After 11 grueling years and 6 different versions of the game, management sim devs decide they've finally made something that doesn't suck: Tavern Keeper "wasn't fun for ages"

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"It's a systems game, and it wasn't fun"

A chef dropping rats into a cauldron in Tavern Keeper
(Image credit: Greenheart Games)

It's incredible that hectic management sims like Greenheart Games' new Tavern Keeper use game loops that can make even dastardly procrastinators like me excited to do chores. It might be a miracle, or just a terrifying act of psychology, but it's definitely not easy to turn dread into comfort, says Greenheart co-founder Patrick Klug.

Klug tells PC Gamer that cutesy medieval fantasy Tavern Keeper wasn't really enjoyable to play in "at least" its first seven years of development. It wasn't until 11-and-a-half years had passed and Greenheart had cycled through six different versions of the game that it could be considered "fun."

But, uh. It wasn't. Things like Tavern Keeper's random storybook events "always felt like they took you out of the game, [...], and that hurts because I was always very adamant that I wanted this storytelling in the game," Klug says. It took "dozens" of tries just to make Tavern Keeper's storybook moments what they are now – role-playing opportunities that enhance the game's magic rather than kill it.

Ashley Bardhan
Ashley Bardhan
Senior Writer

Ashley is a Senior Writer at GamesRadar+. She's been a staff writer at Kotaku and Inverse, too, and she's written freelance pieces about horror and women in games for sites like Rolling Stone, Vulture, IGN, and Polygon. When she's not covering gaming news, she's usually working on expanding her doll collection while watching Saw movies one through 11.

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