CraftCraft: Fantasy Merchant Simulator

In theory, this game was made for me. It's simple, cozy as hell, and the characters are cute, well written, and what world building exists in the game is good! And then it ends. No *real* resolution of any of the choices you made, no *real* return to any of the plot points that are set up, and despite the devs being upset that Steam made them remove the Romance tag because they "didn't play it long enough" I beat the game, and there *isn't* any romance. You can choose whether or not to make a flirty line at some of your customers, and then they leave and you never see them again, with no pay off minus one or two lines where some of the customers will give you a fraction more insight into themselves. I want to like this game, I want to *love* this game, but when the credits hit, I was absolutely baffled, presumed that it was a cute "oh thats the credits for the prologue or something" and when the game was *over* I had to go back to the store page to see if I had missed the early access tag. The game *should* be good, the art is great, the voice acting is stellar, the characters are interesting, the crafting is cute, pretty simple, but addictive in a "lets see how many bones I can stick on a sword before I fully lose my sanity" way, and that just makes how short it is feel worse. I have 5 hours played, but I'd say beating the game realistically could've been done in two, maybe three hours at most if I wasn't dealing with random crashes (which have been patched!) and my elderly wrists making me take breaks. I wish I could recommend this game, but as it is right now, I just can't bring myself to do it in good faith.

TLDR: it's lacking polish and doesn't feel like a finished game, but incredibly cute Pros: -stunning NPC artwork, and a delightfully large cast of them -fantastic character creator -you can pet the owl cat (and it purrs!) -great for fiddling and tinkering with to get the clients' orders just right -NPCs are voiced Cons: -bugs galore, from repeating convos if you visit the tavern via your map before clicking the "Go to Tavern" button at the end of the day to literally crashing the game if you put an item in a bag -character voices feel off (I think it's probably an issue with the sound or recording quality rather than the VAs themselves, but I had to play without voices) -saving the game only saves before your client comes in, so you better not save in the middle of a time consuming task -the romance is virtually nonexistent and as deep as the shallow end of a kiddie pool (in my experience, a single date happened during the ending scene, so don't go in expecting to actually romance characters and build relationships) -weapon and item assets often don't match or are incredibly low resolution, which is a huge shame considering the quality of the characters, backgrounds, and other scene related things like maps. At times I felt like I was playing a flash game Could've been more polished: -voice and written lines sometimes contain grammatical errors (and punctuation in the case of the latter) -the tavern owner frequently comments on his available stock (ie having more or less for you to look at depending on the day) but the stock never actually changes -the ending feels incredibly abrupt (when it happened, I sat there in shock thinking "that's it??") -inventory needs a QOL update and can be very tedious -the majority of the scavenging locations don't replenish over time, which should've been mentioned somewhere or made to slowly replenish like the one that does -when using templates, you have to slightly shift your final creation in order for the template to register it as complete (it's buggy detecting the areas you've successfully completed)

This game isn't quite there yet. I loved the demo, and was excited to play this, but the amount of crashes and glitches I've had have made it unplayable to me. Feels much more like an Early Access than a full launch. Hopefully in a few months the game will get to where it should be and the kinks will be worked out of it.

For a 17-18$ Game, the game doesn't really offer that much in length. the choices don't seem to really matter, and I feel Theres almost no Replayablity. Adding a Endless Mode, or just lengthening the story would help a lot.\ but right now, My goodness is this thing short. Couldn't even reach the 4 hour mark. this games price should be about $5-$9 and even then its a little pricey for the content. its a glorified Visual Novel, with an Ultrashort, and the branches are not much different. i love the visual style and the rhythm based Crafting, i just wish there was more. theres just, not a whole lot of meat to this game.... I'd wait till a sale of like 60-70% off, its incredibly short and just not worth the money when other monsters of simular games exist for much cheaper or around the same price point like "Recettear" or "MoonLighter"

