Android

Cifi: Cells Idle Factory Incremental

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The Game

Cifi: Cells Idle Factory Incremental is an early access games developed by Octocube games. The game is currently only available on Android. The title of the game is fairly self explanatory – we have a sci-fi themed idle game based around generating “cells” and more generators that generate more cells. You start off with MK1 generators which generate cells, you then proceed to buy MK2 generators which generate MK1 generators, which as we already know make cells – this cycle underpins the entire game.

The games has several other currencies that you progressively build up in a variety of ways, it also has a good deal of upgrades you can make to various things in order to increase your cell production. The aspect of the game that really sold it to me was the loop mod research tree. “Loop Mods” are the game’s prestige element, so when you’ve reached a point where you think you are better off resetting you perform a loop and invest your accrued mod points into powerful upgrades. As with all idle games, it’s essentially just a lot of upgrades that make numbers go up – but it’s also so much more and when a completionist gamer such as myself sees a tree like that – I am hooked.

As you progress and acquire more cells you can invest them into a variety of ships, each ship is responsible for a different menu and shop. Each shop has new upgrades or currencies to be collected to help improve your earnings. If all of that wasn’t enough the game also has a couple of arcade mini-games, namely Cubeboy Snek and Bling Blong which may bare resemblance to games you already know.

Worth it?

The ad-free version will set you back around £4.99, this will allow you use the 2x cells booster permanently and collect token and diamond gem chests without watching videos. There are also several other packs and options, but this one is definitely the best value and a great way to support the devs. The tokens are especially worth it as it makes the token shop a lot more accessible without having to watch videos.

The game is also still in development with constant new additions, new ships and new ways to grind even cells. The game goes incredibly deep and has gigantic potential to keep you busy for ages. Each play session may not be necessarily be very long, but the long term unlocks and features will keep you coming back for ages. It would be nice to see a little bit more connection between the arcade game and the main game, for example getting some tokens from it. It would also be nice to have a confirmation pop up before purchasing Zagreus as it can be quite easy to click on purchasing it, rather than saving it for later in the run.

Overall the game has an amazing amount of depth, the loop tech tree on its own will keep you hooked until you get all the upgrades, partner that with the increasingly expensive spaceships, each unlocking a new currency or way to grind makes this an absolute must play for any idle game fanatics out there.

Tips

  • Find the balance between short and long runs – in the beginning, before unlocking shard mining you may find yourself doing more short runs in order to accumulate more mod upgrades.
  • Each time you loop make sure you invest in mod point production – either through shortening ticks, increasing the MP production or reducing the tick requirement exponent.
  • Try to avoid getting the Zagreus on longer runs as other upgrades or things you may purchase may increase MP – the loop/MP accumulation process only begins when you purchase it. (Sometimes this is easier said than done as it’s quite easy to miss-click and purchase it)
  • Evolving your ships gives them a permanent boost that persists through loops.
  • In the early game use your level up points to increase the MP you get per loop.
  • You can also get MP upgrades in the diamond and coin shop – prioritise these.

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Pokémon Emerald Rogue ROM Hack

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The Game

Pok̩mon Emerald Rogue (developed by Pokabbie) is a ROM Hack that turns your favourite franchise into a roguelike. Similar to other familiar games in the genre you navigate routes making careful choices. On the procedurally generated routes you can encounter wild Pok̩mon with which to build your team, trainers and items. There are also several other types of location that you may encounter Рstrong trainers, who will give you one of their Pok̩mon if you beat them, Legendary or strong Pok̩mon encounters and market/shop locations (there are 3 types of shop Рmarket, battle items and a full rest stop which even has a heal).

At the end of each route and level you will encounter a mighty trainer Рbefore you beat the game once these will be specific to Hoenn, but after you beat the champion once you will unlock gym leaders and Elite 4 from more regions. Additionally after beating the champion you also unlock the national dex giving you access to Pok̩mon up to Gen 8! If you a Pok̩mon faints on a run it is gone forever and if you lose all your Pok̩mon the run ends. When the run ends you are returned to your HUB, which where you can purchase permanent bag items (TMs, potions, balls, berries, etc) Рas you complete more quests and runs the HUB will upgrade and offer you more options, for example the safari zone where you can catch a new starter to take on your next adventure.

