Box Bakery

I’ve played a lot of management games, and I usually really enjoy this genre. I loved games like *Dave the Diver* and many other shop-management games, but unfortunately, *Box Bakery* is just extremely boring to me. I’ve only reached the second town, and I already don’t feel like continuing. Other than adding a few new recipes and one new cooking method, the game barely introduces any new mechanics or features. Most of the gameplay is just clicking, waiting for customers to buy the bread, and then restocking the shelves. You do this again and again. The other main thing you can do is complete random tasks to earn hamster coins, which are mostly used to buy stickers. I can tell that the developer probably put a lot of effort into the sticker system, because so many task rewards are stickers, and a large part of the money you earn also seems to be meant for buying stickers. But personally, I don’t care that much about collecting stickers, and without them, there is honestly not much else to spend money on. The amount of things you can buy is also way too limited. By the second town, there are only three new ingredient books, one new appliance—a refrigerator—and only a few buffs in total, with just two of them available at that point. I kept earning money, but the money didn’t feel useful. There was barely anything exciting to save up for. Starting from the second town, the progression also feels like it is mainly increasing the numbers instead of adding anything new. Some tasks suddenly ask you to make around 50 pieces of bread, but the actual gameplay is still exactly the same. It doesn’t become more interesting or more strategic. It just becomes more repetitive. What disappoints me the most is that I actually really liked the demo. Since the demo was short, I never had enough time to feel bored, and I thought the full game would gradually introduce more mechanics. But after playing the full version for more than ten hours, I realized that it mostly stays the same. Honestly, I was only able to keep playing because I was listening to podcasts and other audio in the background. Without something else to keep me entertained, I cannot imagine playing this game for that long. The game is cute, and I understand that some players may enjoy the relaxing and repetitive gameplay or the sticker collecting. But for me, there is simply not enough variety, progression, or meaningful content. It feels less like I am building and managing a bakery, and more like I am repeatedly clicking and restocking shelves while watching the required numbers get bigger.