[h1]Made Of Junk[/h1] https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3493040428 [i]There will be a TL;DR at the end.[/i] ~ We’ve all been there… It’s shiny! It’s new! It’s exactly what you wanted! The good times don’t stop! But then - when the top layer of polish wears off and the functionality fades, maybe you check where exactly this thing was made; it turns out to be straight trash, which sucks because of how much you spent on it! That’s a lot like how this game is - and how the customers within it must feel. The introduction is very, very strong. Gorgeous hand-crafted characters, cute stretchy animations, interesting UI interactions, fully voiced and characteristically written dialogue - very top notch! Just looking at the crafting menu - there are tons of hand-drawn assets and different types of goodies to make for folks! The orders given are interesting and nuanced, the tasks are new and the tutorials hold your hand for the first 5 hours! Wait… What? Oh dear. Looking at the introduction - the experience is phenomenal. Character creation looks incredible and it had me hungry to get in and see what we’re working with. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3493040629 The clunky UI at the forge and awkward fumbling at the curio desk are all … [i]quaint[/i] You can get into character, you can start really having fun and loving the good in this game - and yet it falls off the bone rather quickly. You’re not actually a merchant, by the way. I know that’s what the subtitle of the game is - but several times your character will explain that you, the player, are not a merchant - but a [b]crafter[/b]! The game is very buggy. I don’t fault the developers - they set out on a monumental task. Please do drop into their discord and leave some notes for them, they work hard. So this image is presented where the game isn’t quite what it claims to be, has an identity crisis of what kind of experience it wants to be, and struggles to hold together for its short playtime. The developers were clearly enthusiastic about this project, but had their creativity stifled. Making games is [b]unbelievably difficult[/b] - and the product here bears the scars of labored love. The byproduct of this is a culmination of wasted effort - abandoned feature creep - and visions clearly cut short to contend with reality. There is a tavern to meet and talk to people and buy things (but there are no meaningful conversations, the barkeep runs out of dialogue a quarter into the game, and there are only a few items for sale… for specific jobs and nothing else.), There is a beach, alley, and forest area! (That you will only go to for picking up scraps and nothing else) And even a gemstone mountain! (That you will use for 1 job and basically nothing else.) What it turns into is feeling like a ferryman - similar to playing something designed for a linear task such as [b]Truck Driver Simulator[/b]. You don’t actually participate in the world or make anything meaningful - you just follow the events as they unfold like a lazy dancer. You are not a part of this world, you are an observer with glue and a bunch of trash to stick together. And in the end, your heart may perk up that you’ll get ending slides to tell the stories of individuals - but you don’t get any payoff at all. Romances? Nothing. Fate of adventures? Nothing. In contrast to the massively impressive opening, the experience ends in a pathetic whimper. It gets really dry really fast. There are both [i]no[/i] minigames and also [i]way too many[/i]. You get used to the simple things like the forge and grindstone, gluing trash together to sell to silly people, etc. Yet the experience is mostly continually throwing new and weird things at you - there is no settling into a groove and applying prior expertise to new and more difficult challenges: it’s just differently awkward and hyper specific tasks that you fulfill by putting trash together and either smashing it with a hammer or using glue. The entire game is like some eternal tutorial - I was following basic instructions to the end, not because the mechanics were difficult, but because the items were so specific and kept changing. Having fun forging weapons? Make a solar system with glue and rope and vague instructions lol have fun. You keep waiting for things to kick off - to get really interesting and start demanding additional skill with what you’ve been taught, but it just never happens - you just sit and watch as the vivacious momentum that stole your heart in the opening sadly paters out over the next few hours. The story goes nowhere. Those plot threads you hoped to see a conclusion to? Nothing. Espionage, guild troubles, corruption, animal charity, tax rates, TEETHING? Nothing takes off. It’s all fluff. The main selling point is to portray this as an interactive book of sorts; it isn’t. Even without other mechanics, there are no real stories in this game - no beginning, conflict, and conclusion… just a series of random events. Mechanically, you learn all the basics in the first few sessions: You put crap in the melter to make metal and you smash it up with 2007 flash game version of guitar hero, or you fit a bunch of literal detritus into a shape and glue them together like a toddler and sell it for tons of cash. The cash, also, is a completely ephemeral thing: Gumble iron dagger - get 15g. Glued together stick amulet - get 20g. Pickaxe made of scrap metal - 20gp too. THE NAMED SWORD FORGED IN DRAGONS BLOOD OF THE FINEST CRAFTSMANSHIP NAMED DARKSBANE AND WIELDED BY THE HERO OF A THOUSAND VICTORIES - 25gp. ? Juggling customers, managing budget, preserving resources? Nothing. Increasing difficulty, stakes, or [i]basic progression??[/i] nada. You end your journey exactly the same as you started it. [b]This is grim… To lighten the mood, I recognized the skeleton guy from Death & Taxes and had to look back to see that these are the same developers! Cheeky![/b] And that really brings things full circle. The gameplay is busying yourself playing the world's most tedious and simplistic minigames to create pretty garbage for your customers to pay a bunch of money towards - which is an ironic allegory for the game itself. It looks like the developers had a lot more fun making the game than I did interacting with it. Back there on their janky forge, gluing things together with vague instructions and following guides to the very end - hoping to sell it for a profit to make the investment worthwhile. [i]Craft Craft[/i] - tragically named as it is - stole my attention at the start, then I sat there for over 5 hours waiting for something to happen - but it never did. I honestly would prefer the inverse. No voiced dialogue, no exploration or different location, no fancy animations for characters, no clever dialogue and cheeky worldbuilding… and a detailed item creation system that increases in intricacy with progression in the mix. In the end, I did have some fun playing this game - but I can’t recommend it. It’s a novel start with some great art and cheesy voice acting, but that is just the dross of scrap metal, bones, twigs, and rocks glued together in a heap of well-meaning and earnestly made trash. It’s not bad, it has redeeming qualities. But in the end it’s still trash. ~ [h3]TL;DR[/h3] [b]4.5/10[/b] [i]Craft Craft[/i] is a [b]Serviceable[/b] game. You can pay $16 to be in the perspective of the developers: closely following guides and trying to glue bits of scrap together into something worth the day’s rent. It’s a wonderful world filled with kindness and understanding, a quaint and lovely thing, but in the end they’re selling you cobbled together scraps. Get it on deep sale if you’re curious - just keep in mind that it’s very, very pretty garbage.

i was really excited for this, and i like it a lot, sadly i dont recommend it, i thought the first 14 days would be the tutorial, you know, and then you can craft freely, no its the whole game. also i thought the dating aspect would be better, its just nothing, it just tells you that you went on a date...

since i dont feel like retyping it here is my steam refund request: "in theory the game is good but it is misleading. not a simulator at all. its a choices matter story game progressed by crafting. the game only goes on for like 2 in game weeks then ends. and there's no way to continue my save file on an endless mode. i do understand that my playtime is over the 2 hours, but do understand that with all the filler this game has that's how long it took. and while i would be satisfied there's literally no way to continue my save on an endless mode. therefore i just wasted 5 hours of my life for the most cliche plot twist ending ever and no way to continue..." now just to elaborate on that, i do know that they advertise that the game has a 5-7 hour story but it really is still misleading. they call this a simulator when in reality its really not. a simulator would not teach you the ropes just to end the game right when you get the hang of it. as much as i want to like this game i thought there would be an endless mode.

