There’s a lovely rhythm to cozy life sims. The digital days move, full of chores of tending crops or operating a enterprise, punctuated by unusual mysteries or evolving relationships. At their finest, these video games merge busywork with exploration and storytelling, in a method that makes them onerous 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 might nonetheless be thought-about “cozy” like its contemporaries, it additionally comes with a little bit of chunk.
As an alternative of beginning up your personal enterprise from scratch, Discounty has you taking up a grocery franchise out of your cranky aunt in a small city that has seen higher days. It’s an odd place; essentially the most well-known resident is the inventor of the keyring, and components of the encompassing woods have been closed off for security causes. However it’s nonetheless pleasant and comforting in the best way small cities are, with a handful of residents who you’re actually capable of get to know over the course of the sport. There’s additionally loads of drama.
Truly operating the shop is your important job. From open to shut, you’re the solely worker, so it’s important to take care of the whole lot from managing the money register — which entails, gasp, doing math — and retaining 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 recent 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 longer term.
As you progress, your store will broaden each when it comes to what you possibly can promote and its bodily measurement, which in flip makes the core gameplay loop extra advanced and difficult. So as to transfer issues ahead, although, you’ll need to become involved 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 could pull you down all types of narrative rabbit holes.
What’s most fascinating about Discounty’s story is the way it explores a lot of real-world points in its in any other case cozy and foolish world. For starters, not everyone seems to be completely satisfied a few huge chain transferring into city. Once 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 up an adjoining tea store. The cafe had been shut down for years, however everybody nonetheless considered it as an essential a part of the material of the group, and I used to be dismantling that.
Generally succeeding within the sport isn’t truly good for the city itself. And whereas these threads usually disguise their darker edge behind humor — with a view to get a development allow, I had to assist a metropolis clerk eliminate environmental affect reviews — Discounty is surprisingly sharp with its commentary, even when it by no means goes particularly onerous 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 onerous and never all the time fairly, whereas making an attempt to make one of the best of issues. Most of us know simply what that’s like.
Discounty is accessible now on the Change, PlayStation, Xbox, and PC.