There are several kind of adventure Рthe standard roguelike experience described, the gauntlet where you build a team then take on all trainers in one go at level 100, rainbow mode where gym leaders can have any type of Pok̩mon. Each of these can be played as both single or double battles, giving you a great deal of replay value. Every time you complete a run you earn cash to spend in your HUB which will allow you to do better in your next run, there are also numerous quests that will permanently improve the HUB or give you access to new items, berries or rare candies.

Worth it?

As with all ROM Hacks this game is 100% free. The amazing community and passionate fans of Pokémon deserve so much more than they expect. Personally I play this on my phone using a GBA emulator (My Boy!), the premium version of which will cost you around £5, but will let you play any ROM you want, so definitely worth the investment (there is also a free lite version). If you are playing on PC then there are even more free options for you to explore.

The game itself is brilliantly challenging and while you can cheat a bit with save states on the emulator it is worth experiencing it for it’s true brutal self. For those who enjoy nuzlocks and even those who don’t it is a very rewarding experience. Having Pokémon and moves all the way up to Gen 8 gives this game a huge amount of depth. A great offline mobile or PC game that will tickle your Pokémon nostalgia while also satisfying your itch for roguelikes, deep strategy and a good challenge.

Tips

  • There are 3 types of route – CALM, AVERAGE and TOUGH – the tougher the route the more trainers and items there will be.
  • The second word describing routes refers to the type of Pokémon you can find on it.
  • One of the houses in the HUB will allow you to customise the config for your runs – allowing you to enable different Pokedexes or gym leaders/elite four.
  • Make sure you fight the challenger before each gym leader – they will quickly bring you to the level cap.
  • Try to avoid fights on routes as they could potentially kill one of your Pokémon.
  • You can use rare candies to over level before gym leaders.
  • By pressing “A” on the page with a Pokémon’s Stats will show you it’s IVs and EVs.
  • Anything you buy in the HUB you can carry into your next run, which is very useful with items like Leftovers

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Rogue Adventure: Roguelike RPG

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The Game

Rogue Adventure: Roguelike RPG is an Android game developed by SharkLab Mobile. While the graphics may come across as quite basic or unassuming, don’t be fooled by this incredibly deep roguelike. The game follows much of the standard roguelike elements and a huge variety of playable classes and cards to unlock. Each run sees you take on 5 levels followed by a secret boss level. Occasionally you will also find hidden boss levels within normal ones.

Currently there are 3 ways to play the game – Classic, Hell or Void. Classic is a standard run through of the game, after you complete it with a class you can then start attempting Inferno levels – these make enemies stronger and give you more starting gold. Hell mode gives you less rewards, doesn’t recover health after a boss, enemy damage increases every 5 turns, trap rooms and more. Void is basically a quicker and simplified map with a random deck. Inferno levels are available for all modes after you complete a run.

The game has an incredible 13 classes to choose from, each unlocked by completing runs with other classes and each with it’s unique traits, abilities and cards. Each class also has 3 class bonuses that can be unlocked by completing other types of run (most often you are required to beat each mode at Inferno 2 to unlock an ability). The classes range from traditional ones like Warrior and Wizard to slightly more obscure ones like Pirate, Rune master and Warden.

Worth it?

While the game does offer ads for additional cash or EXP, the ads are entirely optional and non-intrusive. Purchasing the ad removal is a touch on the expensive side – £8.49, but this does allow you to get a free gold chest in every market room and is also a great way to support the developers.

Overall the game is great for any rogue-like fans out there, it’s a great mobile game both as a free to play and a paid game. The amount of characters and unlockables will also keep you coming back for more giving the game decent replay value. The game is also fully functional offline and quite efficient in terms of battery usage. It would be nice to see the game come to iOS as well.