A nice blending of storytelling mixed with crafting of weapons and jewellery. Get to know the townsfolk, find romance and even have a cute owlcat companion. [h2][u]The Story & Gameplay[/u][/h2] Fresh out of the Crafter’s Guild you head to the small town of Windspell to open up your first crafting shop. The guild has been kind enough to get you started with some basic materials and fronting the rent on the shop for the first few weeks. You start the game creating your character from a list of humans, cats, elves or insects (moth). You can choose hair color, skin color, and hairstyle (back hair, mid hair and bangs). Also face shape, eyes, nose, lips and markings. Finally you pick your outfit. Then you can pick your background to give a bit of context to your character. ✨[i]The game autosaves but manually saves as well, as some crashes have happened. You can manually save by hitting ESC and naming your save file. I recommend doing this often. [/i] [h2][u]Tips & Tricks[/u][/h2] * To continue your game do not go to “start” on the main screen. Go to the menu and hit “save & load”. Click your last saved game and hit load. * When fixing Erik’s compass click on the screwdriver once, the compass will turn red, click on the glass with the screwdriver (then put it down) and click the glass to pick it up and move it to the side. If you drag the screwdriver without “clicking” it once with your mouse button it won’t work. * Visit the forest and back alley to pick up trinkets, junk and flowers to keep in your drawers at your workspace to create with. * If you need help open the blue scroll, it will guide you through the steps! [h2][u]Settings & Features [/u][/h2] Settings & features include; audio settings, display and resolution settings, accessibility settings such as the ability to turn off the mini games. [h2][u]The Visuals & Audio[/u][/h2] Visually the game is beautiful with colorful fantasy characters such as owlcats, elves and moths (cool idea to be able to play as a moth)! The soundtrack has tavern sounding tunes that fit the game perfectly. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3490773987 The game does have some voice work for the characters you meet that come into your shop, and it is very well done. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3490774345 https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3490774166 [h2][u]Overall Experience[/u][/h2] I really like this game, the blending of crafting weapons and the creativity of making our own jewellery. There are some janky movements until you get used to using the tools. Like clicking the screwdriver instead or dragging it. Eventually you get the hang of all the equipment and it starts to flow. You can romance a potential companion (the romantic dialogue appears in a red colour so you know what to choose if you want to romance that person). And I enjoy going to various locations on the map to scavenge for trinkets, flora and junk to see what I can find to use in my designs. This game has so much to offer if you’re the creative type like myself. There is a small cost to forging ingots (1-3 gold each) to make weapons or armour so at that price you can keep being creative. You can buy some items like chains to hang pendants and collars for your pets (no comment…you can fill in the blanks yourself, haha). A really fun, creative game with some great artwork. ⚔️ ❗[i]The game does crash occasionally so before starting a new crafting job or after completing one do a manual save. [/i] [hr][/hr] [quote]Please follow our curator page, [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/4680120/]Otome Lovers[/url], if you'd like to see more reviews like this one! [/quote]

It's got a good premise and good promise, but there's too many issues present for a full release. In the span of 2 hours I've encountered 3 game-breaking bugs that required me to re-load a save. Combined with an odd saving system where despite being able to "save at any point," your saves always loads you back to when the current customer arrived, it's quite frustrating. This is the same as when the auto save works, so saving manually is completely redundant and useless. Not to mention this makes running into the aforementioned bugs incredibly infuriating. Spending 20 minutes fitting wires into a pattern just for the next one to bug and not let me place the wires is an annoying waste of my time. I've had one crash as well, but was not able to replicate it, so I have no idea if the game crashing may be an issue. It's a cute game, but unless you want to potentially lose a bunch of time or hear the sound of a grindstone for minutes on end, it's not worth picking up at the moment. Give them some time to iron out the bugs and maybe it'll be better.

Amazing art and cozy vibes however it feels like an incomplete game for the game feels incredibly short. (You can finish it within 4 hours.) Maybe consider getting the game if it's on at least a 30% sale because at its original price point, the duration is not worth it.

ill just give you my refund request to read: i know i am way over the 2 hour mark but when i purchased this game i expected a managent/life simulator and order fulfilment game with a dating sim aspect on the side. the commision fulfilment aspect was there but the dating sim aspect was besides the game telling you you could flirt with the characters, just not there. like at all. it didnt add anything to the story and wasnt even mentioned at all throughout the game or even the end. the story was very linear and making decision was done by crafting specific things differently (adding things or refusing service) but those didnt really make any impact from what i could tell. i expected a story rich and interesting game and what i got was a buggy* mess (and sometimes even gamebreaking) interactive cartoon with a really unsatisfactory end. i spent so many hours playing in hopes at the end i would get some sort of endless mode but no. the save file that i invested 8 hours in (i admit it took me quite long) is just sitting there collecting dust. given that the coices barely have an impact its also not worth starting another safe file to get potentially another ending that wont even feel any different from the first one. for me its (at least in its current state) not at all worth more than 10 bucks. this feels more like a long demo with its limited 12 days rather than a full release. i had high hopes for this game and i believe there is true potential here but in its current state i cannot reccomend it since its not worth the money *character sprites not showing / appearing too early *dialogue not matching with what the person actually wants *objects literally bugging behind my desk so i am comepletely incappable of finishing the comission and have to reload -in the hopes- that it will not happen again. (which it did, like 5 times before i finished that stupid star dudes planet thingy)

Look, it's a positive review because what's there is mostly good and fun. But I don't actually recommend buying it now - it feels like about 1/3 of a game. By the time you feel like "yep, just about to dive in and get going!" the game says "congrats! You have finished!" and it just ends. There is *a* story, and a ton of other things that look like they're going to be stories but wind up not being anything. I didn't even romance anyone because I thought there'd be more than just one meeting and that's it. There are also some bugs that will make you lose all your progress after finishing particularly tedious processes, and some clunky interface issues (if the drawers scrolled with a key instead of having to awkwardly grab and mouse I'd have 99% fewer issues), but there's nothing I'd say should stop you from buying it if you play indie games. The characters are all great, they feel like they were crafted with love and care. All the art is lovely. The storylines are intriguing and drew me in. I just wish there were more game in this game.

This shouldn't have been released yet. Even if it were an access, it is still super unpolished. I do like portions of it like the mechanics and art design, but wow there is some hot jpeg footage and UI issues. Let it cook a little longer before buying

A decently fun and spirited little crafting novel. The gameplay is simple and enjoyable, the characters diverse and fun to talk to. However, those looking for a longer experience may wish to look elsewhere, as best I can tell the game simply ends after 11 in game days. Leaving one to new game again. A semi-randomized, even unvoiced endless mode added to the end would make it far more worthwhile, a faintly missed edge, a lot of plot points left unresolved and the romance rather underwhelmingly summarised in a single splash screen at games end. In the end, I ended up with an early access feeling. My heart went "Oh man I can't wait for the rest of the game to come out" but... it is. A great amount of crafting options are there, oddly, for things that appear only once, making it seem like there is simply a great swathe of wrong answers, that are all very obvious and thus simply felt like wasted time.

This game is very beautiful, but there is not a lot of content within it. As you can see I beat the game in 3.5 hours. The fact you can beat this game in a few hours with no way to continue after your 14 days ends is very lackluster. It makes you think you'll get to have bonds with characters in the game without giving you any time to do so. I checked to see if this was maybe an early access in hopes more game would be coming out but it seems this is the full game. Overall very disappointed, the art style heavy carried for me. The game play is a little tedious at times. Some of the requests don't give you enough information to do them well, and you have very little creative freedom.. I don't believe I was even able to make one of everything offered in the forge. Not a lot of replay value in my opinion especially with how long the "tutorial" quests are on the first day. It has a lot of meat on the bones but you barely get to dig in before your save file is made obsolete. I wouldn't buy this unless more game is added. An endless mode for your save file feels necessary for the way the game is described. Sorry I'm not very good at constructing my thoughts but I hope all of this made sense. Update: Turns out more game is in the works, if you're okay with waiting a little bit buy it while it's on sale. Will change up the review when it's no longer relevant.

