Should have named the store King of Games
The simulator games are really starting to lean toward my direction with TCG Card Shop Simulator. As a retired Yu-Gi-Oh player but current player of things like Magic, Marvel Snap, Pokémon and Hearthstone, I love me a good TCG. So, I had dabbled in TCG Shop Simulator while it was in early access and I felt the game had good bones. It was easy to pick up and play, the fictional card game Tetramon had some cool creatures and art but one think bothered me. You weren’t able to actually play the card game; well with the 1.0 release that has been corrected and I gotta say, this one is going to be on my GOTY list.
TCG Shop Simulator doesn’t have a narrative other than just being a person who decided to open up a card shop. The fun starts with naming your shop, mine is The Stacked Deck but Heart of the Cards was a close second. After that its time to order some supplies and open up shop. Even though there isn’t a real narrative here, I promise you the gameplay more than makes up for it.
MSRP: $19.99
Platforms: XBOX (reviewed), PlayStation, Switch, PC
Price I’d Pay: $19.99
One of the things that frequently frustrates me with these simulator games is that sometimes the pacing can feel rushed. That’s not the case here, players will have to level up their shop before they can hold tournaments or even play the card game. Using their in-game cell phone players can access the stores to order their product and furniture. There is a really nice design element at play that allows players to really express themselves with their stores design.
The graphics in TCG Card Shop Simulator are alright, I mean it isn’t photo-realistic and isn’t going to win any awards, but it doesn’t have too; because it looks and works wonderfully for this game. Customers are randomized enough that it will take you a few hours of play before you start to see duplicates. I love the fact that the game depicts one of the most real things about shopping at/working at a game store and that is the body order. Funky smelling customers will come in with their animated green gas coming off of em’ and if you allow them to linger other guests will leave, luckily there is some air freshener spray that players can sell in their stores but also use it to freshen up their customers.
As a kid who collected Decipher’s Star Trek and their Star Wars TCG’s I always figured the coolest thing about owning the store is being able to just open packs. And you can do just that in TCG Card Shop Simulator, of course now I understand that me opening those packs is missed revenue; but I digress. But shop owners will build their collection buy being able to open any packs in their store. There is a whole host of card variants too, holo cards, ones with special borders, special art variants; like seriously I wouldn’t be surprised if these end up getting printed for real at some point. The game even allows for players to grade their cards, and once your store hits the big time you can even start buying and selling cards for big money.
TCG Card Shop Simulator is among my top 5 of favorite ‘simulator’ style games. With its strong attention to detail when it comes to the card mechanics and their designs. Of course, there are mods on PC that can turn the cards into Pokémon creatures but honestly Tetramon is so well done, it’s not needed. The creatures all have some great designs and collecting them becomes as addictive as selling the packs of cards. While I do wish there was a traditional narrative, what’s here is so much fun to play that I soon wasn’t even worried about a story. If you are a fan of TCG or simulator games; TCG Card Shop Simulator needs to be on your radar.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.