Time Management games are usually about completing repetitive tasks very quickly and getting star awards to open up new levels. If you removed that time pressure and focused on pure cuteness – that’s what Capybara Spa brings.
Firstly, lets get the big marmite gameplay issue out the way first. There are zero consequences for playing poorly. This is a game built around what I often see called “mobile busy work”. You’ll be grabbing animals, plopping them in spas and then feeding them fruit and veg to keep them happy until they’re clean and ready to go. You can go as fast or as slow as you want, it doesn’t matter. There’s no penalty to just leaving animals chilling in the spa. As a result, its down to your own want and need to unlock things through XP gained by completing tasks to progress the game.
Capybara are quite happy to sit in any old spa although they can be upgraded to fit in baby capybara, ducks, frogs and a few other animals. Doing this means they’ll pay you more when they are finished cleaning up. Whilst soaking they may want feeding from certain fruits or veg. You pluck them off their vines and feed the animals and the time lag is how long the food takes to regrow. Again, this is upgradeable three times too. Oddly, nothing ever asks for food or flowers you have in your inventory but haven’t planted yet. You cannot get stuck. Later on you can add a washline and a soap machine. The soap machine requires petals to make a scent but again no one cares what scent the soap is, just that it is soapy.
Usually this kind of ease would be a turn off but Capybara Spa keeps you going with new animals, fruit, veg, spa types and then animals to help you out in quick succession. Every 5 or 10 minutes you’ll be levelling up, earning coins to buy more land to do more and exponentially making more things happen at once. For many, this might not be enough of a pull but I found myself 3 hours in, still enjoying myself and reaching the high end of the level cap. It was at that point, when I’d see everything, I had no desire to keep going and paused playing the game for now.
Essentially, this a chilled out cute management clicker. The management is non-existent. Decorations are nice but do nothing gameplay wise (although they block your view from the thought bubbles that tell you what an animal wants). Yet I was still enjoying that brain disconnection and outward sigh of relaxation the game brings. It is very niche though. If you enjoyed games like Plantera or maybe something mindless like Loot Hero DX, you’ll love this. Everyone else will likely wonder what the long term appeal is though!
For me, Capybara Spa is a great example of games to relax to when wanting to achieve a calm state of mind.
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