Enter a magical fantasy world where you own your own tavern in Tavern Keeper. This management game sees you step into the protagonists shoes and manage your own tavern.
This first sip dives into the demo, giving you a taste of the gameplay and what to expect from the full release.
Prefer to watch the video version? Check it out here
Story
From the moment you open the demo, you’re transported into a magical fantasy world. Tavern Keeper grounds itself solidly in a story that breaks the fourth wall and invites you to be the star. You’ll ‘audition’ for the lead role in the story through the tutorial, which is a really clever way to integrate a tutorial and story together. Now, for a demo, it definitely sets up a world pretty quickly and provides a pretty decent amount of story. You’re given a sneak peek into character’s backstories, and it definitely teases that both a larger storyline and individual character storylines will be a part of the final game. If you’re a fairytale lover, you’ll love the overall vibe of the game, and I can’t wait to see what the main story will hold.
GAMEPLAY
The demo for Tavern Keeper is pretty limited, giving you only a basic tutorial to playthrough and 3 days of in-game tavern keeping.
You have a few goals to achieve to complete the demo, but you’re pretty much given free reign as to how you want to spend those three days. We’re given an overview of the general mechanics for serving drinks, hiring staff, and building, which is super promising, and the decorating side is already looking great in the game.
The demo is short, and you can make your way through it in around 30 minutes, but I’d say it’s does a pretty good job of teasing what’s to come in the main game and really getting you excited to uncover more of the game’s mechanics.
There’s also an item workshop section where you can create your own pre-made items to place in your tavern, which adds a bit more gameplay to the demo if you can’t get enough. It’s got some really promising gameplay, and the demo feels really great to play so far. I’m definitely keen to see what’s to come in the full game.
DESIGN
Tavern Keeper has a pretty great design style that solidly roots the game in a fairytale, fantasy world. The characters are each designed differently, and provide a decent amount of stereotypical characters to hire, or have visit your tavern.The overall design style is a cute cartoon vibe, that really translates the world well, and the UI is done really well.
I absolutely loved the narration for the game. It really set the whole story off, and is written really well, conveying the story and also adding a ton of humour in there too. The design only makes me more excited to see what’s to come.
THE FINAL BREW
For a first demo, Tavern Keeper has done a really great job of teasing the full game, and getting you more excited for its full release. You’re given a decent overview of the mechanics and feel of the game, but it doesn’t spoil the main game. The design is really well executed, and the narration is a particular stand out.
For a first sip, the Tavern Keeper demo is a piping hot one that leaves you wanting for more.
Check out the Tavern Keeper demo here.
Until next time, stay caffeinated!
