Retro Rewind - Video Store Simulator

[h1] Um was geht es? [/h1] Führe eine Videothek in den 90er Jahren [h1] Gameplay im Detail [/h1] Ihr eröffnet in den 90er Jahren eine Videothek mit allem, was dazu gehört. Filme bilden dabei natürlich die Haupteinnahmequelle. Dafür gibt es verschiedene Genres wie Horror, Drama, Fantasy, Erotik, Action und ähnliches. Diese werden wiederum klassifiziert nach „Alt“ oder Neuerscheinung, guter oder schlechter Kritik. Die Kundinnen und Kunden nehmen sich die entsprechenden Filme aus den jeweiligen Regalen, die man zuvor bestückt hat. Hier hat man die Möglichkeit, die einzelnen Regale auch nach Genres zu sortieren und den ansprechend Laden zu gestalten. Hierfür stehen einem verschiedene Dekorationsobjekte, wie z.B. Ufos als Deckenbefestigung, ein Fantasybanner, oder Neonschilder zur Verfügung. Ob die Kundschaft darauf aber positiv reagiert oder dem gleichgültig gegenüber eingestellt ist, konnte ich nicht feststellen. Generell sind die Kundinnen und Kunden sehr genügsam. Gelegentlich kommt es vor, dass sie bestimmte Rückfragen haben. Manchmal möchten sie einen reservierten Film abholen, oder ein bestimmtes Genre (z.B. Weihnachtsfilm) mit schlechter Kritik empfohlen bekommen. Die Kunden haben dann bei Rückfragen ein Ausrufezeichen über den Kopf, so dass erkennbar ist, dass der Spieler hier handeln sollte. Allerdings spielt es keine Rolle, ob die Kundinnen und Kunden dort 2 Min. auf die Spielerinteraktion warten, oder gar mehrere Stunden. Die Simulationstiefe ist demzufolge als gering einzustufen. Allerdings muss das nicht automatisch etwas Schlechtes sein. Das Spiel lebt von seinem Retrocharme und dem entspannten Gameplay. Je nach Jahreszeit ändert sich die Spielwelt, die aus der eigenen Videothek und einem kleinen abgegrenzten Stadtbereich besteht. Im Winter liegt Schnee, zu Halloween sind Kürbisse drapiert und die Kunden sind verkleidet etc. Die Musik ist unaufdringlich, Stressgefühl kommt keines auf. Allerdings kommt recht viel Arbeit für den Spieler und für den Mitarbeitenden auf. Die Kundschaft gibt über Nacht, aber auch während des Tages ausgeliehene Filme zurück. Also beginnt der Tag meistens damit, die Filme aus dem Rückgabeschalter zu entnehmen, zu scannen und auf die Hand zu nehmen. Nicht zurückgespulte Filme müssen in einem Zwischenschritt mittels eines kleinen Gerätes wieder auf Anfang gesetzt werden. Dann werden die Filme in die Regale eingeräumt und ggf. der Laden parallel eröffnet. Es gilt dann die Kundschaft zu bedienen, in dem man die VHS-Kassetten scannt. Die Filme werden dann automatisch in einer Tüte platziert, der Kunde gibt das Geld und man muss entsprechend das Wechselgeld herausgeben. Rückgabeschalter und Kasse sind die beiden Hauptaktivitäten, die mit längerer Spieldauer durchaus gleichtönig werden und bleiben. Zwar gibt es im Kassenbereich spätere Freischaltmöglichkeiten wie Zuckerwatte oder Popcorn, aber diese „Minispiele“ sind recht simpel gehalten und bringen insgesamt zu wenig Abwechselung im Spielfluss. Das Spiel hat seine Höhepunkte, wenn es Neuerscheinungen gibt, man den Laden dekoriert und neue Upgrades durch Levelaufstiege erhält. Besonders positiv ist, dass das Spiel auch nach dem Release weitere Verbesserungen erfahren hat. [h1] Contra [/h1] - Eher eintöniges Spielprinzip - Zweiter Mitarbeiter wird erst relativ spät freigeschaltet - Keinerlei Anspruch: Kunden warten ewig ohne Konsequenz, Pleite gehen dürfte nahezu unmöglich sein etc. [h1] Neutral [/h1] O Unaufdringliche Musik O Grafik unterdurchschnittlich, aber Atmosphäre der 90er wird schön eingefangen (Tamagotchis, Transformer, Ghostbusters etc.) [h1] Pro [/h1] + Stressfreies Spiel + 90er Charme + Leiten einer Videothek eine gute Idee + Speichern ist jederzeit möglich + Bugfrei + Lange Spieldauer durch häufige Upgrades + Spiel erhält weiterhin Updates + Ladendekoration [h1] Persönliches Fazit [/h1] Ich mag das Spiel. Aber man sollte vorab für sich prüfen, was man von dem Spiel erwartet. Eine Managementsimulation mit Anspruch wird man nicht erhalten. Stattdessen ein entspanntes Spiel, mit gut eingefangener Atmosphäre aber auch relativ ähnlichen täglichen Handgriffen. 40 VHS Kassetten einzuräumen ist schon etwas, das man wollen muss. Wer aber an diesen Tätigkeiten Freude hat und eine Aufgabe vervollständigen möchte, wie z.B. im Powerwashing Simulator ganze Areale zu säubern, der wird hier ebenfalls auf seine Kosten kommen. Kategorie | Persönliche Wertung Grafik/Artdesign | 8 / 10 Langzeitmotivation | 8/10 Sound | 6/10 Gameplay | 7/10 Retrocharme | 10/10 Folgt gerne der [url=https://steamcommunity.com/groups/-German_Gamer_Community-] German_Gamer_Community Kuration [/url] für weitere hilfreiche Reviews!

