There’s a lovely rhythm to cozy life sims. The digital days cross, stuffed with chores of tending crops or operating a enterprise, punctuated by unusual mysteries or evolving relationships. At their greatest, these video games merge busywork with exploration and storytelling, in a method that makes them exhausting to step away from. Discounty, from developer Crinkle Reduce Video games, applies this concept to operating a small-town grocery store. And whereas in some ways it could actually nonetheless be thought-about “cozy” like its contemporaries, it additionally comes with a little bit of chunk.
As a substitute of beginning up your individual enterprise from scratch, Discounty has you taking on a grocery franchise out of your cranky aunt in a small city that has seen higher days. It’s a wierd place; essentially the most well-known resident is the inventor of the keyring, and elements of the encompassing woods have been closed off for security causes. But it surely’s nonetheless pleasant and comforting in the way in which small cities are, with a handful of residents who you’re actually in a position to get to know over the course of the sport. There’s additionally loads of drama.
Really operating the shop is your essential job. From open to shut, you’re the solely worker, so it’s a must to cope with every little thing from managing the money register — which entails, gasp, doing math — and conserving the cabinets stocked so nobody complains there’s no espresso or shampoo. However you additionally deal with all of the behind-the-scenes work: ordering new merchandise, organizing the storage space, throwing out the trash, even negotiating with native distributors for contemporary fish and produce. This a part of the sport is satisfying as a result of it requires you to deal with what’s instantly in entrance of you (a bunch of choosy clients) whereas additionally planning and strategizing for the long run.
As you progress, your store will broaden each when it comes to what you’ll be able to promote and its bodily dimension, which in flip makes the core gameplay loop extra advanced and difficult. As a way to transfer issues ahead, although, you’ll need to get entangled with the townsfolk. Working with native distributors normally means doing them some form of favor, whether or not it’s discovering some misplaced sheep or stocking gross Christmas-themed fish sticks. This will pull you down every kind of narrative rabbit holes.
What’s most attention-grabbing about Discounty’s story is the way it explores plenty of real-world points in its in any other case cozy and foolish world. For starters, not everyone seems to be glad a few large chain transferring into city. After I lastly expanded my store’s footprint, normally a second to have fun in these sorts of video games, everybody was mad as a result of I did it by taking on an adjoining tea store. The cafe had been shut down for years, however everybody nonetheless considered it as an necessary a part of the material of the group, and I used to be dismantling that.
Generally succeeding within the recreation isn’t truly good for the city itself. And whereas these threads usually disguise their darker edge behind humor — to be able to get a development allow, I had to assist a metropolis clerk eliminate environmental influence studies — Discounty is surprisingly sharp with its commentary, even when it by no means goes particularly exhausting at any of its targets.
That combination of satisfying gameplay and a narrative that’s each relatable and genuinely humorous is what makes Discounty work so properly. It’s not an escape to an idyllic farm or mountain getaway. It’s you doing a job that’s exhausting and never at all times fairly, whereas making an attempt to make the very best of issues. Most of us know simply what that’s like.
Discounty is on the market now on the Swap, PlayStation, Xbox, and PC.