Tips

  • Overcharging and additional mana are key to really buffing your stats in a fight.
  • Quest cards can be quite useful when upgraded to the max.
  • You can purchase skills from the shops, try do so every time you visit one.
  • Keep your deck lean and focus on cards that synergise well with your other cards and class
  • Avoid fights where possible.
  • Learn enemy attach patterns, try to armor up if you know they will attack and watch out for special moves or abilities.

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Forager

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The Game

Forager is a survival crafting game developed by HopFrog in which you start out on a single island with nothing but a pickaxe and a desire to “forage” everything around you. You start out simple – focusing on trees, rocks and berries. Gradually you expand your operations to include idle fish traps that will catch fish for you and eventually a smelter and the first crafting elements. The game allows you to expand by buying new islands adjacent to yours. As you expand you will find new materials and ways to upgrade your gear or build new machines to help you. As you establish yourself you can automate certain tasks and set your smelters or factories to constantly produce the materials that you need.

Every time you hit something you expend your energy, you can regain it by eating. Similarly, you start out with 3 hearts/health, if you get hit by an enemy that can drop to 2, certain foods will help replenish hearts. As you unlock islands you come across various puzzles and dungeons which will reward you with resources and ways to increase your health, damage or energy. Every time you level up you are also given a chance to spend your skill points on new skills. There are 4 main areas to spend your skills in, which are also the 4 main building types – industrial, farming, economic and magic.

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Worth it?

The game is free on PS Plus Premium and also available via Xbox Gamepass, on Steam you can get it for around £15, but it’s frequently on sale for around £5. Overall that price seems fair – it’s a great little game, brilliantly simply with quite a bit of depth and very easy to get sucked into and lose hours. Once you get multiple machines and automation running the game is almost musical in its constant sound effects, it also has some great puzzles that are just the right amount of challenging. My single biggest issue with the game is that it seems that some of the trophies are broken on PlayStation (and possibly elsewhere) and it’s been a known issue for a while. It would be a great game to 100% but not getting that achievement really stung and killed the joy of it for me. It’s also worth mentioning that Forager multiplayer was in development but was canned due to some controversy around how the creator treated his team.

Overall Forager is a great game that will make time fly and keep you hooked for at least 10-20 hours while you complete the majority of it. The simple graphics and musical sound effects make it a great experience.

Tips

  • You can get void items by building a void portal from the sigil maker, unlocked via the magic skill tree
  • Build multiples of your industrial buildings and split stacks across them in order to get materials faster
  • Buy sigils from the markets in the late game as a way to quickly grind bosses
  • Don’t bother with the pet skill until later – it just gives you a pet, nothing more
  • Most quest lines require a rare item that can be found by digging in dig spots (small holes in the ground), which randomly spawn on uncovered ground
  • Geology is a very useful early skill to target in order to improve your coal production
  • Vaults and Banks can also be useful early game in order to store items and generate passive income
  • Combine quarries with mining lasers to automate the workflow
  • Magic is useful early game as it will add fairies to the world which can instantly replenish your hearts and energy
  • Dump your inventory at the museum

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Peglin

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The Game

Peglin by Red Nexus Games is a rogulike take on the classic pachinko game Peggle. The game is available on Android and PC and will challenge you to take on a familiar style of roguelike, especially for those familiar with games like Slay the Spire, Card Guardians or Dicey Elementalist. There are 3 main levels in which the player makes a series of choices deciding whether to take on an enemy, an elite, random events, treasure chests or shops. At the end of each level is a boss, stronger than anything you’ll have faced so far in the level.

Unlike most card-based roguelike games the main thing you are collecting and powering up are the balls (orbs) you use. There’s a variety of orbs, powers and synergies to work with and build around, there’s also a huge variety of relics to find by battling elites, bosses and opening chests. Similarly to other such games you can collect a lot of relics that will allow you make some truly unstoppable builds.

