Despite its simplicity and how it’s been out in early access for a while now, TCG Card Shop Simulator continues to maintain an insane number of concurrent players. If you’ve been wondering what all the fuss is about, I’ll give you a relatively brief summary of what the game is and why I think it’s a worthy addition to your library even in its unfinished state.
An Addicting & Cozy Gameplay Loop
If you’ve been to my blog before, then you already know that I’ve been absolutely obsessed with this game, and part of it is because watching numbers go up with each sale or pack pull is just so satisfying. But I’m getting ahead of myself here. Let’s talk about what you actually do in it first!
From Fledgling Storeowner to Card Mogul
Just like most of the other “simulator” type games on Steam, you start from scratch with nothing but an empty space and a bit of cash to kick off your dainty little venture. With a single shelf and just some basic card packs for sale, you’ll slowly but surely build up enough money and EXP to start diversifying your offerings and make your lot look more like an actual store.
One thing I appreciate about TCG Card Shop Simulator is how the first half hour or so railroads you through most of the essentials. It teaches you how to buy your initial supplies, open card packs, upgrade your store, and even sell singles from your collection.
After maybe a week’s worth of ingame time, you’ll already have a bustling store with play tables and a wide range of products. From there, it’s completely up to you to continue building up your card shop. Here’s what a fresh game looks like compared to what I have in my main save file as I’m writing this:
There are a few basic mechanics that aren’t covered in the tutorial. If you want to learn more about what to expect while playing the game, consider checking out my beginner’s tips for it!
Gacha Goodness
Opening card packs is a core mechanic of the game. Not only does it let you build up your collection, but it’s also a decent way to level up your store. With some insane luck, you can get rare variants that you can sell for hundreds or even thousands of dollars.
Funnily enough, it goes deeper than just collecting and selling stuff. While it isn’t implemented yet, a major component of the game’s roadmap is to make the TCG actually playable. If you take a look at each card, you’ll immediately notice that they already have stats and effects.
How any of that will work is yet to be seen, but there’s seemingly a lot of effort being put into it as early as now. I won’t overhype it, and I might just make an updated review later down the line whenever that feature finally rolls out.
For now, though, the mere act of opening tons of packs can already provide a quick dopamine rush. I honestly don’t mind the fact that you can only sell or display cards at the moment, since it’s a fun and relaxing loop anyway.
A Heavily Customizable Experience
Although a lot of features are still in the works, the game already has a diverse set of products and types of surfaces to place them on. There’s a lot of silly yet somehow viable ways to approach the gameplay loop.
For instance, if you really wanted to, you could just completely forget about the cards and sell nothing but figurines and comic books. On the flip side, you can start selling only single cards. It’d be a pain in the rear to set up, but it’s completely doable.
Heck, you could even potentially turn your entire lot into a place for people to just play the TCG itself and nothing else. Just fill your store with tables and not sell a single item! I wouldn’t recommend it, but hey, I won’t stop you from trying.
Mods Galore
This game already has a thriving modding community that has put out all sorts of QOL improvements and some awesome texture overhauls. Not only does this give you an opportunity to breeze through stuff that you might find a little too slow or mundane, but it also lets you further personalize your experience.
There’s a lot of stuff out there that completely trivializes certain mechanics, but I’m not one to police others on how they should play the game. If you want a glimpse of what the QOL mods are like in this game, I do have a list of them that specifically try not to drastically alter the gameplay loop.
Yep, the Pokemon-themed texture overhaul that you’ve probably noticed in my screenshots here is included in that list too. TCG Card Shop Simulator actually features a parody known as Tetramon that (as far as I know) was conceptualized by the sole developer! Here’s the vanilla storefront appearance:
So, Is It Worth Buying?
TCG Card Shop Simulator is still a work in progress, but this inexpensive gem is worth it as you can very easily sink hours into it already.
The best part is, it’ll very likely only get better with time. At the moment, the developer has been pumping out updates and hotfixes on a regular basis to address the feedback that they’ve been getting. I think it’s safe to assume that we’ll be getting a lot more of those in the near future.
For now, I’ll keep playing it in short bursts as to not burn myself out before any major updates get released. When a huge patch drops, you can probably expect another write-up from me.
