I'm not going to brag about it, but I was a little underestimated at the beginning of this game. After all, there are too many skin-changing games on the market under the banner of "national style management". You can just draw a landscape and say that you are "desert smoke" or "splendid elegance". The name "Errand Shopkeeper" also sounds like a simple idle game to collect food. But to be honest, when I opened the first level of Crescent Moon Spring in the Western Region, I was stunned for a moment. The color matching and sky rendering of the desert really gave me a sense of concentration that I felt when I played "The Sims" on a Symbian machine.
I have played many similar games. I have played Cairo's "Food Dream Story" countless times. Later, I always kept games such as "My Coffee Shop" and "Foreign Fruit Shop" on my phone. Their advantage is that the numerical curve is very smooth, but after playing too much, they feel a little less human. The "Errender Shopkeeper" is better because it is "busy" and realistic. You think you are arranging check-in, but you forgot to deliver the saddle in the pub next door. Guests at the racecourse are waiting to ask for it. The firewood in the bonfire area has also run out. There are still guests in the lobby asking for cattail fans. In the middle of winter, there are still people who want "warmth".
This kind of multi-threaded parallel rush has the pure "choreographed feeling" of Java games in the Symbian era. I had the same feeling when I played "Dream Cake House" on Nokia. The screen was small and the picture was rough, but every step was done seriously, and I was so happy after finishing a cup of milk tea. Today's games know how to make you "enjoyed" so well. They hang up with one click, find paths automatically, and have nothing to do after clearing the red dots. On the contrary, they lack the practicality of "management".
Not to brag or be slanderous, "Errender Shopkeeper" also pays attention to regional characteristics. The Crescent Spring Hotel in the Western Regions, the yurts on the grassland, and the lively street scenes of Splendid Bianjing. Each scene has different drinks, wood, and clothing styles. It is not just a simple change of skin, but the errand route and the temperament of the guests have been changed according to the landscape. The feeling of openness when you run on the grassland is completely different from the feeling of running around in the alleys of Bianjing City. This kind of detail is very useful to an experienced player like me.
Of course, it's not without its shortcomings. The sense of long-term development and character bonding found in similar business games are currently relatively shallow. The characters of the NPCs are not vivid enough, and they lack the "obsession" of the customers in the Cairo game. Moreover, the repetition will become a bit more in the later period. I hope that as mentioned in the copy, more regional hotels will be launched one after another, and the "errand etiquette" and geographical stories of each place will be made thicker.
The charging mode is 0, which surprised me a bit. Nowadays, many mobile games start with a warm welcome, followed by various limited-time gift packages. This game currently feels more like a handicraft workshop to me. It quietly brings out a bowl of noodles, without telling you to buy braised eggs or forcing you to sign up for a membership. I hope the team can maintain this honesty and not follow the routine of "free first and cut off the food later".
To be honest, as an old guy like me who has been playing games for more than 20 years, I have long passed the age of staying up late for a simulated business. But at midnight last night, I delivered the last bundle of firewood in the bonfire area, looked at the big moon on the screen, and vaguely recalled the loneliness and satisfaction I felt in junior high school when I was hiding under the quilt, holding the Nokia N85, and lighting up the virtual roast chicken restaurant. Games, sometimes they really don't need to be grand, it's just good if they allow you to run around in that small world for a whole night. 😌