Incremental games are extremely simple and after a while they basically play themselves. A ton of these games have been released in the past five years, but the one that get its right the most is “Trimps.”

When a game of “Trimps” begins the player will gather food and wood and then start using Trimps to do all the work for them. As time goes on, the player builds different facilities to be able to hold more resources, house more Trimps and train their Trimps to fight. There’s also upgrades that increase the Trimps’ gathering speed. Like most incremental games there’s no real goal other than to see the number of resources go higher.

“Trimps” is a callback to the days of text-games like Zork. Since the game doesn’t have any actual graphics, its up to the player’s imagination to determine what the game’s world looks like. The only information we’re given on the Trimps themselves is that they’re “impish” creatures. It sounds kind of dumb, but it was fun imagining what the game looked like after a few hours of putting hundreds of Trimps to work and sending them out by the dozens to fight large creatures. The lack of visuals actually helps the experience since it lets the player focus on the real meat of the game.

There’s a surprising amount of depth found in “Trimps” as well. Dedicated players will eventually find rare resources like helium and will use it to unlock challenges. Completing these challenges will unlock special perks that give your Trimps some type of bonus. At the same time, a player can choose to play the game very casually as a time-sink.

There’s something about this game that makes it oddly relaxing. Even when the player isn’t actively on the game, everything is still moving forward. The player is able to check in every once in a while, build some stuff, get some upgrades and then leave the game alone until later. It’s the perfect game for killing time in between classes or in any situation where you have to wait around. “Trimps” also won’t pressure you into buying bonuses with real money so going back to it never feels like a chore.

The biggest problem with “Trimps” is that there’s no real mobile version. The game can be played on smartphones but only through a web browser. It makes the experience a little harder to navigate. Overall it’s the same game and it works fine on phones. Another problem is that the game has a very slow period in between the first couple of hours when the player first unlocks challenges.

“Trimps” is a game that I recommend to anyone that has played a smartphone game to waste some time. I’d also recommend it to anyone who finds joy in seeing numbers go up exponentially. It’s an easy game to get hooked on and an even easier game to start playing. However, the lack of a true mobile version and the slow, unexciting parts are a barrier keeping a lot of players from getting the most of “Trimps”. Those two factors earn “Trimps” four stars.

[Final Score: 4/5]

Ulises Duenas can be reached at [email protected] or @OrionUlisesD on Twitter.