We are thick in an era of retail simulators. In the comet-trail of Stardew Valley, a genre is now fat with titles wherein a protagonist restarts their life and career in a bucolic, quasi-rural landscape and undertakes a blue-collar job. They get to know the local people, interfere in some lives, solve some community issues – maybe even a mystery or two. Maybe even get married. In a way, they are all Harvest Moon’s pixelated offspring – but Discounty, Crinkle Cut Games’ new offering to the genre, tackles the cozy shop life simulator a little differently.
In Discounty, you are taken in by your tricky, cantankerous aunt and are put to work in her branch of a franchised supermarket. A fascinating approach, given that the road less taken through Stardew Valley involves prioritising the growth of a local supermarket rather than a community centre. Discounty is a game about business and injecting the economy of a small town. For a cozy game, there are elements of it that are very sharp indeed.
The supermarket-building aspect of the game is satisfying. You purchase stock, lay it out on the shop floor, open up and let the customers buy their groceries. The till system initially operates like a tricky little basic maths puzzle, though this evolves in an interesting manner later on. Speed is paramount: don’t let the customers get grumpy, make sure the shelves are stocked, the floor is clean, things are ticking over. It’s very work-heavy, very intense – then the shop closes, you exhale, mop up the shop floor and trundle home to the funny little trailer you live in outside your aunt’s big, lush home. Aunt Tellar is a fascinating businesswoman, full of ambition – a rare, non-benevolent mentor figure. She has disagreements with the local people that you have to fix. She does, in fact, fire someone so you can come on board and take their job. This gradient of tone is really refreshing: the game isn’t clean and cutesy. It’s about operating a supermarket, not running away to a magical farm.
The graphics are also a little deceptive: while you might be initially tricked into thinking the game is very pure and sweet by the pixel art, the town you move into is ragged. There is a bleak docklands. Many shop-fronts are shuttered, posters rot on the walls. These details are fantastic – reminiscent at times of Eastward. The music, too, is worth a note: ambient and pleasing. The details of this work aren’t skipped over in favour of curating a twee, relaxing vibe.
Conferring with the local people does involve some solving of local issues, but also brokering supplier deals. Sometimes this requires a little massaging on your part, due to your aunt’s tricky nature. It’s high responsibility, high focus. Occasionally, the controls are a little fiddly: I found the touch-screen option on the Steam Deck a little unfocused. The initial stages of the game where you are setting up your stock and don’t have a huge amount of options are a little stressful, especially if you find the sight of basic sums on a calculator to be hard work. However, the resistance isn’t too high: I’m impressed by the way in which the challenge softens, while the intensity of each day at work notches up.
Discounty is a valuable addition to the sorority of cozy, slice of life with a dream-job games. It goes a little against the grain, while still managing to hold your focus. While there is not a lot of romance in running away from your life to work in a supermarket, there is certainly a lot of good clean work to do, which still manages to feel like play.