Tiny Bookshop Review - A Cozy Game Every Book Lover Needs To Play

Since I was young, I have been enamoured with the worlds offered to me whilst paging through works of fiction.

Even now, I yearn for the smell of paper and ink on my fingers, the whispering sound that comes with flicking through pages and the ability to freeze time as you step into the shoes of another, even those who are long gone and yet their words still live on.

In another life, I would own my very own bookshop and share my love of literature with all those who walk in my path. Maybe there would be a coffee machine whirring in the corner and an area of bruised and battered armchairs waiting for those who wish to lose themselves in new worlds.

I may not have achieved that dream but I can still get a glimpse of what it may be like courtesy of one of the newest cosy games on the market: Tiny Bookshop.

Developed by Neoludic Games, Tiny Bookshop is a cozy narrative management game where you will take on the role of a mobile bookseller in a small seaside town. It will be your job to stock your second-hand bookshop with books across all genres, get to know the locals and take on their requests and decorate your cabin-like shop to match the ever-changing seasons.

Since it was first announced, Tiny Bookshop has been on my radar and I was so eager to play, that I gladly dived into its demo in June of last year. Now, after an agonised wait, the full release is fully here and I could live out my bookselling dream by the sea in full.

It was just an hour in that I knew that Tiny Bookshop was everything I had been hoping for and more.

Neoludic Games

This isn’t an adrenaline-fuelled RPG or an indie game with a heartwrenching story - it is quiet, calm and everything that you would hope for when it comes to the peace and tranquillity that comes with finding your home between the pages of books.

Set in the fictional seaside town of Bookstonbury-by-the-Sea, you will travel to various places around the map to set up your mobile shop whether that is the hospital to the north full of gossiping medical personnel, the bustling university home to stressed students, the shell-littered beach in the summer months, or the flea market where you can find all sorts of unique goods to decorate your store.

Each location is home to some unique characters such as the sailors who barter for catch at the weekly fish market or the teenagers who like to hang around the castle ruins and tell ghost stories by firelight.

It is some of these characters that you will befriend throughout your time in Tiny Bookshop.

There is Tildé, the first to welcome you to the town and acts as something of a mother to all of its inhabitants, Harper, a young girl who is keen to prove her worth, Moira, dressed all in black and studies at the university whilst working in her grandmother’s Tildé’s shop or even Fern, a budding reporter who employs your help with a very serious crime at the local supermarket.

All of these characters and more fill this otherwise small and compact game with love and humanity and it is through conversations with them and completing the tasks they give you that you will get to know both their personalities and the books that speak to them the most.

You will make your home amongst the residents and it won’t be long before you find yourself delivering pastries to Tildé in the hospital, sharing gossip at the hospital, collecting seashells on the beach for Harper and even helping aspiring musician Klaus with their lyrics.

In Tiny Bookshop, each day will begin very much the same: you will open up the daily newspaper to see the weather, any events, a summary of any notable occasions, and if there is anything you want to buy from other sellers such as books and decorations for your bookshop.

Then, you will pick a spot on the map to travel to and when you arrive, you will open up the shutters, lower the ramp and wait with the coffee machine brewing as customers slowly start to trickle in.

Neoludic Games

However, no day feels the same as customers asking for help with book recommendations which will push your book knowledge to the limit, friends will ask for help in exchange for stamps to decorate your journal and most importantly, the seasons will gradually change.

Summer will see you heading to the beach where customers will bustle into your small shop with rubber rings around their waist and the sun in their hair whereas by the winter months, you will spend most of your time at the winter market, drinking hot drinks and snacking on sugared almonds as you hang festive lights and mistletoe around the length of your portable shop.

It is across your travels that you will be able to adopt a stray dog after bribing him with a fish and, if you choose to, you can take him everywhere you go as he sits as a silent guardian outside the shop, attracting customers and buckling under the weight of all the head pats.

There is no other way to describe Tiny Bookshop than delightfully cosy and a game which you can spend hours getting lost in, much like the very books the game is based around. With beautiful colours, smooth gameplay and relatable characters, you will feel at home in Bookstonbury-by-the-Sea and the magical world that Neoludic Games has managed to create.

Pros: Smooth gameplay, beautiful art style, relaxing narrative adventure

Cons: N/A

For fans of: Books and reading in general

9/10: Exceptional

Tiny Bookshop is available now on PC (version tested) and Nintendo Switch. A review code was provided by the publisher. Read a guide to our review scores here.