Image via Big Blue Sky Games
For those who love a good story without too many complicated gameplay mechanics, visual novels are the perfect solution. In Merchants of Rosewall, the story leads the way, with light crafting and shopkeeping elements to keep you engaged. You’ll meet the townsfolk, hire local artisans, and trade with vendors to get the goods your staff needs to craft their wares. Oh, and you’ll solve a mystery along the way.
Merchants of Rosewall has a beautiful, fantasy-inspired art style that brings its colorful characters to life. Stepping into the game truly feels like becoming part of a fantasy town, and the story will keep you engaged… even when the gameplay sometimes struggles to do so. There’s so much I wanted to love about this game, and it delivers on a good bit of it, but I hit a few snags that kept me from enjoying it quite as much as I hoped.
Key Details
- Developer: Big Blue Sky Games
- Platform: PC via Steam
- Price: $24.99
- Review Code Provided: Yes
A Compelling Story that Pulls You In
The thing that grabbed me most about Merchants of Rosewall was the story. The key characters are compelling, and the world-building is just the right amount to make you feel engaged. Merchants of Rosewall promises a narrative-driven experience, and it delivers. I wanted to return to Rosewall so I could learn what happens next for my shopkeeper alter ego and the friends helping her get to the bottom of the main mystery.
I did wish that the artisans I hired for my shop were a bit more involved in the story. While they pop up to eavesdrop on occasion, I wanted to see more from them. When you make a new hire, you get a summary of their personality. But once you’ve actually brought them into the store, you don’t often see much of it. The default phrases for each crafting result are more or less the same for each character, which leaves them feeling a bit flat at times.
Another thing that pulls you into the world is the various events that can crop up throughout the week. These add a nice touch of flavor and humor to the game, letting you get a feel for the broader Rosewall community and its goings-on. These events also impact what kinds of goods customers want and the prices vendors charge. I enjoyed keeping track of these and reading the descriptions when they popped up. It felt like a little treat that kept the story going even between bigger plot points.
While I thought the story was one of the strongest elements of Merchants of Rosewall, I did wish the pacing was a bit better. Sometimes, you’re getting new major developments almost every in-game day, whereas other points later in the game have weeks go by where you’re just crafting, selling, and waiting. Having this spread out a bit better would’ve broken up the parts of gameplay that can start to feel a smidge repetitive and kept the story momentum going.
Straightforward Progression Where Choices Sometimes Matter
Speaking of those recruits, I was a bit surprised at how little choice I had regarding who would be added to my team. Initially, you get to choose your cook by picking between three menu items. I assumed I’d get a similar pick of artisans in other crafts once I unlocked them.
Instead, you simply go to the Guild Hall and have your next artisan assigned to you. I would’ve liked the option to choose which type of goods I wanted to add next, or at least choose which artisan to recruit first.
Without this, going to the guild to get my next worker didn’t feel as engaging as I wanted it to. The guild leaders and Chrys, the guild secretary, had really fun personalities, which made the experience enjoyable overall. But recruiting new artisans was one of the places I wished for a little less novel and a little more game.
A Gameplay Loop With a Slight Pacing Problem
The actual shopkeeping elements of the game are pretty straightforward, but that’s what you want in a game where the story takes center stage. You get to assign recipes to each of your artisans and then decide what to sell each day. If anyone is left once the crafting is done, you can assign them to do tasks while the store is open for various bonuses.
When customers arrive, you don’t engage with them. There’s a quick animation showing whether they’re happy, neutral, or pleased, and then you’re off to the days-end summary. For those who enjoy bartering in their shopkeeping sims, this is something to note.
One of the main things that took me out of Merchants of Rosewall was the pacing of gameplay. Early on, you have very few artisans in your shop, which means you can’t craft or sell very much. Each of them can only do one task per day unless you get the lucky extra burst of activity as a random crafting chance.
This made it challenging to stock the shelves and staff the store, leaving me frustrated and struggling to meet the renown goal early on. It feels like the action economy is designed for a shop full of workers, but you can only recruit new people when you hit the right point in the story.
This becomes an issue because if you don’t hit the renown goal, it’s game over. You have to start from the last major checkpoint or autosave, potentially causing you to have to repeat several days of the story. This can be frustrating when you’re a good few weeks in, only to realize you’ve been kicked back to the beginning of the game because your last autosave was too recent to be helpful.
Once my shop was full of multiple artisans for each type of craft, things started to flow much better. Suddenly, gold and renown felt easy to come by. Perhaps a bit too easy to come by at times, but even so, the game got a lot more enjoyable once I hit this point because improving my shop and hitting the goals actually felt possible.
Meeting the new artisans and unlocking new recipes was the highlight of the shopkeeping sim portion for me. These big moments helped give a sense of momentum and something to work towards while waiting for the next big story moment.
Final Score – 7/10
In all, the art, creative characters, and story in Merchants of Rosewall really shine. It’s a compelling, beautifully rendered world with an interesting mystery to keep you hooked. For narrative-loving gamers, this game will most certainly deliver, particularly if you love a good fantasy world.
As far as gameplay goes, it’s a bit of a mixed bag for me. I enjoyed the idea of it, but the pacing and balance felt a bit off at times, leaving me wanting a bit of a smoother experience to go along with the story.
Merchants of Rosewall is a wonderful story with light gameplay elements, perfect for someone who wants to sink into a great fantasy novel that lets them truly be immersed in the world by having a role within it.
**Bonus Action was provided with a PC code of Merchants of Rosewall for the purpose of this review**
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