Look, the game is beautiful. The art, the characters, the voice acting are all superb. The concept of it is fabulous. The crafting mechanism is exactly what I was looking for, in theory. I can even overlook the technical issues, because the devs are really on top of rolling out fixes. However. If you are looking for a full crafting game, this is not the game for you, at least not yet. Someone called it a visual novel. Someone else said what is there right now feels more like a tutorial than a full game. I agree with both. The characters may vary a bit between replays, but beyond choosing between 3 templates or choosing what cog to glue on, there's no real crafting freedom here, it's all done within the very strict boundaries of the NPC requests. I think this game has the potential to be amazing, the foundation is all there. But currently, I don't think it lives up to the promise, or the price tag. I'm not going to refund it because I do want to see where this goes, but if you're hesitant already, I'd recommend waiting for a big discount, or for more clarity on how this game is going to develop further.

A good start, but ultimately disappointing. I finished it in under 10 hours total, and the game just feels rushed and unfinished. That said, the art is beautiful, the gameplay is fun, and the NPC characters are engaging. I was just expecting more to it, I guess. There's a newspaper in the game that highlights fashion trends and weather forecasts (like if it's cold, adventurers may want items with fur, for example) that didn't have any effect on the game that I noticed. There wasn't that much more content/story in the full game than there was in the demo, and I don't think that's fair to people paying for the full game. EDIT 6/17/25 below: Full disclosure: I did ask Steam for a refund - because I felt like the game name and description were deceiving, and that this wasn't a full game - and couldn't get it because I had around 10 hours into the game at the time. However, that 10 hours was spread over many saves because of all the game-breaking/crashing bugs. I kept trying, because I thought there was more to it, so I kept starting new saves until I finally was able to plow through the bugs and complete the game - which took maybe 3 hours, max. My advice to any potential players reading this is to wishlist the game and maybe stick with the demo for 6 months to a year, to wait for updates, unless you're happy with paying for a mere handful of hours of gameplay and a rushed ending. Don't make the same mistake I did and buy this game based on the description and vibes, because apparently Steam won't refund you unless you have a very, *very* short amount of time put into the game. Oh, and the "romance" aspect - complete baloney. No special cutscenes, just more smoke and mirrors. But, when I think about it, I guess it makes sense - the game itself is less than two in-game weeks long, so how far can one really push a romance in that extremely short amount of time? But then why advertise this aspect when it's barely there? I don't buy the "we're a small studio, there's more that we wanted to do but couldn't" excuses for two reasons, two words each. Reason #1: Concerned Ape. Reason #2: Lucas Pope. Both solo developers, both spit out full, complete games on release. I will mention their game names by abbreviation, because I don't want to be reported for advertising when I'm just trying to compare them with CraftCraft to make a point: "SDV" was a complete game on release, with a branching story (mainly two branches, but still) and many things to do and see and forage and craft, with full NPC storylines and endless mode. "P,P" was a complete game on release, with branching storylines and several endings, and I don't remember if endless mode came out on release or was an addition, but I think it was available on release after you completed the game. "RotOD", another full game, full story, unique art, fully voice-acted - admittedly less replayability, but that's because it's not a sim. So, if two different solo developers can each spend their time crafting fully realized, complete games before releasing them on the general public, why can't the team behind CraftCraft - small or not - do the same? Why was this game so rushed? Why did it end so abruptly? Why did they call it a simulator if it's actually a visual novel? For the record, I have also played "DaT", made by the same dev team as CraftCraft, and thought that one was also on the short side, but it at least had a full story and didn't just end abruptly. So why was CraftCraft seemingly so rushed? So many of the dev choices for CraftCraft make no sense, and I'm more mad about the lack of forethought and the ensuing excuses than I am about the actual game. TL;DR I love supporting indie devs, and this game, on paper, ticks a lot of my boxes. In practice, however, this game remains, overall, a betrayal and a disappointment, 2-3 weeks after my initial review. They can patch the game - and I hope they do, because there are bits of it I do enjoy a lot - but they'll never patch my feelings. >:(

I love the devs, I love Death and Taxes but this whole game feeling like a tutorial until the end feels like a slap in the face when you get there. And that's not to mention the amount of bugs that I ignored to enjoy it and give the game the benefit of the doubt.

finished it in a day... very short game play, which was really disappointing because the game is fun, but I just wish it was longer and had more NPCs with bigger stories. After playing it once i dont really wish to do it again. Hoping for a big update to give a better story.

Fun experience based around crafting/smithing in a shop. Lots of fun characters and voicing, especially full of anthro (furry) characters. Would recommend a play, it's fun to spend time in.

I wanted very badly to like this game. There aren't a lot of cozy crafting games that really give you the feel of the crafting part, rather than being an economics simulator, and it does do that part very well... once you get past the bugs and finickyness that will likely improve as patches roll out. However, you're given only the very bare bones minimum explanation on how any of the mechanics actually work. It took a couple hours in to realize I could use the lens to see the style keywords on materials, and that I could glue embellishments to weapons and armor to affect their properties, rather than just jewelry. There seemed to be something even more complex going on under the surface that I couldn't figure out, maybe related to how the keywords are used by the customer being supposed to indicate the proportions desired in the finished product? I tried three times on one item, and couldn't get above 3/10... and it turned out that was the last one in the game, so that was an extremely sour note to end on. Most of all, I wouldn't have minded quite as much if there was more game. Maybe I could have figured it out, gotten more practiced with it, and felt like I was truly progressing. Instead, it ends right at the point where what I thought was the actual plot was starting to become engaging. I was having fun! I wanted to see the characters more, actually get to go on my date, see more than the slight hints of larger conflict between handcrafted and factory goods, but nope! Just a series of slides with voiceover telling me how my vague politicking affected the economic balance and that my date went well. I honestly thought something had glitched out, but apparently unlike every other crafting/shop simulator out there, this game is about 5 hours long. I don't know if 90% of the budget went into voice acting or what... the voices are very good, but ultimately not actually necessary. Even the most half-baked visual novel would have let me go on the dang date, voiced or not. It feels like 25% of a game, at best. I'd think it was a demo, but I played the demo. I'm not going to refund because I respect what the developers tried to do, but I cannot in any kind of good conscience recommend paying asking price for what I received.

