I’m uncertain about how many of you are familiar with this game, or the company that is bringing it to North American shores. Recettear: An Item Shop’s Tale was released on September 10th, 2010 and though it was a very low budget game, it is creating quite the spark among game enthusiasts. The game’s success is indicated by its miraculous appearance near the top of Steam’s (a digital game download service provider) top seller list, competing head to head with games that are multi-million dollar projects. The price for the game is a ridiculously bloated $19.99 for a budget title, and yet they are flying off the virtual shelves. Where does it’s success lie?
It seems to me that the company; Carpe Fulgur, has done quite a good job of trying to sell itself rather than the game. They have marketed themselves as a company that cares about the people who are buying the game, that listens and actively improves their product in order to better fit the gamer. You’ll see that Recettear is getting rather mixed reviews, it is an innovative game, without doubt, but it is hardly flawless. Plenty would say the game just doesn’t deserve the kind of attention it is currently getting.