In theory, I should love this game, and I really wanted to. The first 5 hours were fun. The nostalgia factor hits hard and the general gameplay loop is roughly what I expected for a simulation/shop keeper game, but the problem is that the game just doesn't go anywhere. You unlock decorations, expansions, arcade machines, concession stands, and none of it meaningfully changes your income or your day to day loop. You can buy an arcade machine for $550, which will realistically earn you $30 per day. Revenue in general feels hard capped somewhere around $400-$600 a day no matter what you do, which makes decorating and expanding feel pointless. I almost feel like I would've been better off saving all of my money, only buying expansions, shelves, and movies. Worse, the gameplay loop never evolves past year one, which makes the game feel like it belongs in Early Access. There's no second year of content, it just recycles the same script of movies and customers on a loop. You're stuck running outside every couple minutes handing out flyers because foot traffic never picks up on its own, even with a fully decorated, fully stocked store. You can hire employees to run the register and returns desk, but that just frees you up to do more flyer duty. Speaking of flyer duty, there are really only 3 main things you can do on a day-to-day basis: pass out flyers, run the register, or run the return desk. There are so many management aspects that are completely missing from this "management" game that would actually give us some depth and a reason to keep playing. Things like staff progression and training, skill trees and perks for the player, creating specials and deals, adjusting prices, tape cleaning and maintenance, age ratings of movies, having multiple store locations to manage, etc. All the little details that make a management game deep and interesting are absent, so what's left is an empty shell with very little going on underneath. For the asking price, this feels like a fraction of the content and depth you'd expect. We have a shell of a good game here, but nothing within to really justify the price. If you're curious, play the demo first, it's honestly close to the full experience since nothing really changes after those first couple hours. I wish I could (Retro) Rewind the 26 hours I spent playing this game.

a guy walked in and got 5 adult movies... two of them were broken when they returned. 10/10 gameplay

