I first heard about this game from David Brevik when he mentioned it in an interview. I then found the trailer and I wishlisted it. I bought it today and gave it a go, I really liked the atmosphere, the art, the chill music. It was on the second day in the game that I decided to return it though. I know it is something small and I will get flak for this but when I received the journal from the old lady there is a section about different characters you meet and in it there are pronouns and of course the journalist Fern had to be a he/they. This ruins the immersion for me. I hope other people will enjoy the game because sadly I won't be playing it.
I like it but the recommendations are broken. A customer just called Othello by Shakespeare "too recent"....? How?
I like the art style, the dialogues are cute.
11/8/2025 edit: The recommendations have improved. They are not perfect, but certainly make more sense now.
personally offended by customers not liking my book recommendations because wdym reading Jujutsu Kaisen hurts your brain?
i get even more offended when customers reject The Little Prince. Like, how dare you say The Little Prince doesn't make you smarter? baby, that book is everything to me >:(
p.s. shoutout to the devs for adding real and all kinds of books into the game <3
I knew this game was right up my alley even before I started browsing through positive reviews. However, when I encountered the negative reviews...I immediately decided to buy it.
People complaining about "woke" ideas like "feminism" and "pronouns" and "themes?" There's something that gets my attention.
I knew I had to sign myself up for the ride thanks to the poor snowflakes that didn't realize the books in the game were...books that exist in real life. Can you imagine something like the Silence of the Lambs having...THEMES?!
Jokes aside, I have a couple of degrees in English Literature and a deep love for anything cozy, and this game is gorgeous. I'm super happy to pluck away at it every now and again, especially since there are plants involved.
Is the game fun? yes! Is the game cute? yes!
Does the game make fun of Christianity? absolutely!
It's really unfortunate their description of the Chronicles of Narnia book. extremely offensive. They are helping fuel the fire of division and hatred that is all to common in our world today. They could either change the description of Narnia or just completely eliminate that book from the game.
While attacking Christianity- they have been very supportive of LGBT values. Even giving a young girl- pronouns. of course she is a she. She was born a she. She will always be a she.
Can they be pro-gay? sure. Just dont be so anti-Christian at the same time. 41 hours. 37 achievements.
My lovely boyfriend got me this game and I am absolutely hooked.
It's a chill as heck game, the management is easy and the characters and story beats are cute and relatable.
And the fact that the books in the game are real makes it a huge fun cherry on top, it has actually made me start a list of books to pick up IRL to read. You might get as excited as me seeing books you know show up in your shelves (I legit straightened up in my seat and out loud exclaimed; "Oh my god, Max Miller's cook book is in it!!!").
I got into this game thinking, isnt it nice, a game with books. After over 20hrs, I decently enjoyed the game. But, the little things that bothered me became now obvious. It's not that I dont like diversity or such, but it gets "On the nose" after a while. As a librarian, you ought to meet people of all background and you kinda have to stay neutral and keep a variety of books to please all. This is not it.
There's a very leftist message in this game where I kinda wanted a book game to be neutral and embrace the full spectrum of politics and such. It kinda bother me when some books are politicals like 1984 by Georges Orwell but it's not accepted when a recommandation asked for a political book. Seems only the "woke" topic fit that role. That's a good exemple where I understand what they done but they should be neutral and offer all the political spectrum equally.
There's a very anti-consumerism message too. There's soo many authors that could be there and yet, the same current big names comes too often as if Fantasy is defined by C.S. Lewis, Tolkien or George R R Martin. Or Horror by King. There's no mention to any book regarding real world politics, or any wars beside some books where it's used as a background.
In the end, it's as the game was made by and for ppl that are 30 years old, knows what was made on their time and only knows the classics of each genres before that time.
Initially, I liked the fact that there were fictionnal books from the game universe, but seeing the lack of diversity in authors and genre, it becomes tiresome after a while.
I want to finish my playthrough but honestly it's a chore and I might not since I dont enjoy being politically messaged. But since it's 1.0, I guess that's where they want to go. If they ever take a neutral position in this, I might play again if an upcoming update talk to me, It's also very repetitive at the moment and need some serious content to get off the feeling that this should be a early access game.
4/10 A very low mixed Review.
Unfortunately has the developer's social politics littered throughout with descriptions using words like misogynist, patriarchy, anti-fat, transphobic, and many others pertaining to race, sex, and sexuality. Why a simple little book-selling game feels the need to insert real world topics of that nature is beyond me. While I am not surprised, it is disappointing. I won't give it a bad review on that alone, the dog makes up for it.
