Kingdom’s Item Shop is like a game in between genres. At first glance it looks like it’s your standard RPG, and while there are elements of such in the game it’s not really a role-playing game. The game is literally about an item shop within a role-playing game.
You know the type. You’re questing to save the world in “insert RPG name here.” You’re doing well but have to head back to town to rest up and restock. You pay a visit to the local inn and drop 200 G to restore your health and refresh your status. Then you stop by the local item shop and refill on healing items, weapons, and any other of assorted items.
That item shop you visit is where you’ll be playing this game. But it’s more than just an item shop. You’ll need to quest to get those items to sell, and also craft to make better items to sell. It’s actually more fun than it sounds.
While the main point of the game is to sell items, you won’t spend too much of your time here. Questing and crafting are the two big elements in the game.
As a shop merchant you aren’t the one battling the monsters out in the wilds. With a small amount of cash you’ll hire some mercenaries to do the fighting for you. As they hit and defeat monsters you’ll be in the back of the battle to pick up the items dropped. But you need to be quick, before they flicker and disappear. You’ll also need to make sure you don’t get too close to the action and take some damage yourself. While you don’t control the battles directly, you can influence the battles. You can switch the mercenaries between attack and defense mode to help them limit the amount of damage they take during battle.
These mercenaries can also level up to become more formidable, helping you conquer new areas. This is done both from battles, as well as from the bonus you get for selling specific quantities of items.
Each area has a set number of item types, and as you find them all and defeat the boss for each zone, new areas will open up with even more items to find, sell, and craft. Of course the enemies get tougher as the areas open up.
Crafting is a big part of the game. Them more complex items you craft sell at a higher rate, allowing you to progress through the game more quickly. However crafting comes at a cost, and you won’t even know where to begin.
Luckily each shop you visit to craft has a kind shop owner who will help you. They don’t just give you the recipe though, and you’ll have to use a series of hints to figure out what combinations work to make items. In my experience some of them were pretty simple while others were down right tough. At times you’ll have access to a recipe before you have discovered the necessary ingredients. It’s good to read over the hint a few times if you’re stuck. Odds are you, like I, already have the right ingredients.
That’s the game in a nutshell. Hire mercenaries, collect items, craft better items, and sell them at the shop. It’s a pretty simple series of tasks, but it’s also pretty rewarding.
One thing that I liked is that items sell even when you’re not playing the game. Kind of like the always on mechanic in some games, when you’re out on a quest, crafting at shops, or even just in the menu, your items continue to sell. When you get back to the shop you’ll be greeted with a notice of how much you made while you were gone. Even if you save the game with a fully stocked shop, save and exit the game, when you return you’ll find your shelves bare and some nice coin in your coffers.
And with the ability to expand how many items you can carry and how much you can stock at once, you’ll be raking in the gold in no time. Add this to some side tasks like special orders to boost the rep of your item shop and your shop will be the talk of the town in no time.
Kingdom’s Item Shop supports 3D, but it is barely there. There is some slight depth on the top screen but it isn’t really a features of the game. The game does however have a cute art style and mellow, enjoyable music.
This is one game that I would love to see given a Nintendo 3DS theme.
Overall Kingdom’s Item Shop is a cute little game. Pretty simple, but relaxing to play. Kingdom’s Item Shop is a nice casual game that can be played whenever you get a few minutes.
