of many decorating sims. Instead, it reaches for something that’s both grounded and fantastical — a tone that could be called “dreamy realism.” It’s about atmosphere, lighting, materials, and the pure nature of cleverly and beautifully designed spaces.
Joining forces with the solo developer, were the artists Amit Mechlovitz (3D Art) and Mohammed Hanafy (Illustration) helping to bring the vision to life with handcrafted furniture designs and beautifully illustrated apartment scapes and iconography.
“We’re planning to bring regular updates to the game throughout its time in Early Access. We have so many ideas on new furniture styles and new city themes to add. The first update is planned already for the end of June and will introduce tiny houses with three brand new levels,” adds Niklas.
As Jakub Radkowski from Pretty Soon puts it:
“To me, it feels like a living home decor catalogue — one of those beautifully printed ones that feel nice to touch. Except here, you can walk inside it. Rearrange the furniture. Break the symmetry. Want to do something wrong on purpose? That’s perfectly fine.”
- Design beautiful apartments inspired by places around the world
For Early Access Day 1, Small Spaces offers three distinct locations, each with its own unique architectural charm: simplistic flats in Tokyo, industrial lofts in New York and bay-windowed apartments in Berlin…. Each one sparks different design ideas — more apartments and styles will be added throughout Early Access. - Story mode for gentle narrative prompts
Design for fictional characters with different needs — from a married couple, to a young college student living in a shared flat, to a young professional in a studio apartment. - Handcrafted, high-fidelity object library
Beautifully designed furniture, objects and materials. From kitchens to living rooms and bathrooms, Small Spaces covers nightstands, plants, soaps, hand towels and everything else you need to make a space feel lived in. - Decorate homes you can actually walk through
Switch between top-down planning and immersive first-person perspective to visit the spaces you design. See the space from inside. - Organic lighting and atmosphere
Watch your apartment designs light up in the beauty of the golden hour as the time shifts from day to night and it’s time to fill your space with some of the plenty cozy indirect lighting options.
- Players who treat The Sims like an interior design sandbox.
- Fans of relaxing and creative indie games like Unpacking, Tiny Glade, Townscaper, A Little to the Left.
- People who move furniture in real life to cope with stress.
- Design lovers, architecture nerds, lo-fi vibe chasers.
- Content creators seeking cozy and ambient, watchable games.
Niklas Tomkowitz is a solo developer and game designer based in Berlin. He graduated from the B.A. Digtial Games program of Cologne Game Lab and he ran a creative agency focused on brand and product design before turning back to games. With Small Spaces, he blends his passion for design, and designing beautiful, immersive environments into a unique, satisfying, creative experience.
About the Publisher
Pretty Soon is an indie games publisher on a simple mission: to be the best choice for solo developers and small teams. Located in Poland, they work with talents spread over the entire world. Their portfolio includes such titles as Backpack Hero, Havendock, Werewolf: The Apocalypse — Heart of the Forest, Lyca, Tempus Triad, Primal Planet and others.
Press Links & Assets
- Press kit: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/16oabrzQZ8KOloUl2anfaXwHhi2F8bhKC?usp=drive_link
- Steam page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3151380/Small_Spaces/
- Trailer: https://youtu.be/1X3C5r97gc4
- Discord: http://discord.gg/sBHb88EB6v
- X / Twitter: https://x.com/smallspacesgame
Media contact:
Alex Michalska
alex.michalska@prettysoon.games