The game itself wouldn't be bad if the developers didn't decide to put their personal political and religious or rather, anti-religious agenda into it. Unfortunately for me, I didn't see this until after the 2 hour refund policy when more books became available. Once I started seeing the books and their descriptions, I was irritated at the overt messaging being conveyed. I'm also irritated that Steam didn't bother to read my comment as to why I was asking for the refund to begin with and just went with the generic 2 hour maximum excuse.
Incredibly slow and tedious in some ways. Very repetitive, lacking a lot of substance.
Exactly what was promised, hardly anymore than that. Played for 6 hours almost and not very happy.
Not worth the price point, would refund this if i could but sadly i cant.
However if you enjoy grinding and selling books by all means go ahead.
Lovely game for book lovers. However, they should definitely fix book recommendations of the game. I read those titles in real life, I know what they contain. Then a customer comes and claims that there is no romance in Saga, no political discussion in Guards! Guards!, a manga is not a comic book, and Lord of the Flies is not scary? I cannot even defend my recommendations and tell them Lord of the Flies gives me anxiety still. I should simply say "sorry"... Ignoring this issue, this can be the best cozy game of the year.
I'm writing this review because I wish someone else would have written a similar one so I would not have bought a game that goes against my values as this one does. First, the good things. The game play is pleasant, I enjoyed the music, and artwork, it's easy to pick up on how the game goes, its cycle and grind. The side quest elements were well placed, and well paced.
So, why leave a negative review? I play "cozy" style games to relax and take a break from the real world, not to have one-sided ideology unfold before my eyes and especially not to see a young child buy a book titled, "Feminist, Queer, Crip" and comment on it in the game. Progressive ideology was prevalent throughout the game, from listed pronouns, to taking shots at organized religion, specifically Christianity. Once I realized I was going to leave a review, I played through the main quest to see if it ever balanced out in representation, ironically, it did not, but just kept getting more progressive, or "woke" as it unfolded. That's just not for me, and I assume not for a large percentage of gamers.
Leave everything behind, except the politics. You thought you left the politics of the city, just to see it again in the small coastal town. It's a fun little game with great presentation, music and enough game to min max a little on making money. I was pleasantly surprised with the book selection and the fact that the books weren't entirely abstracted into ~6 categories but were rather individual famous works from a variety of people. However, politics will come knocking on your door, whether you like it or not.
Super relaxing game, and no, you cannot complete it in just 3-4 hours, it actually has enough content and challenges to keep you playing way longer than that and even after is still a cute game you can enjoy. Playing it with my fiance, he said that it would be cool to have the version of the game with movies instead of books as well, which I hope devs can see this review and consider it, cause this game is actually make you want more!
crazy how a game like this is pushing feminism down your throat subconsciously. This game is way too political for what it is, also christian men are evil and woman are good, thats like half of these books
updated: After playing for several hours, I realized how woke and liberal this game is. I thought librarians are suppose to stay neutral when it comes to politics and I am constantly seeing subliminal messages for wokeness. This game is extremely left...The women all have strong personalities and the men are all weak-minded and self conscious. This just isn't my cup of tea.
original post: expecting this game to be an easy, calm play turned into binge-playing until 1 in the morning. The customizations are awesome and being able to buy different colors besides the original colors it comes with is rad. I love the real book titles. Some books are a bit extreme for me and i wish I could take out some from my library especially since this is suppose to be a calm game. that would be a great suggestion, to be able to donate/sale your own books of your choosing for coins. I would love to have my own character even if it were just for show.
Meh. And there's nothing quite like being rudely told by a child that the book you selected isn't the genre that it obviously is. Indeed, no one says, 'Oh, that's not quite right' - they go straight to 'what, are you some kind of fucking idiot or something for choosing that?' Without the swearing, of course, because it's cosy. I wanted to like it, but sorry - not everything is for everyone, as the customers clearly know.
This game is INCREDIBLE. I don't have to water crops or go fishing or do things I pretend I like doing in real life. I can just sell books by the sea, befriend some villagers, chill with some cozy lofi vibes and oh yeah, there's a dog. And a cat.
I was worried this game would be too simple but the dev team found ways to keep the content and gameplay engaging as soon as selling books starts feeling a tad repetitive. Honestly, no notes 14/10 game.