Worth it?

The game is available on both PC (£15.49) and mobile, however it’s significantly cheaper on mobile (£6.99). While the actual gameplay experience is better on PC the game works quite well on mobile. It is quite an expensive game when you consider most other android games, but there’s a try before you buy section which is essentially the first act. While as a demo it’s not a lot to get stuck into, as a full game there’s a reasonable amount of replay value. There are a total of 3 characters to play, two of which you have to unlock by making either a Bullwark or Spinfection build.

Overall the game is a unique take on very familiar roguelike mechanics. The underlying pachinko game provides a different and more random take than the more traditional card approach to such games. It also adds a degree of unpredictability when navigating the map between fights. The pixel art works very nicely too. While it comes with a premium price tag for mobile and forces to you to play in landscape it is a decent offline game that will keep you busy for extended playing sessions – interrupting/closing your game may reset you to the start of the current room, but other than that it’s worth checking out for anyone who loves a good roguelike.

Tips

  • Aim to fight as many of the elites (skull and crossbones) as you can per act as they drop better relics than.
  • Try to synergise the orbs that you collect.
  • Swoltorb (upgrades every peg it hits) works quite well with most builds.
  • Poltorbgeist and Matryorbshka are also noteable strong orbs worth adding to your build.
  • Ball Lightning (hits nearby pegs) works well will Swoltorb and can be very useful late game.
  • Try to ensure you have a way to do AoE damage – either through bombs or some sort of orb (pierce for example).

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High Rise

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The Game

High Rise is a minimalist merge puzzle game by smpl Games. The concept of the game is very simple – place coloured blocks on a grid, place 2 same size blocks next to each other and they’ll merge. Keep placing blocks around the merged ones and they’ll keep merging provided the number of surrounding blocks matches the height of the already merged block. Sometimes you will get 2 high blocks with 2 different colours so you have to be even more strategic with where you place them. The game offers a variety of grid sizes to play in with the smallest being a 3×3 and the largest being a 7×7. There are also a variety of colours to play in and the largest setting allows a zen mode. The game is lost when you have filled all possible positions and no more merges are possible.

Worth it?

The game is very aesthetic and beautifully simple. It also includes a “pay as much as you want” option to purchase which is a nice touch. The ads aren’t overly intrusive on the free version, but for as little as £1.99 you can support the developers and purchase this great time killing game. It’s a perfect fit for portrait mode and works well offline as well. It’s a great game for short stints when you need to kill 5-10 minutes or if you want a slightly longer session you can play on the 7×7 grid. It’s a very relaxing and quite addictive concept and definitely worth checking out.

Tips

  • Avoid placing blocks in the middle early on
  • Plan ahead and think about how you can chain a merge
  • Keep blocks of the same colour in the same area of the grid – avoiding mixing too many colours in close proximity
  • When given the option to remove buildings prioritise tall buildings or ones blocking you from making a merge

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VampireSurvivors

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The Game

VampireSurvivors developed by Poncle is a roguelike bullet hell survival type game for mobile, PC and Xbox. Similarly to a lot of the other such games you try and survive against endless waves of enemies (well around 30 minutes of them) and you collect and upgrade various weapons and equipment as you do so. Get a specific weapon and it’s corresponding piece of equipment and you can upgrade the weapon to an ultimate version. There are 5 main levels and as many bonus/challenge ones. As you play the game you can find and rescue other survivors which become characters you can play with. Each character starts out with a specific weapon but will be able to acquire other weapons as they level up.

In each level you can collect gold coins, these will let you get upgrades that apply to all levels and characters. As you work your way through the achievements list more and more of the game will be unlocked. You will find new characters, new weapons with new ultimate versions, new levels and challenges.

colourful bullet hell image with swarms of enemies
colourful bullet hell image with swarms of enemies
colourful bullet hell image with swarms of enemies
colourful bullet hell image with swarms of enemies
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colourful bullet hell image with swarms of enemies
loot box opening and awarding prizes
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character selection screen

Worth it?

