Tavern Manager Simulator manages to conjure some of the magic that the strongest post-dad cosy games have.
These modern “simulator” games are a funny thing. Some of them take mundane tasks and make them enjoyable whilst others feel as mundane as the tasks they replicate. PC Building Simulator and Power Wash Simulator manage that “one more thing” feeling so well whilst The Repair House and Mech Mechanic Simulator are comparatively bland to me. Perhaps it’s my interest in the subject matter, or maybe it’s something a little more intangible. Whatever it is, Tavern Manager Simulator has that touch of magic that would make carrying out repetitive tasks feel enjoyable, even in its early access state.
You have a tavern in a World of Warcraft style world and you want to make money. That’s the story and you’re not getting any more, which is fine for the genre. Starting out, you have a ramshackle building that you need to break into and clean up before opening those doors and serving some fine ale.
As you deliver the drinks to your clientele, you’ll earn money and reputation to unlock more features for your establishment. Tables, food, and even magical helpers can all be added as you progress through your alcohol serving career. These all get added at a fairly solid pace too. Just as I was tiring of just serving drinks I unlocked some basic food offerings, then furniture, followed by more complex meals. As more features cropped up, I found myself struggling to manage it all at first before becoming adept at rushing around each thing just in time for me to hire someone to help with it so I could move onto the next thing. There’s a solid pace to upgrades and progression that I enjoyed.
Pretty much everything you have to do is some sort of mini-game. Pulling pints ist about holding the mouse button and releasing at the perfect time, whilst cooking steaks has you clicking at the perfect moment to flip the meat over for perfect charring. They’re simple enough, but when you’re under time pressure from so many people at once, it’s easy to slip up. You want a perfect completion too, as you’ll earn more money from your customers that way.
Customers in pubs are messy, of course. You’ll need to clean up tables and the floor to ensure your reputation continues to grow, but sometimes you’ll also need to remove less than savoury customers. Those who have too much to drink need to be asked to leave or physically removed lest they throw up and make your cleanliness rating plummet for the rest of the day. A little less fun is when beggars turn up. I liked that you could give them money to move on, but I’d have liked the option to offer them a meal. I didn’t like that you could smack them with a frying pan. Call me a softie if you like, but when I unlocked the frying pan “weapon” and was told I could use it to remove unsavoury characters, I thought I’d be fending off ruffians trying to shake down my customers.
With your money you can decorate and expand your watering hole. There’s not an enormous array of options right now, with most things being slight variations on others, but it’s nice to have a few choices in the early access launch. This launch feels quite feature complete, even though the devs are planning for up to a year in early access. Promised future features include stables, horse care, and hotel management elements. But even at this stage, Tavern Manager Simulator feels like a full game.
There are a few issues as it stands though. I only found one bug which involved me not being able to wash all of the used tankards, but it rarely became a problem. The other thing I noticed was the very small number of character models and voice lines. I appreciate that the aesthetic is going for World of Warcraft style characters and world, but I would hope for more than simple palette swaps when the full game releases. The same goes for the handful of voice lines, with the added issue that the accents a character will use could change wildly from them arriving to leaving.
As things stand, Tavern Manager Simulator is a really enjoyable simulator game that fans of the genre could buy with little regret. There’s enough in this early release to keep you playing for a good few hours, and should the promised features be added at a reasonable pace then they’ll be plenty to keep you coming back. Just don’t do too much and regret it in the morning.
Tavern Manager Simulator is available in Steam Early Access now.
