Retro Rewind - Video Store Simulator

[b]Retro Rewind - Video Store Simulator[/b] симулятор видеопроката в эпоху расцвета VHS-кассет. Нам предстоит открыть свой бизнес с нуля и сделать так, чтобы наш прокат стал лучшим в городе. Игра целиком строится на атмосфере, ностальгии и удовольствии от управления https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3763622848 [b]Плюсы[/b] * Атмосфера и контент: вайб 90-х, отсылки к культовым фильмам, забавные обложки и названия. Большой выбор кассет и даже пиратские копии (включая фильмы для взрослых, которые можно приобрести у мутного барыги) * Уникальные заставки с обложками кассет при каждом заходе в игру * Смена погоды и времени года, календарь и сезонные события * Кастомизация: можно менять декор, отделку, расширять магазин [b]Минусы[/b] * Однообразие и рутина после первых часов. Новые фишки появляются крайне редко и почти не меняют геймплей, а автоматизация отсутствует * Слабые сотрудники: работают медленно, засыпают, требуют контроля. Нет прокачки навыков и настройки униформы * Мало декораций: хотелось бы больше тематических наборов под разные жанры * Нет важных механик: нельзя менять цены, брать кредиты или открыть вторую кассу * Все здания на улице закрыты, территория для прогулок крошечная * Перевод на русский пока частичный https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3763623887 [b]Вердикт[/b] Игра даёт возможность окунуться в дух 90-х, почувствовать вайб видеопроката и просто кайфовать от процесса. Проект обладает огромным потенциалом и цепляет атмосферой, но в текущем состоянии страдает от однообразия, слабой автоматизации и недостатка контента. Если разработчики добавят больше механик, улучшат сотрудников и разнообразят геймплей, игра может стать настоящим хитом. Однако не зайдёт, если вы ожидаете глубокую экономику или не любите монотонность

I absolutely love this game. Building up my own video store, decorating the shelves, expanding the shop, and deciding what to stock is exactly what I was looking for. The retro atmosphere ties everything together perfectly.

In theory, I should love this game, and I really wanted to. The first 5 hours were fun. The nostalgia factor hits hard and the general gameplay loop is roughly what I expected for a simulation/shop keeper game, but the problem is that the game just doesn't go anywhere. You unlock decorations, expansions, arcade machines, concession stands, and none of it meaningfully changes your income or your day to day loop. You can buy an arcade machine for $550, which will realistically earn you $30 per day. Revenue in general feels hard capped somewhere around $400-$600 a day no matter what you do, which makes decorating and expanding feel pointless. I almost feel like I would've been better off saving all of my money, only buying expansions, shelves, and movies. Worse, the gameplay loop never evolves past year one, which makes the game feel like it belongs in Early Access. There's no second year of content, it just recycles the same script of movies and customers on a loop. You're stuck running outside every couple minutes handing out flyers because foot traffic never picks up on its own, even with a fully decorated, fully stocked store. You can hire employees to run the register and returns desk, but that just frees you up to do more flyer duty. Speaking of flyer duty, there are really only 3 main things you can do on a day-to-day basis: pass out flyers, run the register, or run the return desk. There are so many management aspects that are completely missing from this "management" game that would actually give us some depth and a reason to keep playing. Things like staff progression and training, skill trees and perks for the player, creating specials and deals, adjusting prices, tape cleaning and maintenance, age ratings of movies, having multiple store locations to manage, etc. All the little details that make a management game deep and interesting are absent, so what's left is an empty shell with very little going on underneath. For the asking price, this feels like a fraction of the content and depth you'd expect. We have a shell of a good game here, but nothing within to really justify the price. If you're curious, play the demo first, it's honestly close to the full experience since nothing really changes after those first couple hours. I wish I could (Retro) Rewind the 26 hours I spent playing this game.

