Setting your alarm so you can sit in rush hour traffic to spend your whole day in back-to-back meetings that could have been emails. To then repeat the commute in the opposite direction to get back to a cramped apartment, surrounded by noisy neighbours, where, between chores and other commitments, you maybe have one hour for yourself before bed, when you set your alarm for the next day.
And repeat.
What city dweller hasn’t dreamed of packing it all in and moving to the countryside… or coast in the case of upcoming PC game Tiny Bookshop? This cosy management sim, the debut release from German studio neoludic games, with the backing of publisher Skystone Games, lets players leave it all behind and live out their dream of running a mobile second-hand bookshop in the idyllic seaside town of Bookstonbury. You pick your picturesque spot for the day, stock your shelves, decorate your trailer with found and gifted items, and interact with the community, learning about the quirky locals and shaping their lives as you become one of them.
Tiny Bookshop is supreme wish fulfilment for book-loving rat racers, BUT it’s much more than a simple mental escape with charming hand-drawn visuals. Much more! Getting hands on with the demo has revealed a surprising amount of gameplay depth that sucks you in and keeps you engaged. Tiny Bookshop may be classified as a casual game, and it’s definitely laid-back, but it’s not exactly easy at times. That said, it offers a pitch-perfect sense of challenge once you come to terms with its multiple mechanics.
Basically a bookstore simulator, Tiny Bookshop features a healthy serving of reality. You’re still running a business after all, and that means keeping an eye on your funds to cover new purchases and everyday expenses like petrol, parking and trailer maintenance. It’s easy to fret over customer satisfaction as they wander into your store over the course of a day, sometimes asking for recommendations from a list of real-life reading options. Just as often you feel gratification when you score a deal on boxes of second-hand books, and other goods, advertised in the local newspaper.
There are multiple factors at play in Tiny Bookstore. What titles you stock, the relationships you form, even the visual theme your store adopts, will all provide “buffs” in certain directions, attracting some consumers and repelling others. Weather for the day (keep an eye on the paper again) will impact foot traffic, just as your chosen location in town will affect sales. For example, waterfront folk have different reading tastes to patrons of the local café, so ensure you have enough of their preferred genre on the shelves before opening your door and shutters for the day.
A good chunk of Tiny Bookshop is knowing your customers, and there’s a strong sense that neoludic games know theirs: players who appreciate something more cerebral from their casual games.
Although it has yet to have an announced release date (the game was unveiled as part of last year’s Wholesome Direct), I’m already confident in saying that Tiny Bookshop will be a day one purchase for me. Wishlist the game on Steam now.