Keep your tenants happy in pleasing free-to-play iOS city management game PixelMogul

I've had to put Malcolm's rent down three times today.

I've got to keep him happy. I can't help but feel, though, that he's using my sympathy for him to keep a few coins in his pocket.

I've already got him a cat, renovated his apartment, and bought him a house cleaning robot. He's starting to take the mickey.

In truth, I was surprised by the focus on people over buildings in PixelMogul.

It's a free-to-play real estate tycoon and city building iOS game. Other games of its type treat people like ants, you see. As if they're just workers. Without needs and wants.

PixelMogul is almost the complete opposite. Your goal here is to own as many buildings in the city as you can. To do that, though, you'll need to ensure all of your tenants are kept happy and paying rent.

This means listening to what they want and making amendments as necessary. As ever, life starts off easily enough. As you level-up and acquire more money, however, you'll be managing an entire population and erecting fancy buildings.

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I found PixelMogul to be a pleasant surprise, then. Even its IAPs are reasonable and not shoved down your throat.

The only issue I did find is that the buttons on the screen seem to be a little too small. There's certainly room to make them bigger, for they feel like they were designed for a 23-inch PC monitor, rather than a tablet or mobile.

Other than that, PixelMogul is an engaging casual city and people management game with plenty of content to keep you busy.

You can download it from the App Store right now for free.