Great fun! Finicky controls but once you get the handle on them I think its a fantastic time. Unfortunately it does feel extremely unfinished in its current state, in particular the lack of an endless mode feels odd given the genre of game, so while I recommend it I do want a little more for 15$ and hope future releases rectify this!

I wish there was a "promising but still in the works" rating. I enjoyed the concept and creativity of this game--but it is abruptly short and still needs many quality of life tweaks. I say "abruptly short" because while 5 hours is not unheard of for a game, the story does not come to a conclusion. This is maybe the first chapter. You end up creating like 30 some items and that then you reach an arbitrary end date. That's it. QoL is always a bit subjective, so I try not to thumbs-down a game for that reason. A few of the hot-fixes have helped and I believe this will continue to improve. It really is the incomplete story that earned the thumbs-down from me. I would call this game Early Access. I hope this team continues to build the story--and I would recommend waiting until then.

CraftCraft is a crafting simulation game that has an emphasis on the client/artisan relationship, which is something I haven't seen in other crafting sims I've played. A good example of this is when a bird-knight came in asking for a rapier, but through dialog described a scimitar (dialog revealed they were after a curved blade for slashing, rather than a thin blade for stabbing). Sure enough, forging them a scimitar blade was the right option despite them asking for a rapier by name. The game has a lot of these little touches, where listening to what a customer is asking for is a little more involved than just using a certain material/pattern. Some clients have really specific requests, (like assembling a solar system model according to a star chart), and others ask for more vibe based items (gimme a spooky sword), with the variety of requests giving you a nice ebb and flow in how creative you can get with their requested items in a given day so the difficulty in the different tasks changes to give you little breaks in between harder tasks. The bits that I really liked were some of the "repair" sections where a client brings in a broken item and you have to disassemble, repair/replace, and then reassemble the item. These are kind of like little puzzles where you have to carefully keep track of which piece goes where, as well as bear in mind what they had said before giving you the item (ie, early on you repair a compass, but the missing sigils need to go on in a certain order that's briefly mentioned). The game has a lot of these sorta "hidden criteria" scores that you have to pay attention to the text to notice, which I liked. I had a little trouble with the wire-pendant tasks, as there were a lot of pieces to assemble for those that required glue on each of the pieces, as well as attaching to a blueprint to detect the right shape. I think that maybe having a sort of bulk attach option (like a drag-select/attach) would make that type of task a little easier. In a similar vein items you forage end up on your desk loose and while you can sort them in drawers, though I have a bad habit of just selecting all of the items while foraging, so the desk ended up getting a little messy (though there are a lot of loose things on my actual desk, so this might just be a bad habit of mine).

Wonderful, cozy game with phenomenal voice acting and 9/10 animations. Unfortunately- terribly short. I love the game, I love Death and Taxes, but I sorely, sorely hope to see way more content in the future. I know an endless mode is coming of some sort, but that's also said it's going to take quite awhile to implement. It's only 12 days- and every day you finish it says you're trying to prove your worth to the Crafter's Guild! It genuinely felt like a 12 day long tutorial, and then the credits rolled! I sat there for a good few minutes just in shock because of how amazingly short-lived this game is. Right when you feel like you're about to really have a name for yourself in town, right when you "prove your worth" to the guild like the game has said this whole time, it's over? Just like that? Disappointing is... an understatement. There's no real resolution to most of the choices you make- some characters you simply never see again. The Tavern is a nice addition but it feels horribly unfinished... there's sometimes just no one to talk to there, not even the barkeep himself. The store does not sell new items, and is somewhat glitchy- if you buy a quest item before the quest itself is given to you, your game will not appropriately track it. The map feels- unfinished as well. The areas that do exist are nice and pretty, but they feel overall... empty. Not to mention that it just feels like an empty map- I don't know how to explain it very well, but it just does. Like there's supposed to be several more areas eventually but, there never are. You get the full map a little before you're halfway through the game. There are also still several strange crashes in the game- one time I closed the game in the middle of making an ingot, and it seemed to fast-forward me roughly four days through the game from where I was supposed to be, with a character I'd never seen, and no dialogue available, as well as being unable to interact with almost anything. I'm going to put this as a positive review, despite only really having mostly negative things about the game... Because I genuinely love the game, and I desperately want it to have more content. If it doesn't feel better or more finished or just more engaging in general in... I don't know, maybe six months to a year or so? I'll sadly downgrade this to a negative review. For now though, I am going to choose to keep hope, and have faith in the development team- I know making a game is a long and difficult process, especially with how many different voice lines would need to be recorded for a long-form continuation of the game, but 12 days is just... too short. Especially as, again, it's rather implied that the whole time you're just trying to prove your worth as a fledgling shop owner- and as soon as you accomplish that, it's over. I would much, much have preferred this game to be in early access as most of these issues I and other people have with it would be very excusable. But a game marketing itself as finished just to feel this empty, and have so little content, and such an abrupt ending... is just odd. I can't help but wonder if there were other factors at play behind the decision to release it when they did. The game is- not worth the money you will pay for it, as sad as I am to say that. For half the price, definitely. But I beat this game in a little under 5.5 hours on my first playthrough. If one goes for every achievement like I plan on doing, I'm sure it would result in a little over 30 hours of playtime- but I think most of it will be rather familiar by the tenth hour. And I also took quite a bit of time crafting things specially- so if you just go for it quick and don't bother too much, I think you could genuinely 100% this game in around 10-12 hours or less. But again, I will keep this positive for the sake of keeping their Steam metrics looking good- and if it hasn't improved in some time, then... oh well. For now, good luck devs- I know you have passion and talent and that this game could truly be a masterpiece with just a bit more love. (and content...)