I don't understand the positivity for the game at this price point. If it was $5-10 I'd get it. I enjoy the vibe of the game, but it's incredibly repetitive, after expanding my store and getting hundreds of movies, it doesn't feel like I've actually achieved anything other than grind. The upgrades barely do anything, and i don't see anything else in the progression that is something other than different colours of movies...

A very great and cozy concept, but, it has little no longevity and after a bit it feels like a waste of time. Granted I understand that it's a simple game overall and it doesn't need to be complex, however, there is a fundamental lack of things to do overall and it's the same, day in day out. A game like this needs branching out features that gives it life, such as competition, store management, MUCH deeper customization, special features involving the customers because it's really limited at the moment. Fun for a little but once you've done the same things for hours on end, and very little color in between, just makes it a quick enjoyment but I find little to no reasons to go back to it. Addtionally, you're confined to the SAME space the entire time, it's not like you can choose different video store locations or the likes. Perhaps in the future I'd recommend it more but for a full release game it feels like early access.

Its very repetitive. No special mechanics. No rewards. Only some small upgrades. Did not even play it untill the end.

Look, I've played so many of these shop simulator slop games and this one is one of the most basic, barebones ones. It is being advertised as a full, finished game and yet it feels very early access, judging by the lack of content and frequency of content updates, it very much is an early access game. In my opinion, these are some of the most jarring issues: [list] [*]In this [u]RENTAL[/u] VHS shop [u]SIMULATOR[/u] game, we cannot change the VHS return policy which is set to a single day - why can't I change it to 3 / 5 / 10 / whatever days? [*]In this SHOP [u]SIMULATOR[/u] game, why can't I change the prices of ANYTHING, not even the popcorn/slushies..? [*]Why is there only one cashier and one VHS return station, without an option to purchase more? Expanding the store inevitably leads to having more VHS in stock, that means more VHS returns - am I supposed to idle around for 10 minutes before I open the shop every day, waiting for my employee to restock the shelves? Even with me helping re-stocking (which I shouldn't have to do late game, at all), it still takes waaaay too long... [*]Why does the tutorial clearly tell you to trash broken VHS when later on, you get an option to repair them..? If I knew that, obviously I wouldn't trash them. [*]Events add absolutely nothing to the gameplay. Why would it matter that I sell more horror during Halloween or XMas movies during winter holidays, when I can't even change the VHS rental prices..? [*]Customers getting angry by late return / broken VHS fees, is a frustrating mechanic that adds nothing to the gameplay, because we can't do anything about it (besides not charging them) - if we were able to change the return policy to e.g., 3 days, maybe they wouldn't return their rentals late. Maybe if we could change the return fees, they wouldn't get angry as often. Why am I charging a flat 20 dollar fee for every broken VHS, even if I paid only 8 dollars to acquire said VHS..? [/list] Those are just some ideas that would turn the game into an actual shop simulator, right now it's just a cashier simulator and later on, decoration simulator. However, since this is advertised as a complete game, not in early access, I cannot recommend it - TCG sim is still the best shop sim and it's not even close.

I have more of a neutral stance on this game, but I can't recommend as the gameplay loop is tedious and there's no actual progression. There's no optimizing sales, there's no maximizing profits, you can't add registers, you can't upgrade the rental return. You have the gameplay loop and that's about it. It's fun for a bit, but if you're looking for a game that has incremental upgrades allowing you to process faster and get bigger profits, look elsewhere. I just got to the end of the first month and after the first two days of Halloween, I'm calling it quits. I was about 2/3 through Fall and I was feeling pretty stuck, I thought I should have expanded the store by now. I still only had the single room, but it was packed with shelving. I always expanded the video selection whenever I could. I came to the review page to see if there was anyone else that felt the same. Sure enough, after reading some of the negative reviews, someone had mentioned that you're basically capped at $300-$500 a day. So, I tried tracking it, sure enough they were right. It's Halloween, Thursday. I stocked all my snack shelves with chocolate, my ad board was set to boost snack sales, I had 3 shelves FULL of horror movies as well as full shelves through the store. All returns were made and all movies repaired before opening the store. I had the employee set to the register, I grabbed 5 flyers and hit open. Then I sprinted as much as I could, handing out flyers as much as possible. I must have handed out at least 50 flyers. Returned videos whenever there was one. There was always a line at the register. Even with my hard work, I barely surpassed $500. Surely, Friday would be even better. Fridays = more sales right? Wrong. I busted my rear just like the previous day. Handed out just as many flyers. $350 in sales. Utterly disappointed. What's the point of even trying? If you want to return videos for hours on end and numb your brain as a pretend Blockbuster employee, then this is for you. It's casual through and through. There are other "store simulator" type games out there that have actual progression and make you feel like you're succeeding rather than doing the same thing over and over and over again.