Pros: • There is always something to do! - It's hard to get bored in this game when there are always new releases, things to buy, decorations to put up, events in town, new employees, etc. You can easily play this game for hours on end without feeling like you're just doing the same mundane tasks over and over again. The main attraction is that each season has it's own unique events in the town square and new movie releases almost every week (which are often brilliant references to the movies we all know and love). • Objects being moved don't stay in their place and block your movement - there's nothing more annoying than games that have the object you're trying to move stay in its place as a non transparent item while you attempt to move around it. This game thankfully does not do that and makes moving items easy! • Customisation - there are a bunch of decorations that can be purchased as well as store expansions to help you customise your store the way you want to. I personally put up a bunch of neon signs, posters, neon shelves, etc, to give my store a modern neon aesthetic. You can change the wallpaper and flooring the help match the vibe you're going for and I do feel that customisation in this game is done well. • Friday the 13th (Spoilers) - Every Friday the 13th, customers will wait around your store in hockey masks to match Jason from the movie franchise. I would be lying if I said I didn't get scared a few times as each Friday the 13th, more appear around and inside your store, so watch out! • Graphic Design - I think we can all admit our customers and employees look a bit goofy which i think adds a certain charm to this game but overall I really love the effort that was put into creating not only the movie covers and posters but the overall look of the store. It's anaesthetically pleasing game for what it is and I think the design team did a great job! Improvements: • Customisation - I would love if the carpet and floor colours could be changed seperately. I love the look of the darker floor but it is only attached to certain carpet designs which means I dont get the overall look i'm going for. Additionally with the walls, I wish the wooden pillars could be moved as the wall layout and pillars makes designing a bit more of a calculated choice than fully creative. • Employees - I think being able to fire employees on sick days would be a huge help! I had an employee come in and go home for a sick day, then looking through the calendar I found a better one that I wasn't able to get as I couldn't fire my currently sick employee through the book. I'm sure this won't be encountered a lot but it would be a good addition. On the topic of employees, I do wish some of the dialogue options gave us the choice to be nice to them as some feel a bit harsh. This really is more of a me issue as I just don't like being rude. • Controls - For non controller players, this section won't be relevant to you. I had to create a really dodgy controller setup for this game that turned out working okay but I do wish it came with controller compatability set up and ready to go for those who tend to not use keyboard and mouse. • Stocking - When you hire employees to run returns, their job is to manage the returns and place them back on the shelves. They do this of course but all movies tend to be placed randomly into the shelves. I think an option to pick how employees stock the shelves would be amazing, even if it's just top to bottom, left to right etc, as I just didn't like how messy it left the shelves looking. • Storage - Dont get me wrong, this game does have a lot of storage such as the cassette space near the garage door and the box storage near the bathroom. I would like another set or 2 of box storage as I know myself and my friends enjoy keeping the movie promo posters as a collection. Once the box storage is filled up, the rest kind of just get placed on the floor taking up space. I'm not sure where the best space for new box storage would be but it would be a nice addition. Overall: Overall, this game is really fun and definitely beat the expectations that come with a lot of simulation games (that being cheap and not well made). I would highly recommend this to anyone who isn't sure on buying it and seeing as they have a demo, I say give it a shot! The game runs well and has a lot to do and you'll find yourself reminiscing on movies you watched when younger and laughing at some of the unhinged movie names (especially if you buy from you know who). This review doesn't come from a place of paid-promotion but instead from an autistic girl who had this game become her hyperfixation and she must now talk about it! ^-^

RETRO REWIND is a bad game. I never thought I would be leaving this review when I started playing—even two, three hours in, I was still thoroughly enjoying myself. And then it suddenly hit me, as I switched off for the night at the five-hour mark, that yes, Retro Rewind is a bad game. It’s an incomplete game. Don’t be fooled by its polish – and it is very polished – this is Early Access in all but name. Speaking of names, Video Store ‘Simulator’ this is not. This is a decorator. There is no element to this in which you get to choose how you’ll run your business. Will you focus on new releases? A mix of genres? Maybe a huge range of classics? Or exclusively carry Adult films? Nope. You have no choice. You will carry the genres the game tells you to, and you will be endlessly reminded by customers if you do not. You will have no choice in how you price videos either, nor any of your stock for that matter. Snacks, popcorn, arcade games – everything is pre-set. So is the amount of money you can make a day, it seems. The game will tell you that a well-decorated, well-stocked store attracts more customers, but the reality is, you will be hard capped to earning between $300 to $500 a day, irrespective of what you do. That’s right. You’ll earn largely the same money you do in the first few levels in the demo as you will at level 20. Once you realize this, doing absolutely anything becomes pointless. Why should I invest in an expensive arcade machine or a bargain bin when I can earn the same amount of money with the same few shelves of movies that I had at level 6? The customers don’t care. Ultimately, they’ll purchase whatever you give them, which also means a movie’s rating is irrelevant. Customers don’t seem to care if you painstakingly stock only well-reviewed movies. They don’t even seem to care if all the movies are mixed together on the shelves instead of arranged according to genre, as they should be. There’s no penalty for making them wait in line at the checkout, no incentive to provide good customer service. The same number of customers will show up the next day – never more, never less – and you’ll have no meaningful interaction with any of them. They won’t remember you, even if they come into the store often; they have no personalities, which is rather reflective of the game itself. Behind the shiny window dressing of what should be an excellent sim is, well, slop. The gameplay loop consists entirely of processing returned movies and serving at the checkout. Oh, and handing out flyers to entice passersby to come into your store, because for some reason, even after weeks of your store successfully existing, foot-traffic doesn’t pick up outside, nor does word-of-mouth spread to grow your customer base. It’s just the same number of NPCs who wander in, completely unaffected by anything you do in the game, and irrespective of how many flyers you hand out, you will only ever earn between $300 to $500 a day. At some point in this experience, maybe four or five hours in, you come to the bitter realization that your gameplay is meaningless, and what you’re really playing is a ‘decorate your pretend video store' game. And that’s fine, if that’s what you want, but not for the price the devs are asking, and not with the word ‘simulator’ in the title. I am astonished at how highly reviewed this game is. Takeaway? Skip. If you want to play it, play the demo; you’ll have the exact same experience as the full game - for free.