A simple but effective survival bullet-hell game with some really fun and well hidden surprises. There is also a good deal of humour in the naming of weapons and items (like the Candelabrador candelabra). The game is free on mobile and also ad-free (unless you want an additional life when you die). On PC it will set you back around £3.99 and there some DLC which will give you access to new levels and characters.

The collection of characters and the methods by which you unlock them are quite addictive and make you want to try each and every one of them out. The sheer amount of items there are to unlock – from game modes to weapons and additional features give the game a great amount of replay value. Each level usually lasts around 30 mins, which is a touch on the long side and sometimes the game might not save your progress if you close the app if you’ve had to do something else. However, the game works perfectly in offline and also in portrait, making it perfect for time killing. Overall if you’re a fan of bullet-hell survival games then this is a great one to add to your collection.

Tips

  • Learn the weapon evolutions and collect items/weapons accordingly.
  • Destroy torches and braziers for food and coins.
  • Upgrade your permanent upgrades using coins.
  • Some levels will have items on the floor, use these to get your ultimate weapon upgrades right.
  • Find the Milky Way Map in order to unlock the pause menu map which will show you the locations of items in the level.
  • In order to get to the coffin in Gallo Tower, look out for a glowing mirror on the left side of the level (around the area where the arrow points you to) that will get you through to a small room where the coffin is.

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Life in Adventure

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The Game

Life in Adventure is a text based D&D RPG fantasy game by StudioWheel available for mobile. The game uses familiar D&D mechanics and delivers an experience with a surprising amount of depth and good storytelling. You start out with a randomised character (in the free version) as a person who is tired of their boring day to day life and set on becoming a famous adventurer. You progress through random encounters, each with a detailed description and a variety of options – some encounters spanning several pages or even in several non consecutive parts.

Each encounter will test your skills (through dice rolls and RNG) and you may come out victorious and stronger or you may lose health and sanity. Lose all your health or sanity and the adventure is over. You will also gain EXP and find better loot and equipment as you adventure through the world. Survive for long enough and you will become a renowned adventurer and essentially win the game. There are 4 types of starting equipment – Fighter, Ranger, Wizard and Warlock, but you can build your character however you see fit depending on your stats. Character stats are standard D&D ones such a strength, dexterity, intellect, charisma, constitution and wisdom.

Worth it?

The game can be played completely for free, but there is also an Adventurer’s Guild premium option which will set you back £3.99, the main advantages of this option are the ability to customise your new adventurers, a free dice reroll and the ability to speed up or skip fights. A lot of these perks can also be purchased using in game premium currency (gems). The game is quite generous with giving out gems which you can also spend on new encounters, background stories and storylines and traits. The premium option isn’t needed, however it’s a nice way to support the developers and also helps speed up the gameplay. Overall I’d recommend it for any D&D or text based fans out there looking for that nostalgia factor, the game plays in portrait mode making it ideal for mobile.

Tips

  • For detailed in-game tips and info check out the comprehensive guide linked below.
  • Avoid battles (especially early game) – trying options that will get you out of combat and events can still give you EXP.
  • Items like Rope, Lantern, Pickaxe and similar are very useful – hold onto them as you may need them in your adventure.
  • If you are Very Superior to an enemy or better you can skip the dice roll to get a 10 and avoid a critical fail or rolling less than 10.

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Isle of Arrows

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The Game

Isle of Arrows developed by Gridpop is a card based tower defence game made by a single developer. The game presents a fairly simple concept of randomised cards that allow you to place new paths or towers onto your island (also randomised each game) and defend against the incoming waves of enemies. There are 5 different classes that can be played, each with different abilities or lack thereof. Aesthetically it’s a pleasing simple low poly and pastel colour palette.