I first heard about this game from David Brevik when he mentioned it in an interview. I then found the trailer and I wishlisted it. I bought it today and gave it a go, I really liked the atmosphere, the art, the chill music. It was on the second day in the game that I decided to return it though. I know it is something small and I will get flak for this but when I received the journal from the old lady there is a section about different characters you meet and in it there are pronouns and of course the journalist Fern had to be a he/they. This ruins the immersion for me. I hope other people will enjoy the game because sadly I won't be playing it.
I like it but the recommendations are broken. A customer just called Othello by Shakespeare "too recent"....? How?
I like the art style, the dialogues are cute.
11/8/2025 edit: The recommendations have improved. They are not perfect, but certainly make more sense now.
personally offended by customers not liking my book recommendations because wdym reading Jujutsu Kaisen hurts your brain?
i get even more offended when customers reject The Little Prince. Like, how dare you say The Little Prince doesn't make you smarter? baby, that book is everything to me >:(
p.s. shoutout to the devs for adding real and all kinds of books into the game <3
I knew this game was right up my alley even before I started browsing through positive reviews. However, when I encountered the negative reviews...I immediately decided to buy it.
People complaining about "woke" ideas like "feminism" and "pronouns" and "themes?" There's something that gets my attention.
I knew I had to sign myself up for the ride thanks to the poor snowflakes that didn't realize the books in the game were...books that exist in real life. Can you imagine something like the Silence of the Lambs having...THEMES?!
Jokes aside, I have a couple of degrees in English Literature and a deep love for anything cozy, and this game is gorgeous. I'm super happy to pluck away at it every now and again, especially since there are plants involved.
Is the game fun? yes! Is the game cute? yes!
Does the game make fun of Christianity? absolutely!
It's really unfortunate their description of the Chronicles of Narnia book. extremely offensive. They are helping fuel the fire of division and hatred that is all to common in our world today. They could either change the description of Narnia or just completely eliminate that book from the game.
While attacking Christianity- they have been very supportive of LGBT values. Even giving a young girl- pronouns. of course she is a she. She was born a she. She will always be a she.
Can they be pro-gay? sure. Just dont be so anti-Christian at the same time. 41 hours. 37 achievements.
My lovely boyfriend got me this game and I am absolutely hooked.
It's a chill as heck game, the management is easy and the characters and story beats are cute and relatable.
And the fact that the books in the game are real makes it a huge fun cherry on top, it has actually made me start a list of books to pick up IRL to read. You might get as excited as me seeing books you know show up in your shelves (I legit straightened up in my seat and out loud exclaimed; "Oh my god, Max Miller's cook book is in it!!!").
I got into this game thinking, isnt it nice, a game with books. After over 20hrs, I decently enjoyed the game. But, the little things that bothered me became now obvious. It's not that I dont like diversity or such, but it gets "On the nose" after a while. As a librarian, you ought to meet people of all background and you kinda have to stay neutral and keep a variety of books to please all. This is not it.
There's a very leftist message in this game where I kinda wanted a book game to be neutral and embrace the full spectrum of politics and such. It kinda bother me when some books are politicals like 1984 by Georges Orwell but it's not accepted when a recommandation asked for a political book. Seems only the "woke" topic fit that role. That's a good exemple where I understand what they done but they should be neutral and offer all the political spectrum equally.
There's a very anti-consumerism message too. There's soo many authors that could be there and yet, the same current big names comes too often as if Fantasy is defined by C.S. Lewis, Tolkien or George R R Martin. Or Horror by King. There's no mention to any book regarding real world politics, or any wars beside some books where it's used as a background.
In the end, it's as the game was made by and for ppl that are 30 years old, knows what was made on their time and only knows the classics of each genres before that time.
Initially, I liked the fact that there were fictionnal books from the game universe, but seeing the lack of diversity in authors and genre, it becomes tiresome after a while.
I want to finish my playthrough but honestly it's a chore and I might not since I dont enjoy being politically messaged. But since it's 1.0, I guess that's where they want to go. If they ever take a neutral position in this, I might play again if an upcoming update talk to me, It's also very repetitive at the moment and need some serious content to get off the feeling that this should be a early access game.
4/10 A very low mixed Review.
Unfortunately has the developer's social politics littered throughout with descriptions using words like misogynist, patriarchy, anti-fat, transphobic, and many others pertaining to race, sex, and sexuality. Why a simple little book-selling game feels the need to insert real world topics of that nature is beyond me. While I am not surprised, it is disappointing. I won't give it a bad review on that alone, the dog makes up for it.
