As a person who loves reading books and owns a decent collection, Neoludic Games’ Tiny Bookshop caught my attention immediately. After all, it’s always nice to live your hobbies in a video game. Books can go deep, so the depth of gameplay is essentially important in a cozy game that focuses on them If a game also manages to set the comfy vibes and environment, then it gets even better.
Tiny Bookshop starts off with a short cutscene, in which the player character sets off with their tiny mobile book shop. You are going to set it up in a town by the sea. I found this premise fun and creative, as you don’t just settle in one place. Rather, you would take your book shop to several places in the town. This isn’t merely an empty feature with no substance or value; the different places you visit actually matter, as you meet several new characters in each of them. They all have various preferences as well, which you must cater to. You can visit several aesthetic areas suitable for reading books, such as a cafe, a beach, and a supermarket. And you will unlock more as you make progress.
Before you open your shop for business, there are a few things to set up. First, you need to stock up on some books, or you can’t really sell anything. Secondly, you also work on decorating your tiny store. To stock up on books, you will find various packages in the shop menu which each hold a random collection of books. though you can generally guess what genre they mostly contain by reading the label and description. This slightly turned me off at first, as I would have preferred to buy individual books. However, the game rectifies this in the actual gameplay when you will be selling these books.
There are several genres, including drama, crime, classic, fact, fantasy, kids, and world. This assortment works well considering the management aspect of the gameplay. You will need to make sure you have a well-balanced stock of books. However, you also need to consider the place you are going to be selling these, as your audience might not appreciate some genres.
Customers then visit your tiny book shop and, for the most part they will purchase whatever intrigues them automatically. The more stock of a specific genre you have, the more likely they are to find what they like. So, here you will need to show off your management skills. The mechanics are fairly simple, which feels just right considering that it’s intended to be a cozy game; you definitely don’t want to pull your hair out while playing a game made to relax you.
Tiny Bookshop might feel really idle, but it’s actually not. Often, the customers will ask you to recommend a particular book. They will explain to you what they want, and you need to suggest something from your bookshelf. To do that, you will need to carefully check what the customer needs and read the descriptions of several books to recommend what they want. This can be tricky at first, as several genres have elements that mix in with each other. You first need to guess the correct genre they want, and then focus on the minimal aspects of the description. When you complete this, you get a bonus which improves your sales. Some tasks are more difficult than others, and you might fail them until you get more used to them. This mechanic is easier for people who are more familiar with books.
There are other ways that Tiny Bookshop tries to keep you busy during your shifts. The environment is very interactive. So, you can complete a few quests from the NPCs and collect stamps. You will also eventually get to know more about some specific characters and their preferences better.
The places where you sell books are well designed, but you also need to work on how visually appealing your tiny bookshop is. You can make it look fabulous and set up an excellent reading environment by placing some plants or hanging them outside. You will also find edgier decoration items if that’s your preference, such as a skull. These aren’t merely for show, as they give you bonuses which help in selling particular genres well. You can get these items for cheap if you purchase from the flea market, which is held once a week.
Overall, Tiny Bookshop met almost every expectation that I had from a cozy management game about selling books. The mechanics are polished and thought out well. It balances the depth of gameplay and the comfy vibes well. There is a good focus on the art of selling books, which was a strong highlight in the game.
Rabiya reviewed Tiny Bookshop on PC with a provided review copy.
