inKONBINI: One Store. Many Stories

On description this sounded like my perfect game! But if you go into this thinking you're going to be getting a sim like game, you'll be disappointed. It's a VERY slow paced, story game where managing the store is secondary. I wish there had been more customers and more store management.

(Scroll to bottom for short summary) [h1] Not really THAT many stories... or gameplay... [/h1] It pains me to rate this game so low, because I genuinely adore its appearance and gameplay concepts, but I’m just not fully sold on the execution. InKonbini was fun… while it lasted. I got around 5 hours of gameplay, which feels way too short for a $20 game. Going in, I expected more of a worker sim with a story twist, but it ended up feeling more like a story game with light shop gameplay. I have played a lot of worker sim type games so something new with a twist was more than welcome in my direction. Its my bad for not having done more research into the type of game this is. The trailer doesn't explain what this game is at all and nor does the description. I loved the little details around the store. The notes left behind, the signs of the people who work there, and the overall feeling that people actually existed in this space. But there were also a lot of objects and items that felt like they should have had a bigger purpose and just… didn’t. By the end, I kept thinking, when do I actually get to do more with this item? And then the game just ended. That was my biggest issue with InKonbini: it left me wanting more, but there isn’t really more to play. There’s no endless mode, no meaningful replayability, and nothing changes on a new save. This made me think, is this game in beta? Nope. Its out at full release. So this is the END. I’ve never been disappointed by a game because I wanted to keep playing it, but that’s exactly how this felt. I came back expecting to get deeper into it and instead realized I was already 30 minutes from the end. I totally thought Aunt Hina would call us and say "Hey! You own the store now! Good luck kid!" But no. The game ended. The story itself was okay, though a little depressing at times. It was also much more dialogue-heavy than I expected. Since the game leans so hard on story, only having four main characters made it feel a bit limited. Some of the characterization felt off too. Satoshi didn’t really sound like a 10-year-old kid. Naomi was meh, Chief was solid, and the silent man was probably my favorite just because he was so mysterious. However its sooo odd that these people are confiding in a random Konbini worker... and we are supposed to give them advice and fix their problems. I enjoyed when the story would have me picking out items they needed, either for a recipe or order. (its funny that the game is called one store, many stories because tbh... its not that many stories...) Visually, the game is gorgeous, which almost makes the short runtime more frustrating. There’s so much care put into the environment that it feels like a waste not to have more to do in it. I played thoroughly, completed every task I could, ordered everything, and it still felt over way too fast. To note though, the Japanese on the items isn't actual Japanese. Its just made up? The naming conventions of some of the items too seemed off. I don't know, something about the language in this game is just weird. The controls were smooth and sorting items was satisfying, but I got pretty severe MOTION SICKNESS after about an hour of playing. I really don’t think the third-person camera helps a game like this, especially when the store itself is so tiny. Makoto also moves pretty slowly, but that didn’t bother me much since it fit the vibe. Overall, I did enjoy InKonbini, but for $20 it feels too short and too limited. I wanted more shop sim gameplay, more customers, and especially an endless mode. Instead, it feels like the game ends right when it’s starting to settle in. Buy on sale... like 50 percent off... More than anything, I hope the devs do something with this. It has potential. SUMMARY [b] !!!THIS IS NOT A TYPICAL SHOP SIM GAME AT ALL!!! [/b] [*] Cozy atmosphere and a beautifully detailed store [*] More depressing dialogue-heavy than I could ever expect, with light shop gameplay that is good. [*] Too short for $20 and has almost no replay value, 5 Hour total. [*] Feels like it ends right when it starts getting better [*] Wanted more actual store management and an endless mode [*] Smooth controls, but the third-person camera caused motion sickness for me

InKonbini: One Store. Many Stories — очень спокойная и уютная игра. Почти всё время просто раскладываешь товары по полкам, принимаешь поставки, общаешься с покупателями и потихоньку узнаёшь их истории. Главный вайб и посыл игры — в повседневности. В том, чтобы ценить обычные моменты, замечать мелочи, общаться с людьми и понимать, что именно из таких, казалось бы, незначительных вещей и складывается жизнь. Это милая игра на пару вечеров. Она не пытается удивить каким-то закрученным сюжетом, а просто дарит ощущение уюта и немного напоминает, что иногда стоит притормозить и обратить внимание на то, что происходит вокруг. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3772110690

It could have been fun if the characters weren't annoying and needy as hell and if our character didn't walk like her feet were made of lead. Like STFU and let me stock the damned shelves please. The constant pressure from dialogue pop-ups made it impossible to feel cozy. Everything felt so clunky and impossible to use.