Like many other reviewers, I thought this game was really cute and cozy at first, and I enjoyed myself. However, the amount of game-breaking bugs is astounding! My main save file now crashes whenever I try to open it, and all I did to "trigger" it was to save the game and progress to the next day. And now I can't open it at all. Even the minor bugs are really bad. Heck, even some of the stuff that WORKS is quite bad. For example, if you're trying to move a blueprint and hold it for too long, it will "complete" it and you have to start over. And the desk mechanic was cute at first, but it got so chaotic and crazy by the end of it, I just physically couldn't take it anymore. There ARE drawers, but it's not really practical to use them. After the talisman quest (which the quest itself was really annoying and finicky to figure out EXACTLY how they wanted it), I just had all this crap over my workspace and I was stressing out if I needed to keep it for a future quest or if I should just throw it out. There's also no real tutorial either to help you learn the mechanics of the game. You're just kinda thrown in and told vague things for your quest, as if they kinda couldn't be bothered to program an actual tutorial? For the sheep-pendant quest, I saw another user running into the same problem that I did where even placing a splotch of glue out of place caused you to be docked points. In fact, when I did mine PERFECTLY, it ranked it a 0/10, but then I reloaded and resubmitted it and it marked it 10/10(???). There's also no real story and the characters feel like they were written by people who thought, "huh! this would be fun/cute/funny", and weren't fully fleshed out. They're all either stereotypes or one-note, and I feel no connection to any of them, except for Mortimer (the skelly guy) and that random adventurer that came in at the beginning of the game and hasn't come back since (RIP). I honestly don't think this game currently is at a point where it can be sold for the price that it's at. It needs a LOT more work at the core level and the dev team NEEDS to go back to the core mechanics to figure out why it's not as seamless as it is. It honestly feels like they didn't play the full game through and only played it in sections to see if it worked, before working on another part. It needs to be polished off and I can't recommend it in its current state. TLDR; * Game-breaking bugs, * Game design is terrible and not seamless (they didn't take into account how each mechanic would feel playing together), * Lots of minor bugs throughout, * Do not buy until MAJOR updates have been released.

Saw this game and it was an instant buy for me, I wanted to love this title and for it to be my comfort game, specially since it's such an amazing time playing but in it's current state I just can't bring myself to play it knowing it's flaws. It's an amazing game with loads of potential, but at this time I can't recommend it. 8/10 if you can look past it's current state, I'd wait to buy it on sale or once bugs and QoL changes are implemented. ~Pros~ ~Just the right vibe for the genre. In general, it's coloring and atmosphere are on point. It leaves little to no desire to change things, instantly and effortlessly setting the scene, letting you know exactly what to expect with it's calm and relaxing tone. I'd love it if, at some point in development, we could customize our shop. ~Relaxing, simple and very enjoyable mechanics. Not much to say here, other than it's an innovative and pleasant approach to the "shop owner" formula, actually letting you craft and decour your wares instead of buying them in bulk and re-selling them. I personally love how the crafting grid allows you complete freedom of expression, and the mini-game in the forge is simple perfection. ~Character designs and world building. I haven't seen much of the world yet, stopped playing near day 2 end. Good portrayal, genuenly feel like this characters have a personality and life outside of "come to shop" makes the world feel alive and in motion. Despite the overall theme and art style being set in the character creation, the semi-realistic bird coming into the shop doesn't feel that out of the blue with the other fully anthro characters. Dialogue is great, somethings do bring you out of immersion but not often. ~Cons~ ~Save/Load system. The main reason I can't recommend this game fully right now. Simply put, it's broken, not letting you save at anytime which is a standard with most games nowadays, choosing to save once a new customer comes into the shop instead of the current instance DESPITE giving you the option to do it at any time. In a game this focused in taking your time with crafting, foraging, managing the inventory, it's just baffling how this was released without making sure this worked. Additionally, UI doesn't have an "Overwrite" feature, making you save the instance over and over and over instead of just being able to overwrite the one you have. On top of that, you can just duplicate items if you save/load constantly, toning down the scavenging aspect of the game by a lot. ~Inventory. PLEASE, for the love of all. Fix the inventory in the workshop. Either by taking away the grid system, giving you the option to freely set your stuff around as you wish or make the rotate system for inventory 90°, specially if you have a grid-base inventory system. It's awkward and with the limited spaces it just feels cramped. Also, grid for some items need to be revised, some skulls take way more space than they should. I love with all my heart the ingenious way the inventory is kept, love the idea of the magic-infinite drawer of holding. But it's just so cramped to fully enjoy, adding to that the rotation is just painful sometimes, watching a piece that clearly fits not staying in the place you want or being eaten by the trash bug because it's "grid" was more towards trash than the drawer, it's just a bad time all together. Yes, we have the red outline to signal, but it's still too close for comfort. Trash should be somewhere near inventory, but not just above it where it's even possible by a long shot that an item would be deleted. SPECIALLY in such a small place! ~Nitpicking~ ~Different assets/art for items. I understand why this was done, however it's not pleasing to see 2 obviously different art style assets next to each other and trying to make them work. It takes a lot of the quality away in my opinion, specially when there are so many different kinds of the same item (for example, 5/6 different blue flowers all in the game art or adjacent enough) Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love the amount of items there are in the world, but with some of them, the art is just too different to enjoy putting them together, feels like using a piece from another puzzle because you couldn't find the original and didn't want it to leave it incomplete. ~Character creation. Love the art, love the styles, love the races available and how they handled them (THERE'S A MOTH!!!!! <3 <3) Love that there's an option for long hair on your shoulders/torso. But Color wheel should have been a thing, hairstyles should have been more visible, in some scenarios you struggle to see any differences on the back of the head because you have an obstructed view due to the front-hair options. I have nothing but praises, love and a lot of respect for indie devs, and I'm aware that complaining about things and providing fixes is much more easier than implementing them in the product. I really want to love this game, I can see myself playing it for a lot of time, and frankly would insta-buy any and all DLC's that come out (and most likely will) as long as the save/load system is fixed. Will change review once that is changed because it would be a shame for people to pass on such an amazing game just because of a bad experience with bugs/crash after re-arrenging inventory or making progress in between customers. Will definitely keep an eye out for this one because honestly, it IS worth it.

I just finished my second playthrough so I feel like it's about time I post a review. In it's current state the game is fairly short and buggy, but the devs have been on top of updating the game with bug fixes. Plus,with all the potential branching paths and the emphasis on creativity it's got a ton of replayability- I know for a fact there are still at least three characters I haven't seen at all yet! They've also been taking suggestions from the community for more features, which I greatly appreciate. All in all I think it's well worth the money, but I would also understand if someone wanted to wait until it's gotten a few more updates.