Between each wave you are presented with a new free card to place and can purchase more additional cards for an extra 2 gold. Some cards will have water tiles attached which require some forethought and strategy when being placed as removing them isn’t always easy. There are also random events and relics that can help or hinder you as you progress through the game. As you build up your reserve of cash, every 10 gold, you will earn an extra 1 gold per wave (ie if you have 10 gold, you will get +2 each wave, if you have 30+ gold you will get +4 each wave). There are 3 main game modes to play: Campaign which features 4 main areas, Gauntlet which presents increasing difficulty and challenges and a daily defence challenge.

Worth it?

Isle of Arrows is both an an aesthetically pleasing and beautifully simple game with a good amount of depth and some potential for further development and features. The PC version will set you back around £10, whereas the mobile version is around £5. The game has a few core levels and the gauntlet and daily challenge give some additional gameplay options after you’ve completed those – it would be nice to see even more cards and areas added in the future. Some more customisable game modes would also be interesting, for example custom card/event/relic selection or increased random event frequency. There is a slight issue when trying place paths that may end in a solid block (or blowing them up with bombs).

Overall the game is nicely balanced, providing a good challenge while also remaining fun and interesting. There’s a good deal of gameplay to get stuck into, the game can be played offline and in portrait – making it a perfect mobile game and definitely worth

Tips

  • Try not too spend too much money until you reach around 30 gold, then you can spend each turn provided you don’t dip under 30 gold, so you can ensure you’re getting +4 gold per turn.
  • Think about where you’re placing towers and paths and how they’ll be affected in by future cards.
  • When you get a 2nd or 3rd spawn point added, you can get away for 1-2 waves before you need to add more towers or paths to them – just ensure you don’t overinvest in them, but also be weary of leaving them unprotected – in an ideal scenario you want them to come close to your existing towers and paths.
  • Try and place traps on corners where they can hit at least 2 paths, likewise try and maximise the number of paths that each tower hits.
  • High ground can be very useful with most towers to increase their hit areas.
  • Not all cards are worth placing – gardens or cards with water tiles can make the late game quite difficult if you don’t have enough bombs to remove them.

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Townscaper

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The Game

Townscaper is a city building game like no other, made by developer Oskar St̴lberg (creator of Bad North as well). The game allows you to build a procedurally generated city. The game is set on a warped grid allowing for some interesting curves and narrow streets as you build your city. The building process itself is also remarkably simple Рjust tap to add a block, short hold to remove one and long hold to change its colours. The rest is all up to you. There is no objective, pressure or complexity to the game just an open sandbox for you to create your colourful (or monochrome) island city. As you add different pieces existing ones will change leaving behind houses, terraces, gardens and all sorts of little details to discover. You can choose from 15 beautiful pastel colours spanning the colours of the rainbow and make some truly fantastic creations.

Worth it?

Generally speaking, the game will set you back around £4.99 which can seem a little bit steep for what’s essentially a city painting app. However, when you observe the detail and appreciate the effort that has gone into the game you appreciate it more and more. It is a great mobile game and perfect time killer. You can spend hours perfecting and tinkering with your city and 5 mins can quickly turn into 20-30. The decision not complicate the game with actual “gameplay” like resources and management does leave you with a slight sense of longing, but equally helps it preserve its truly zen vibe which will leave you feeling relaxed. It would be interesting to see this with different architectural styles, colour pallets, vibes and building variations – for example a spooky abandoned building or medieval castle. The concept feels like it has infinite potential. If you can get it on sale you can save around 15-20% on it, but either way it’s money worth spent for the zen garden that Townscaper is.

Tips

  • Tap to add block, short hold to delete a block, long hold to change colour to the currently selected one.
  • You can turn on the grid to see what certain positions may look like – look out for the ones that form the centre of certain warps.
  • If you don’t interact with the screen for a bit the UI will hide (if you have the toggle on).
  • Check night mode and mess around with the position of the sun.
  • You can make a lighthouse by building a standalone tower of 3 or more blocks.
  • You can make grassy areas by surrounding an area with houses and having the middle free, do so with different colour houses and you will get some nice walls and fences within the green area.

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