While my chosen profession may not make much use of my degree in English, I’ll admit that I’ve always had a weakness for the power of the written word. While I’m much more versed in classic literature than more modern works, I truly love the art of quality storytelling and its ability to inspire strong feelings in just about every direction for the reader. Perhaps not surprisingly, given that time spent with your nose in a book would pull your eyes from a screen, there haven’t been too many games that have run with a love for books as their focus. I’m glad that the people behind Tiny Bookshop decided to buck the trend.

In an act of impulsive optimism, you’ve decided to pack up and move to a small seaside town, making a living by setting up a quaint little (sorry, that’s tiny) bookshop that you pull along with your car. Setting up in a location around town, people will come by to check out your selection, looking for things that tickle their fancy. If you’ve got a good enough selection in a particular genre they like that will increase the odds they’ll pick something up, and over time you’ll come by a variety of trinkets you can decorate your shop with that will also give you a variety of perks to help. You’ll be able to pick these up either by purchasing them or acquiring them through a variety of quests you can undertake, all of which tend to keep a chill and helpful vibe so you won’t need to stress over anything in particular.

The real challenge, and fun, kicks in when you’ll periodically get someone who is looking for help. Looking over a variety of details they’ll provide, you’ll need to pour through the selection of titles you have remaining, hoping to find some sort of match. What really takes the game to another level is that the books you’re stocking are all real, and each has a synopsis and assorted details that will help you try to find your match. You won’t always be able to pull this off, but it is incredibly satisfying when it works out.

While ultimately there’s not all that much more to the game than the daily grind of deciding where to go, trying to stock your shelves appropriately for the given location, being helpful to your customers, and then scanning the paper for used books or trinkets for sale, there doesn’t really need to be. This is absolutely a case where the journey is where you find the joy in the game, not really the destination. While perhaps people who aren’t in love with their books won’t think much of what this offers, bibliophiles should absolutely find it to be delightful.