Very cute game! Very queer and almost reminds me of a more chill Papa Louie game? Very visual novel-esque and I noticed that the character you meet can change from playthrough to playthrough, which I thought was cool There have certainly been headaches with some of the crafting mechanics, especially things that have a lot of pieces. I often have a hard time making sure the right thing connects or disconnects the way I want and sometimes things glitch out a bit. It can be a bit frustrating at times but I enjoy it overall I would love to be able to make my own things and sell them instead of strictly only commissions. Maybe a sandbox mode? Also, I really wish materials respawned more often throughout the world. It's a really neat feature but it sucks when there's nothing there to collect. Also, I wish the shop in the tavern actually had more goods to buy that changes day to day (I assume this will be added eventually?) I also love the character creation and more games need to have mothfolk as a playable race. I do wish there was a nonbinary option and/or we could change our character's appearance but it's doesn't come up often so it's not a huge deal Art is great Voice Acting is great Characters are really cool! Really hoping they expand on this

I'm sure you've seen the negative reviews, and while sure the game is buggy, that's something that can be fixed quite fast, especially when the developers here are clearly passionate about their game. I don't think its fair to negatively review an indie game [u]freshly on release[/u] just because of bugs, or because its not a 40 hour experience. I mean come on, there are big games, made by AAA companies that have been out for years and they are still buggy. Those deserve your scorn. NOT a freshly released indie game. Instead we should rate the game by what it brings to the table... and let me tell you the core of the game is fantastic. Despite what you may think, this is not an ordinary crafting/simulator game. The focus here isn't about money, and the game makes it clear from the start. The point is your clients, the characters you meet and your interactions with them. What really sets this game apart for is the focus on the client-artisan relationship. That's not something that a lot of crafting games focus on. The game focuses on narrative and character development. It's REALLY cool to see how the quality of your crafts affect their lives. The game also let's you decide on some important story decisions later on. So yeah, I think the game is absolutely worth a try. And if you like narrative games like Paper's Please, AND you like crafting... then you MUST try it.

Moth people are cute, Owlcats are cute and my tiara made of trash is cute. Ain't nothing you can do about it.

Unfortunately it's super buggy. It's a cute concept but I think it needs more time in the proverbial oven.

A very fun and endearing game, full of lovable characters, incredible art, investing voice acting, and a story that makes you feel as if your choices matter! There's so much agency in each crafting opportunity and personal interaction and it was so easy to get ingrained in the universe. Lovely queer representation, great writing, and fun gameplay mechanics... easily my best purchase in a long while!

It's a good game but it's so buggy. The puzzles in of themselves are fine but it's so annoying trying to connect tiny pieces that keep teleporting back to their original point. I look forward to more bugfixing and I love the story as far as I've gotten. I'd at least want saves that don't make you restart the day to exist before I go any further with it.

Amazing little cozy game with an awesome team behind it!! My only hope for a future update would be an endless mode to keep playing, but there are a few origin choices that change things up on a replay!

Playing the demo is really all you need. The full game doesn't offer much more and even less in the aspect of crafting material... The game feels like it's unfinished. It's very short and feels like a tutorial. The resources for crafting seem fixed, as in it's not as varied as it seems. A lot of items used for crafting only show up once; they don't respawn like you'd expect. There is not really romance in this game either. This game desperately needs an endless mode, much more scavengeable (and randomly spawning) items, and date cut scenes. Why have so many options for things to make in the forge if you only make things once (I only made one pair of glasses for example)? I like the rhythm game when forging, but the blade sharpening was dummied down way too much to where it's impossible to mess it up. The art and characters that come into the shop are great as well as the voice acting. The concept of the game is really interesting, but there's not as much freedom as you'd expect. The trailer talks about being careful who you make items for and what you make...I think that only comes into play twice in the actual game. I recommend the demo. That was pretty fun. But I don't recommend the actual game. I would say to only give it a shot if they ever implement an endless mode.

I really love the concept this game puts out. Theres few games that scratch the obscure itch of wanting to play a fantasy shopkeeper, and this mostly does that. There are some cons of course, the romance is as far as i can tell nearly non existent besides some flirts here and there (saw an option to flirt with one character and then never saw that character again in my playthrough), the game is also very short and when the credits started to roll i almost expected it was just the prologue but then i was sent to the title screen, the description does say it only has 11 days but still it feels short. Ive seen people complain about bugs but personally i havent seen anything "game breaking", only oddities here and there that im sure will be patched out. Of course though with cons theres the pros. The gameplay is very fun and i like the mini game for the hammering and the crafting is easy and enjoyable. All the characters are voiced and I love every characters design. The world feels like theres history and id love to learn more about it and the characters. The character creation is also nice and i love the different races you can make, theres no benefits of being one race or another but there are comments on what you choose from the npcs. Theres also the designs of what you craft, from swords to tiaras and hammers to a solar system model. Everything you make can be made in different styles and can be decorated with various things to make it so theres so many variations. Also points being out right before pride month, the game is pretty diverse. Also you can pet the cat. All in all, it is a good game and i do very much recommend playing it. I equate this game to a slice of cake, its very sweet and theres various flavors it could be but the only unfortunate aspect is that if you like it a lot it ends quickly. 7/10 will continue coming back for more slices.

The most important statement I'll make is to measure your expectations with this game. It is, at its core, a visual novel with about 4-5 hours of very linear gameplay, with no new game plus or endless modes, with heavy hand holding to make sure your succeed at it. It literally takes malice or intent to fail a commission, and the moral choices therein are as black and white as a zebra. That said, the story is enjoyable enough, the characters very endearing, and the dialogue pleasant. As far as actual 'crafting', it's just point and click/drag arts & crafts (resources are limited, be very sparing what you use on each commission, just meet the essential criteria!) and some rhythem games to keep you engaged. No logistics, no real economy, little in the way of creative freedom. Be smart, concise, polite, and all will go well. Worth the price for the art in my opinion. The moth peeps are 100% on point adorable.

