Pixel Shopkeeper is a pretty good game, so long as you understand what it is and, more importantly, what its limitations are. TL;DR: It's aPixel Shopkeeper is a pretty good game, so long as you understand what it is and, more importantly, what its limitations are. TL;DR: It's a cute little distraction of a game that, for the right price ($5 or under) is a pleasant distraction for 5-10 hours.
At its core, the gameplay loop of Pixel Shopkeeper is very simple:
1. Go into a dungeon to collect loot in a Tetris-style inventory management mini-game.
2. Buy/upgrade furniture for your shop to enable more/better sales.
3. Sell the loot in your shop / lure customers in.
4. Level up your character and/or equip them with some of the loot you've found in the dungeon.
Rinse. Repeat.
1. Dungeon Runs: This process is mostly automatic. You character runs along the top of the screen fighting monsters (the outcome of these fights is determined by character stats). When you win a fight, loot drops. When loot drops (in shapes mostly resembling traditional Tetris pieces), you have to rotate it to fit it into your bag. The process is somewhat fast-paced, and if you take too long, you'll end up leaving some loot behind. Over time, you'll get different shaped bags for a little variety.
2. Upgrade your Shop: It is wise to upgrade your shop before you start selling for the day. Here, you will take time to organize and/or pay some of your hard-earned gold to upgrade your shop and the furniture in it (some sales surfaces provide bonuses for selling certain items).
3. Sell! Sell! Sell!: During the sell phase, you will try to lure customers to your shop (spending gold on advertising techniques). They will each be wanting a certain type of item so you'll be hoping that you've placed the right items for sale for the day (you can't edit your for-sale inventory once the sales phase has started).
4. Level up your character: This phase doesn't have to be last, but I like to make sure I spend most of my gold on the shop, so I did it last every day. Here, you'll spend gold to level your character up, and/or equip them with some of the loot you've found in order to help them progress further in the dungeons.
Overall, this is a charming, albeit overly simple version of a shop keeping sim. I was able to pick it up for $4 and it's been worth every penny. Unfortunately it retails at $8.99, and at that price it feels a little light on content. If you can find it for under $5 and you're a fan of shop keep sims, it is totally worth the cost of admission.… Expand