My only complaint about this game is that I want more of it. If you're looking for a shop simulator game, this is not it. But if you are open to an immersive, slow paced, contemplative experience you're in the right place. I played over the course of roughly 3 weeks, spending my days looking forward to having the time to play a shift at the kombini at night. With it also being summer in real life, the vibes whilst playing were immaculate. Everything has been crafted with such care, the characters you get to know, the products on the shelves, the immersive sound design... I have no doubt I will return in the summers to come and what a delightful thought that is.

I wish there was an option on steam to give a neutral review, because I don’t really know how to feel about the game, and giving it a negative one seems a bit to harsh for me, but the negative things I encountered overweigh more than the positive things. First and foremost, the game is more akin to the “Life is Strange” games aka story driven games with a lot of dialogue choices that influence things and not actually a “supermarket sim” like most would expect. Doing actual store clerk tasks is very limited in this game. The maximum amount of work you do in a shift is to restock shelves, maybe order few new items and clean up the store a bit; but most of your time will be spent in the game reading long dialogue boxes because the customers will just constantly talk your ear off. I really tried reading through it all, but they just keep blabbering on and on about meaningless and esoteric stuff, that towards the end I kept just skipping through the dialogue boxes because I was just tired of them. I did not really feel attached to any of the characters at all. I personally enjoyed the art style, music and general presentation of the game. I also really liked keeping the store tidy and the shelves stocked, but once you did that for the shift, you where once again stuck with the customers chewing your ear off. It does also not help that the customers walk at a snails pace through the store and I was basically hovering behind them praying they would just ask me something to that I could advance the shift. Also to get some Achievements you have to do just nonsensical and weird things and often do not make sense at all: like completely ignoring what your customers want and give them something they don’t want at all! Or you even get punished if you are a good store clerk and keep things tidy because for some specific Achievements you need to keep the store messy that the customers can’t find certain things and you have to personally bring it to them! Like it does not make even any amount of sense why it should impact anything when the customer grabs an specific item themselves because I made a good job of keeping everything stocked versus me being a lazy employee and having to bring them stuff from the storage because I did not do my job. It does also not help that you can break the NPCs scripts super easy when you don’t stock a certain item or don’t give them a certain item: On Shift 3 Naomi is super prone to bugging out if you don’t give her certain items and you have to restart the entire shift! Which brings me to another gripe I have with the game, you can’t start from certain chapters/shifts. If you want to play to a certain day, you have to replay the entire game. While the devs added a “Shift reset” button in case you did want to restart a shift, if you want to start from a certain day you are out of luck. Also don’t let you deceive by my playtime, I had to play SIX times through the game to get the last achievement to 100% the game, because its description was so obscure and people have been actually STRUGGELING to unlock it! I had to scour the entire internet up and down to find out how to actually to unlock the “Unexpected Goods” Achievement until a kind soul on the steam forums actually shared a solution that finally worked! The first playthough took me 5ish hours, the second one 3ish. So you get about 8 hours of playtime if you go for 2 playthoughs and want to grab all of the achievements, and don’t have problems like me to get a missing one. Grab it on a sale.

Inkonbini — это про уют и внимание к мелочам. Игра сразу задаёт спокойный, располагающий тон: тут не хочется торопиться, а хочется просто побыть в этом мире, разглядывать окружение и вчитываться в каждую реплику. Особенно понравились философские диалоги — они не просто двигают повествование, а заставляют задуматься. Персонажи поднимают темы, над которыми потом ещё долго размышляешь после сеанса. При этом герои не звучат как лекторы: философские нотки органично вплетены в их характеры и бытовые разговоры, от этого только интереснее. Диалоги в целом отлично проработаны: у каждого персонажа своя манера речи, свой взгляд на мир. А благодаря вниманию разработчиков к деталям даже самые, казалось бы, незначительные элементы рассказывают что‑то о вселенной игры. Финал оставил смешанные чувства: было одновременно очень радостно и грустно. Именно такая эмоциональная неоднозначность и делает историю по‑настоящему живой — она не даёт простых ответов и долго не отпускает после прохождения. Inkonbini напоминает о японской философии ичиго ичие — о ценности единственного, неповторимого момента. Так что советую играть не спеша, чтобы по-настоящему прочувствовать каждую сцену. Пусть эта игра станет для вас тем самым уникальным мгновением, которое хочется бережно сохранить в памяти. Однозначно рекомендую!

A very fine game, though rather short. It left me wanting more. The store mechanics are very easy to learn and you really do start to get to know where products should go. But, just as I was getting used to the job, the game was over. I would really appreciate either a second week (DLC?), or an endless mode. Or both!

not a sandbox or simulation, it's a linear story with minimal choices still nice and fun regardless