If you're interested in this game, I'd recommend wishlisting it and coming back when there are further updates. It's a cute game, but it was disappointingly short (only 12 days). The NPCs are interesting but interactions with them are limited at best, and any sort of dating is just a single note in the epilogue of what you did with that NPC. The game is also severely in need of some QOL updates. Between frequent and confusing bugs that nearly prevented me from finishing the game, and just arduous management of materials, it's far from the most pleasant gaming experience. Things it could benefit from: Ability to rotate items More respawning Items / Geodes in various locations (only some items respawn in the alley) Ability to sell items (an NPC in the game indicates you can sell items to them but I was never sure how!) Ability to buy multiples of items from the NPC merchant More ways to interact with NPCs besides seemingly bothering them at the tavern (literally every NPC I stumbled upon ultimately seemed annoyed I approached them in the tavern) Also, a lot of the screen shots of this game show features that don't appear to be in the game (like the tools on the crafting table!) Overall, it's definitely a game that should still be a WIP for the developer. I wouldn't call this game polished enough to be complete.

I rly enjoyed the demo and I would have loved to play through this game but it keeps crashing on my during the quest of the 4th customer. Will gladly buy it again and change my review once this gets fixed, but for now Ima refund it, cus it is literally unplayable for me.

BLUF: Wishlist, and come back/check reviews in 6-12 months. It's a cool idea, and they did some stuff very well. but the non-stop bugs make this game completely unplayable for me. I'm sure the Devs are aware how buggy their game is. Here's my advice to them. Look at the reviews and see how many potential customers you have lost by releasing (and charging money for a very unfinished product.) Releasing a demo is a great start. If you're going to push past the reviews and keep developing and bugfixing. I'll be happy to play your game one day. For now. It's a hard do not recommend. It's unplayable. For potential buyers. The game is what it says it is on the tin. The people crying in their reviews that this isn't a sim game didn't look past the name and picture. and if you're willing to give $13 to someone based on a name and a picture, you deserve to be separated from your money. That out of the way. the bugs are completely unacceptable. The game will crash, there is no way to tell if your game is frozen or you're waiting/locked-out of progressing. Come back in 6-12 months and see if things have improved. For me, I think it'll be a fun (story-driven RPG) game. If you want Ale and Tale Tavern/Old Market Simulator, those are different games. and not every game with simulator in the title plays the same way. I played for about 20 minutes and had a screen freezing bug almost every new activity I tried to do (sharpening, forging, moving ingot, etc.)

I have REALLY enjoyed what I have played of this game. But the problem is that the game glitches on a specific sheep related quest and does not allow me to progress. I restarted and tried different methods of doing things, but the quest is just bugged. It feels like an early access game and I am really hoping that in time I will be able to come back to the game and enjoy it once the issues are fixed. But for now, it is not playable. The potential is there!

This game is overall pretty amateurish in its presentation. The voice acting, animation, writing and sound quality are all pretty poor. There were also some noticeable bugs, though nothing game breaking. None of this ruins the game though. What does ruin it is the tedious almanac crafting. To say it's like pulling teeth is putting it lightly. It's honestly like assembling a jigsaw puzzle, with one hand, on a crowded table, being sure to only click on the pieces you think you know where they go. Because if you click somewhere else, you might glue the wrong thing and have to disassemble it. Or if you forget to glue it you'll have to apply some, and then frantically click trying to get it to attach to the spot it's already in. and if you move the whole thing on accident, something might get glued in the wrong spot and lose you tons of time just trying to get it all sorted out. I'm tired just thinking about it. Oh and don't forget about moving the actual template around just around a completed piece hoping it will register all the things you painstakingly assembled. It's kind of a shame because I like these sorts of games, and the art is pretty appealing. Hell I like the forging system quite a bit. But I cannot stand using that damn almanac. The only thing I can think of to salvage it is to simplify it. Make pieces snap in place, and remove or overhaul how you glue things.

what a charming little game of crafting ....crafts! Been looking forward for a fun game from placeholder gameworks. had a few hours into the game and it's truly wonderful. P.S moth is love and life, for Lamp!!!!!

A little peeved due to the crashes. I finished my second day, and went to the traven, got to interact with 3 npcs, finished, collected stuff from the forest- and once i came back to set inside of the drawers- it begun to lag and then just crash/closed out completely. I ended up losing that progress, and the npc interactions(since those are random). Due to that, i got paranoid, and in good faith- cause as i did all that, (but missed out on the npc interactions). While i was setting up the drawer. It once again, crashed. I really like it, and want to continue, so I'm hoping all this continues to get work on. Especially since its so early on. :') Please fix that. (and even though i saved before the crash, it once again- got rid of my progress. :'). )

This is a great idea on the surface. Being an NPC in a game sounds interesting and I think crafting weapons, items, etc could absolutely be fun is executed right, but this, unfortunately, is not the game for that. The story is subpar at best, if there even is one. All I could understand from the limited amount of time I played is that we're new to the city and trying to make a name for ourselves but we don't have many customers... Except for the fact that there are constant customers, we have plenty of money to buy materials so we don't even need to scavenge, and there's no real hook for the game. I was not invested in this story whatsoever. The game, as a whole, is not polished. The voice acting was amateur and really varied in quality. The menus need to be cleaned up and so do some of the functions in the game. And, not to mention, there is no saving mid day. Only at the end of the day, which can be super frustrating. This game needed at least a year or more of development. Cool idea, bad execution.

i really like this game but the pendant builder has taken all the enjoyment from the game for me. putting the wire on the outline doesn't work half the time and when it does work it stays red

Lovely little game, very charming. I would 100% recommend to anyone looking for a short sweet casual relaxing experience. Has some replayability to look for different endings. Honestly a solid game overall! Had a few minor glitches or issues: Saves can corrupt or have issues loading but often reloading the autosave will do. Saves always start at start of day, so crafting to get a reaction and then reloading will start you at the beginning of Dialogue.

I love this game! The crafting mechanic is so unique and allows for genuine creativity and open-ended creation. The characters are all fully voiced and they each have interesting storylines and personalities. I have played through twice now and enjoyed exploring having a different ending. The character creator is also SO excellent! I love the aesthetic and all the options. I find it calms my anxiety to play this game. My only negative feedback is just that I want more! I want more locations to scavenge, I want locations to refill with items more so I can keep hunting for treasures, I want to be able to make my own creations and sell them at the Tavern so I can make literally anything. I want some kind of endless mode where unvoiced characters come in with randomized commissions so I can craft until I drop, but starting a new run also fulfills that.

Had a fox woman flirt with me, ruined a priceless compass used to make important maps, then accidentally made a badger man fall in love with me. All in the same day. 11/10