The game itself wouldn't be bad if the developers didn't decide to put their personal political and religious or rather, anti-religious agenda into it. Unfortunately for me, I didn't see this until after the 2 hour refund policy when more books became available. Once I started seeing the books and their descriptions, I was irritated at the overt messaging being conveyed. I'm also irritated that Steam didn't bother to read my comment as to why I was asking for the refund to begin with and just went with the generic 2 hour maximum excuse.
Incredibly slow and tedious in some ways. Very repetitive, lacking a lot of substance.
Exactly what was promised, hardly anymore than that. Played for 6 hours almost and not very happy.
Not worth the price point, would refund this if i could but sadly i cant.
However if you enjoy grinding and selling books by all means go ahead.
Lovely game for book lovers. However, they should definitely fix book recommendations of the game. I read those titles in real life, I know what they contain. Then a customer comes and claims that there is no romance in Saga, no political discussion in Guards! Guards!, a manga is not a comic book, and Lord of the Flies is not scary? I cannot even defend my recommendations and tell them Lord of the Flies gives me anxiety still. I should simply say "sorry"... Ignoring this issue, this can be the best cozy game of the year.
I'm writing this review because I wish someone else would have written a similar one so I would not have bought a game that goes against my values as this one does. First, the good things. The game play is pleasant, I enjoyed the music, and artwork, it's easy to pick up on how the game goes, its cycle and grind. The side quest elements were well placed, and well paced.
So, why leave a negative review? I play "cozy" style games to relax and take a break from the real world, not to have one-sided ideology unfold before my eyes and especially not to see a young child buy a book titled, "Feminist, Queer, Crip" and comment on it in the game. Progressive ideology was prevalent throughout the game, from listed pronouns, to taking shots at organized religion, specifically Christianity. Once I realized I was going to leave a review, I played through the main quest to see if it ever balanced out in representation, ironically, it did not, but just kept getting more progressive, or "woke" as it unfolded. That's just not for me, and I assume not for a large percentage of gamers.
Leave everything behind, except the politics. You thought you left the politics of the city, just to see it again in the small coastal town. It's a fun little game with great presentation, music and enough game to min max a little on making money. I was pleasantly surprised with the book selection and the fact that the books weren't entirely abstracted into ~6 categories but were rather individual famous works from a variety of people. However, politics will come knocking on your door, whether you like it or not.
Super relaxing game, and no, you cannot complete it in just 3-4 hours, it actually has enough content and challenges to keep you playing way longer than that and even after is still a cute game you can enjoy. Playing it with my fiance, he said that it would be cool to have the version of the game with movies instead of books as well, which I hope devs can see this review and consider it, cause this game is actually make you want more!
crazy how a game like this is pushing feminism down your throat subconsciously. This game is way too political for what it is, also christian men are evil and woman are good, thats like half of these books
updated: After playing for several hours, I realized how woke and liberal this game is. I thought librarians are suppose to stay neutral when it comes to politics and I am constantly seeing subliminal messages for wokeness. This game is extremely left...The women all have strong personalities and the men are all weak-minded and self conscious. This just isn't my cup of tea.
original post: expecting this game to be an easy, calm play turned into binge-playing until 1 in the morning. The customizations are awesome and being able to buy different colors besides the original colors it comes with is rad. I love the real book titles. Some books are a bit extreme for me and i wish I could take out some from my library especially since this is suppose to be a calm game. that would be a great suggestion, to be able to donate/sale your own books of your choosing for coins. I would love to have my own character even if it were just for show.
Meh. And there's nothing quite like being rudely told by a child that the book you selected isn't the genre that it obviously is. Indeed, no one says, 'Oh, that's not quite right' - they go straight to 'what, are you some kind of fucking idiot or something for choosing that?' Without the swearing, of course, because it's cosy. I wanted to like it, but sorry - not everything is for everyone, as the customers clearly know.
This game is INCREDIBLE. I don't have to water crops or go fishing or do things I pretend I like doing in real life. I can just sell books by the sea, befriend some villagers, chill with some cozy lofi vibes and oh yeah, there's a dog. And a cat.
I was worried this game would be too simple but the dev team found ways to keep the content and gameplay engaging as soon as selling books starts feeling a tad repetitive. Honestly, no notes 14/10 game.