Look, I've played so many of these shop simulator slop games and this one is one of the most basic, barebones ones. It is being advertised as a full, finished game and yet it feels very early access, judging by the lack of content and frequency of content updates, it very much is an early access game. In my opinion, these are some of the most jarring issues: [list] [*]In this [u]RENTAL[/u] VHS shop [u]SIMULATOR[/u] game, we cannot change the VHS return policy which is set to a single day - why can't I change it to 3 / 5 / 10 / whatever days? [*]In this SHOP [u]SIMULATOR[/u] game, why can't I change the prices of ANYTHING, not even the popcorn/slushies..? [*]Why is there only one cashier and one VHS return station, without an option to purchase more? Expanding the store inevitably leads to having more VHS in stock, that means more VHS returns - am I supposed to idle around for 10 minutes before I open the shop every day, waiting for my employee to restock the shelves? Even with me helping re-stocking (which I shouldn't have to do late game, at all), it still takes waaaay too long... [*]Why does the tutorial clearly tell you to trash broken VHS when later on, you get an option to repair them..? If I knew that, obviously I wouldn't trash them. [*]Events add absolutely nothing to the gameplay. Why would it matter that I sell more horror during Halloween or XMas movies during winter holidays, when I can't even change the VHS rental prices..? [*]Customers getting angry by late return / broken VHS fees, is a frustrating mechanic that adds nothing to the gameplay, because we can't do anything about it (besides not charging them) - if we were able to change the return policy to e.g., 3 days, maybe they wouldn't return their rentals late. Maybe if we could change the return fees, they wouldn't get angry as often. Why am I charging a flat 20 dollar fee for every broken VHS, even if I paid only 8 dollars to acquire said VHS..? [/list] Those are just some ideas that would turn the game into an actual shop simulator, right now it's just a cashier simulator and later on, decoration simulator. However, since this is advertised as a complete game, not in early access, I cannot recommend it - TCG sim is still the best shop sim and it's not even close.

It's a chill, relaxing game. My only issue with this game is there's no repercussions, game over if you misspend money. There's no real goal except growth, it would be great if you had to pay rent on your property weekly, the larger the property the more you pay? At any rate, it's an okay game, really scratches that nostalgia itch, but adding a method to fail would be nice?

I'm a 43-year-old gamer, and I've never had a problem with motion sickness while gaming. I even have a VR headset, and I've never experienced any issues with it. But this game... I really wanted to play it, but it's impossible for me. Unfortunately, this game gave me a massive headache and made me feel extremely dizzy. The motion sickness was bizarre. I couldn't even eat for the whole day because I felt so sick. I checked online and found several articles and many people reporting the same motion sickness problem. If you Google "Retro Rewind Video Store Simulator motion sickness," you'll see that many people are complaining about this issue. There is a motion sensitivity option in the game menu, but unfortunately, it doesn't help at all. Could the developer please look into this and find a way to solve the problem? I really want to play this game, but at the moment, it's simply impossible for me.