This Upcoming Cozy Game May Allow Me To Live Out One of My Dream Jobs

I’ve never been one to be tempted by a life on the road (this includes #vanlife) or running a small business. However, for the past few years, the idea of running a used bookshop out of a Kei truck has wriggled itself into my mind. Despite the high upfront costs and time it would take to see through, I haven’t quite shaken it yet. (Things only got worse when I recently learned about Portland’s bicycle-powered mobile library Street Books.) So when I saw the footage of Neoludic Games’ upcoming game Tiny Bookshop, I was floored.

In this indie game, you can play an independent bookshop owner traveling around in your little hatchback, pulling a shop! Your character begins in a seaside town called Bookstonbury. As the owner, you chat with the locals, collect second-hand books, and decorations for your shop. Patrons have their unique tastes that you work with and consider as you’re building inventory. Also, there’s also a bookshop cat because of course there is. Because it’s not real, the cat doesn’t veer from the wagon. In one demo, someone found a dog bed in the classifieds, so there may be more pet options down the line.

According to the studio, the idea for this game (and sort of the beginning of the studio itself) actually began as a card game way back in 2019. After the two founders of the Neoludic Games, Raven Rusch and David Wildemann, visited The Custard Square Bookshop in Christchurch, New Zealand they began prototyping the game. On TikTok, the Cologne, Germany-based studio shared that one of the biggest inspirations was the bookshops in Hay-on-Wye, Wales. The book town of just under 2,000 people has over 16 small bookshops, mainly spread across two streets. The town hosts the famed annual Hay Festival of Literature & Arts during the summer.

My current management games of choice are Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 (with one level left to finish) and, shamefully, Prison Architect. These things don’t interest me in real life, especially not prisons. On the other hand, books and sustainable business models do! As a cozy business simulator, it’ll likely be free of some of the worst parts of owning a business: dealing with terrible customers, permits/taxes, and making ends meet. You just get to make people happy and get books into people’s hands. It’s the romanticization of this career trek personified and it’s already on my Steam Wishlist.

(featured image: Neoludic Games)