Right up there with the Soulslike genre, cozy gaming is a space that's become just a little bit crowded in recent years. That's not a reflection on the quality or appeal of these games generally, but it does make it a challenge to wade through the constant flood of new releases in search of something fresh and unique. There's always a farm to manage, or anthropomorphic neighbors to meet, or fish to catch, somewhere.
Thankfully, Tiny Bookshop landed on my desk today as a serendipitous gift from my editors, and after tinkering around with its demo, I'm sold like a new Sarah J. Maas book.
I do appreciate that a bookshop management sim isn't the most unique idea in the world. It's definitely more original than a farming sim, but yeah, it didn't necessarily win me over with its groundbreaking originality. I'm gonna take off my journalist hat and admit very frankly that I simply cannot not be charmed by a game that lets you make a spooky li'l book store by the beach. My ideal life.
It also helps that Tiny Bookshop is impeccably polished, well-written with a story full of secrets I actually care to learn more about, and pretty darn cute-looking too!
I'm not the only one charmed by Tiny Bookshop. It cracked Steam's top 20 list of best-selling games in just four days, and although it's a little further down on that list at the time of writing, it's still boasting nearly 1,000 reviews with 95% of them being positive. And, if you filter by simulation games, it's the sixth best-selling right behind Civilization 6. I'd say that's pretty impressive for any indie game, and even more-so for a cozy indie game releasing at a time when it seems like every new game is either cozy or very not cozy, i.e., a Soulslike.
Looking ahead, here are some upcoming indie games you should have on your radar.
