Console Store Simulator from developer Bear Games is listed on their page as “In Console Store Simulator, turn a small second-hand game shop into the most popular store in town. Buy and sell games and consoles, negotiate with customers, repair devices, open a game café, and grow your business with black market opportunities”. It’s no secret I love these types of games, so let’s jump in and see how it plays from publisher PlayWay S.A.

You wake up in your small apartment and are directed to an empty store in the city. The city is actually quite large, roughly two blocks in size, where you can walk around with 40 or so shops and apartment fronts. A small percentage of these you can actually go into. It’s not like most shop sims where you just have one street. There are some empty stores that, as the game progresses, you can purchase to expand your shop brand. Other stores in the city include a bike shop, a pawn shop, a repair shop, and even a bar where the drinks give you a buff for the day.

Upon arriving at your shop, you are guided through a tablet-based tutorial featuring short instructional videos. You also have a tablet on an in-store counter that drives a lot of your actions. By clicking on it, you have the following options to choose from: Stock market (if you want to risk your earnings), an inventory that shows your current stock holdings, the ability to buy property when you want to expand, bills you have to pay for running your shop, and shop customisation.

Time to set up your display stands; you can order them from your previously mentioned tablet, and they will quickly appear outside your shop. Next, it’s time to begin placing the stock on them.

Each item, console, gamepad, or game has its own unique stand and cannot be mixed. Once I was happy with the placement, I clicked the closed sign to flip it around, and the store was now open! Straight away, the customers came flooding in.

Before too long, I was out of game stock, as you start with only one full box. Day then quickly turned to night, and your shop will automatically close, sending all the remaining customer’s home.

To resupply your shop, you essentially have two options: 1) Acting like a pawn shop, whereby people come in to sell their pre-loved goods, and the traditional buy low and sell high that comes along with it. When dealing with customers, you are advised to watch their demeanour, which can assist in price negotiations. So far, I have come across demeanours such as deceivable, stubborn, and normal. When buying hardware, you will be given a condition report (how good a condition the hardware is) and a market price (a guide to the price you should be paying).

For games, you need to open the case and clean the DVDs to check for scratches, which will affect the condition and resale value. 2) Buy from an illegal black market, which will only appear at night. For example, once your shop is closed, walk around the block, and you’ll discover the black-market stall, which has three boxes for sale, and some of the boxes aren’t cheap. Now the first problem is that you don’t know what you’re getting inside them; it could be feast or famine, and you don’t find out what’s inside until the boxes arrive at your shop in the morning.

Having bought two mystery boxes, I returned to my store in the morning, opened the first box and was greeted with twelve gamepad controllers. I can easily make my money back on this box! The second box, well, it was empty! There goes $600 down the drain, but that’s the fun part, it’s the black market, so what do you expect? That brings up another problem for me: you cannot buy stock new; you have to constantly take the risk or hope customers bring in stock you can buy.

Once you get the money rolling in, it’s time to start upgrading your store. You have 12 different display cases you can upgrade, as you need different stands for games, controllers, and systems. You can also buy speakers to play music in your shop, and advertising posters, all of which help you give your own little style and flair.

You have the ability to buy more stores and also open a gaming lounge, which can be filled with TV’s and gaming systems. Upgrading your shop twice will increase its size, allowing more room to fit more stands and products.

As the customers continue to bring in old, damaged systems and control pads, I am realising that if I take them to the repair shop down the road, after 12 hours, I can pick them up fully refurbished for a small cost and can make a larger profit, which starts to turbocharge my earnings. There are also 21 Steam achievements for those achievement hunters out there.

The graphics are what you see in most simulator games these days. They are semi-realistic with a good variety of different citizens walking around the city. The city itself is well put together and has a good mix of shops, apartment buildings, rubbish on the streets, and back alleys. The number of gaming systems is limited to a select few, as in real life, but there are multiple game titles and some familiar take-offs of existing titles. The shop upgrades are pretty limited; it would be good to see more options rather than the very basics, such as colour and wallpaper. 

The locals don’t talk; the game uses speech bubbles, and as they are being written, a typewriter-style noise is made; it actually becomes quite annoying after a while. There are the usual sound effects of doors opening and footsteps, but they feel like most are an afterthought. There is no music in the game until you buy a speaker, and you can play some gaming electro music in your store.

Overall, Consol Store Simulator tries to be different in a genre that is becoming flooded. The structure is there, and it will be interesting to see how the game develops over the next 12 months. The idea of multiple shops and an open-world city block is very unique, and they have pulled it off nicely. If you enjoy simulators, you’ll sink a few enjoyable hours, as your gaming empire expands. 

Written by: Mike Bridge