Homescapes is a popular mobile game in the puzzle genre. It’s a casual free to play game where you are trying to restore the home of the protagonist.
Each task is done through a match-3 puzzle game. You also sometimes have to play a mini-game to proceed through the story.
In general, the gameplay combines Match-3 puzzle games to a sort of visual novel approach.
Here are some more games alternatives to Homescapes that are in the same sort of match-3 puzzle and mini-game genre.
Gardenscapes
This game features the same protagonist as Homescapes, namely Austin the butler.
It came out before Homescapes from the same developer and inspired it. This game plays on Android and iOS, though it originally came out for PC.
This mobile game is a match-3 as well as a hidden object game, which is a type of puzzler.
The player has to find hidden objects in a scene to progress through the storyline.
In this game, you are trying to rebuild a mansion and garden that are in ill repair.
Part of the game is in the pin-pulling mini-game style where you have to solve puzzles to save characters and accomplish tasks.
Classic examples include draining threats like lava while making sure they don’t hit your player avatar.
By sliding your finger across the phone, you manipulate pins and other mechanics to cause the effects you want and avoid the ones you don’t.
Gradenscapes uses this mechanic more than Homescapes does.
Machington Mansion
This game is out for mobile devices like Android and iOS. It’s a matching puzzle game like many in the genre, but it also has the house makeover options like previous games as well.
You match 3 pillows to progress through some of the puzzles in the game. You can also decorate your mansion the way you want like in the Gardenscapes and Homescape games.
It also has the visual novel elements from these games as well since you have to protect your house from your chaotic cousin. The game is free to play with in-app purchases, as is basic for the action puzzler style.
Manor Cafe
Another free mobile and casual puzzle game, Manor Cafe has become extremely popular.
It has the Match-3 game elements, as well as the design options so you can renovate the restaurant the way you want.
It also has the visual novel options where you have to uncover a mystery. You can also play this game offline if you want. There are booster items to buy with in-game currency or real-life purchases in the app.
You can also unlock recipe items and foods that you can offer at your cafe to your patrons.
My Story – Mansion Makeover
This one is another puzzler with makeover elements. It has a huge number of rooms and lets you have design input.
The story is that you have to protect your mansion as well as your cat to make sure they aren’t taken away.
The game has quite an expansive number of elements, including swimming pools, gardens, playgrounds etc.
You can even use a helipad if you want. The main way to move through the story is playing a match-three game.
You can decorate just about every part of the mansion, including extra elements like the tennis court, the library, and many more options as well.
The plot starts with you inheriting a mansion. Then, you have to interact with characters like friendly neighbors, businessmen filled with green, and more.
There are quite a few communities for this game so that you can commiserate with other players on places like Facebook.
Fishdom
This mobile game is more on the mini-game side of this puzzle genre, heavily emphasizing the pin aspect of the game.
You play a little fish that is trying to navigate tunnels and other areas on your journey. There are often pins that slide one of two ways, with two pins total.
The classic one is where you have two pins, with water on both sides of a circle. Your fish is on the left and a shark is on the right.
There’s lava on top of the four areas. If you move the pin on the top right down towards the left, it will burn the shark on the right.
You can then move other pins to keep your fish safe from lava by moving more pins, and since the shark is now gone, the fish can move safely through the area.
This game has many different puzzles like this, including the usual Match-3 gameplay from some of the puzzles. You can also develop your aquarium with talking fish.
This game is in flux a lot and games may come and go, with some focusing much less on pins and more on Match 3 and arranging fish.
Township
The Township mini-game makes it so that you farm and build your structures to develop your town.
This includes growing crops in your farms and then processing them at factories. You can make mines and then get artifacts from them.
You can create cinemas, restaurants, and other buildings. You can even create a zoo and get animals from all over to put in it.
You can trade with other nations and build up your town to look the way you want, even with famous landmarks like Big Ben, for example.
There are options to play with Facebook friends to show them everything you’ve made. You can also create clans to play together. It’s a free game in the development sub-genre of puzzlers.
Candy Crush Saga
Candy Crush Saga is one of the more popular puzzle games of all time for mobile. It’s also by far one of the most popular Match 3 games.
It’s also a casual type game, like many in this list, where it doesn’t take too much effort to cruise through the game, so it works better for casual gamers.
The basic idea for this one is to match 3 different kinds of candy together. Some of the candies explode and eliminate other candies.
There are different challenges you can take on as well, such as clear the jelly mode. You can also win extras through the Daily Booster Wheel which can give you extra power-ups, for example.
This game is much less adventure focuses, and much more of a simple Match 3 game.
Lily’s Garden
Lily’s Garden is a mobile game that combines tactile challenges with the traditional renovation puzzle game elements.
It has a storyline that relates to romance as well as the usual Match-3 gameplay The plotline connects to Lily trying to fix up her great-aunt’s garden.
Matching flowers from the garden is the theme they use. You can customize the garden extensively, using hundreds of different kinds of flowers.
You can go to many locations like fountains, a lake nearby, even beehives and dog houses.
There’s a lot to explore in the area so that you can unlock bonus secret areas and receive rewards you can use to get more out of the game.
It’s focused on being a casual, low-stress game where you can meet different characters, including many pets, and renovate the area at your leisure.
There are special events in this game, and there are also ways to connect with other people.