For anyone who remembers the sacred Friday night ritual of browsing local video rental stores, Retro Rewind: Video Store Simulator by Blood Pact Studios feels like a warm embrace from childhood. It transports you straight back to the early 1990s, tasking you with running a cozy retail kingdom filled with physical media. It is true that in the late game (around level 20), a slight repetitiveness can set in, and the hired employees could sometimes work faster. However, as a relaxing 'cozy' experience that will remind you of the scent of popcorn and plastic, Retro Rewind works absolutely flawlessly.

J'ai connu l'époque des VHS, alors c'est avec une bonne dose de nostalgie que j'ai lancé le jeu. Au début, c'était vraiment amusant. L'ambiance est réussie, on retrouve le petit côté club vidéo, avec l'odeur imaginaire du popcorn et tout le charme de cette époque. Par contre, le grind de l'XP devient rapidement beaucoup trop long... et surtout, pas très amusant. Passé un certain stade, qui arrive assez vite, on a plus ou moins toujours le même nombre de clients, sauf lors des événements spéciaux. Donc, que tu possèdes 100 ou 2 000 VHS, au final ça ne change pratiquement rien. Le prix reste le même et les seuls critères qui comptent vraiment sont : vieux, normal, nouveau... et adulte. Sincèrement, la qualité des films ne semble presque avoir aucune importance. Elle sert surtout quand un client fait une demande précise du genre : « Je veux un film de ce type, mais de telle qualité. » À part un très, très, très léger bonus d'XP, ça ne change absolument rien au gameplay. Le jeu a pourtant de bonnes idées. Le fait de pouvoir embaucher un employé est vraiment apprécié. Le problème, c'est que le deuxième arrive beaucoup trop tard. À partir du moment où tu réalises que les clients choisissent leurs VHS presque au hasard, tu comprends que posséder des films rares, multicolores ou avec des critiques exceptionnelles... on s'en fiche un peu. De toute façon, tu es limité par une seule caisse, un seul employé et un nombre fixe de clients. Ton énorme collection ne sert finalement qu'à prendre la poussière... virtuellement. Du coup, l'argent ne sert plus à grand-chose. Agrandir le magasin ne sert pas à grand-chose non plus. Tout ce qui reste, c'est de farmer de l'XP en espérant enfin débloquer le deuxième employé. Et c'est là que j'ai décroché. C'est dommage, parce que le thème est excellent. Les VHS, le côté rétro, l'ambiance de club vidéo, la nostalgie... tout ça fonctionne à merveille. Mais l'exécution ne suit pas. Au final, ça devient un simulateur de plus où l'on regarde une barre d'XP monter au ralenti. Et, pour être honnête, c'est le premier jeu du genre que j'abandonne avant même d'avoir terminé tous les succès. Non pas parce qu'il était difficile... mais simplement parce qu'il a fini par me rendre triste. Il avait tout pour être un coup de cœur, mais il est resté une bonne idée qui n'a jamais vraiment décollé. Je le recommande quand même, parce que j'y ai tout de même joué 13 heures. Pour son prix, ça reste un jeu honnête et j'ai passé un bon moment, malgré ses défauts.