Tiny Bookshop Review (Switch) – A Wanderlust Novella
The term ‘cosy game’ gets thrown around a lot in recent times. There’s an entire corner of the games industry dedicated to this genre, and whilst some explode (Unpacking, A Little To The Left etc…), others are perhaps so cosy that they’re happy just to simply coexist amongst its mainstream straddling relatives. Tiny Book Shop is somewhere in the middle, with a respectable following on Steam, this ‘cosy shop sim’ has found its audience, and is now moving to Nintendo Switch to grab a bigger piece of the pie. And why shouldn’t it?
I say ‘cosy shop sim’ because that’s exactly what I feel this is. Whilst there are plenty of ‘simulators’ on Steam (seriously, just type it in and you’ll find games for jobs you may not believe are actually real), Tiny Bookshop takes you out of the big store concept and instead gives you a mobile bookshop to look after, giving it life with accessories – of which will help or hinder your book sales depending on if they’re visible – and colour, touring around a quaint little seaside town with no real mission other than to sell books to the locals. It’s a brilliantly simple idea, and it’s executed marvellously.
The concept is a straightforward one, and one that gave me quite the wanderlust of just packing it all in and going to a little town to sell books. It’s up to you to keep the shop stocked with popular genres, chat to the locals and chip in if they need a little help every now and then. You’re tasked with taking on tiny missions depending on where in the town you rock up with your little bookshop whilst keeping an eye on trending books and making sure you have enough of a variety to appeal to whoever is coming in.
The world of this little seaside town is weirdly recognisable, for me anyway. Growing up in Somerset I was a stone’s throw away from a town like this at all times, so the familiarity of the surroundings made me feel, well, cosy. I started to wonder how many tiny bookshops in real life I’ve strolled past or had a look in and it connected me with my protagonist fairly quickly. I was surely envious of her seemingly simplistic existence.
Stocking up the books is all well and good but you’re also going to need to know a little bit about them to sell them to curious locals. A cool aspect of the game is that it includes real life books to share with the town, ranging from Shakespeare and The Odyssey to Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings and more modern sensations like A Court of Thorns and Roses. If you’re a book nerd there’s every chance you’ve already piqued an interest in this game, but it certainly helped having a book nerd for a fiance sitting by my side as I played letting me know what the popular books are these days.
You need to have at elast a base knowledge of books as locals will ask you for recommendations. They’ll give you parameters to work with – ‘I want a scary story that’s over 500 pages’, for example, and it’s up to you to go through the books you currently have on display to find their perfect next read. At times it’s fairly simple, you can thrown them Red Dragon perhaps or Codename Villanelle if they’re after a scary story, or maybe a travel book or a classic. Are they wanting to read a book by a female author specifically? The parameters will naturally vary per customer but it’s by far the most fun aspect of Tiny Bookshop, and it feels terribly rewarding when they’re happy with your recommendation.
Thankfully if you recommend a book and the customer isn’t into it, there is no penalty of any kind, you just kinda move on knowing you’ve disappointed someone who came along today. The cosiness of Tiny Bookshop is there’s no real way to fail or to lose, you just have to keep it moving to get through the sweet story of your own you’ve found yourself in. There’s also a really nice side story with a typewriter that I was deeply invested in. As with most who are deeply interested in books, your protagonist has her own novel brewing in the background, adding a nice layer of a separate goal to reach in the game. Gosh this game is cosy.
Tiny Bookshop lives or dies on its central relationships between yourself and the locals though, and there are plenty rooting for you in the background (including the local paper), and you’ll see regular customers return and return after they’ve finished their books. It’s just all very sweet, laid back and charming. The locals are big fans of yours and want you to succeed, supporting you throughout. Well, most of them. *cough*
The Switch version obviously allows you to take it on the road, so you can open your own tiny bookshop whilst playing Tiny Bookshop, if you like. I’ve been playing on Switch 2 – through Switch 1 backwards compatibility, there isn’t a native Switch 2 version of the game yet – and it’s been running like a dream. It’s clearly designed for mouse and keyboard but the controls are simple and ported over well.
The best of the ‘cosy sim’ genre games allow you an escape. A peaceful look into a world that probably isn’t so far from your own, but the dream is alive and you get to walk through it at your own pace. The aforementioned wanderlust is real with this one, as it was with the likes of Firewatch, Stardew Valley and A Short Hike. There’s a serenity to Tiny Bookshop, and it’s clear why it’s resonated with so many already.
It deserves its flowers. Perhaps ones you can hang by the entrance?
Tiny Bookshop is available now on Nintendo Switch (reviewed on Switch 2) and PC via Steam.
Developer: Neoludic Games
Publisher: Skystone Games
Disclaimer: In order to complete this review, we were provided with a promotional copy of the game. For our full review policy, please go here.
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