Despite how popular the “cozy games” genre has become, many titles that fall under its umbrella lose sight of the “cozy” part—but not Tiny Bookshop.
The latest indie sim darling is precisely what its name implies: you’ve started a mobile secondhand book store, operating out of a trailer pulled by your car. Each day, you venture out to one of the charming locales around the idyllic town of Bookstonbury-by-the-Sea to hawk your wares. Success depends on how well you stock your shelves and make recommendations to your indecisive patrons.
Or at least, this is the core of Tiny Bookshop‘s experience—as much of a puzzle game as it is a business sim. Your stocks are replenished by buying used book lots out of the newspaper classifieds. Deftly dividing your shelf space amongst the various genres will help cover your bases when customers come looking for specific requests. Then it’s a matter of picking the right book from your daily inventory to suit their sometimes cryptic requests, in order to optimize your sales.
This fundamental loop, in itself, would satisfy me for many hours. The titles used in-game are mostly pulled from a staggering database of real-world books, from classic staples of literature (Beowulf, Shakespeare, Jane Austen) to more contemporary books and even comics and manga (Scott Pilgrim, Six of Crows). There’s also a smattering of original titles thrown in, referencing the history of Bookstonbury.
“Their friendly banter and, dare I say, character arcs also infuse Tiny Bookshop with signature cozy energy.”
At its heart, it’s a pretty savvy business sim, but Tiny Bookshop doesn’t stop there. There’s a handful of unique local patrons with whom you can strike up proper conversations, like the key NPCs in other cozy sims like Story of Seasons. Tilde is the town’s former bookstore owner, now retired and operating a booth at the weekly Flea Market; Harper has the aura of the local iPad Kid, but has a to-be-read pile as tall as she is; while Klaus is a fledgling goth rockstar stuck in the doldrums of working the local supermarket.
These helpful regulars point out opportunities, unlocking new challenges, locations, or items. Their friendly banter and, dare I say, character arcs also infuse Tiny Bookshop with signature cozy energy. Since we never see the players’ in-game persona, all of the personal weight of the game falls on their shoulders, and luckily, they provide a charming cross-section of small-town life.
Like many of its cozy brethren, Tiny Bookshop employs a traditional seasonal structure, beginning in summer. There is a calendar of weekly events, such as the flea market on Saturdays or the discount day at the soulless supermarket on Mondays. Then there’s the cycle of seasonal events, like an end-of-summer bonfire or Halloween. Each individual day takes only a few real-time minutes, depending on how long you linger on customer requests. The pacing between these different time elements finds a real sweet spot, and it quickly becomes a “just one more turn before I turn it off” type of game.
“I do wish Tiny Bookshop provided a little more agency in terms of which actual books are stocked.”
The recommendation “minigame” is, largely, a stimulating kind of puzzle, where the customer’s requests must be deciphered and compared against the day’s remaining inventory. Most of the time, I was able to make an educated guess—really drawing on that Bachelor of Arts degree in English lit and too many years in customer service—and score a long-shot basket.
Other times, I thought I had an inspired recommendation, only to be waved off by the customer. There can be a bit of a disconnect between the desires buried within the customer’s words and the way the game deciphers your picks. Occasionally, the difficulty indicator seemed wildly off-base—like a request with several stars that sounds niche but refers to one of the most basic books on my shelf that day. As it is, pre-existing knowledge of literary history is by no means required, but it certainly proves helpful when the puzzles get overcomplicated.
To that end, I do wish Tiny Bookshop provided a little more agency in terms of which actual books are stocked. Books can be placed on the shelves according to their genre, but you do not know which specific titles adorn those colour-coded spines until you go into the recommendation puzzles. Even if it were an optional mode, I would appreciate the chance to truly curate which titles my virtual store offers.
You do have the option to control the appearance and vibe of your shop. Themed items can be found, received, or purchased, each with a different impact upon the popularity of certain genres and products. Put out a decorative skull, and you might sell more horror, but at the cost of scaring away kids. Through this system, it’s possible to influence your Tiny Bookshop‘s specialty if you can acquire enough stat-boosting gear for the genre you want to focus on. However, certain genres do better at certain locations, so turning my store into the sci-fi/fantasy store of my dreams was a steeply uphill battle.
The true beauty here is that Tiny Bookshop can be largely passive while customers are perusing. Once you open shop for the day, the customers help themselves until they prompt for a recommendation, if necessary. You’re otherwise free to explore the area around your daily location, finding new items lying around or interacting with other elements.
Combining finely-tuned pacing and a soft, pastel aesthetic that invokes Untitled Goose Game‘s quirky charm yields a recipe for a truly addictive cozy game. Like a favourite book on my bedside table, this will surely be one game I keep at hand on my Nintendo Switch 2 to unwind with on lazy evenings.
