Tavern Manager Simulator (Steam) – Review

Tavern Manager Simulator, from developer One More Time, wants you to “Restore your fantasy tavern to its full glory. Repair, improve, and expand the establishment.” Sounds like a plan! Loading up my Xbox, I can’t help but be intrigued by this proclaimed cozy simulator. Let’s see how my management skills go in this fantasy land as I look to restore a run-down tavern to its former glory.

Starting in front of a run-down tavern, Tavern Manager Simulator takes a familiar path.  Once you gain entry to the building, you begin to clean the piles of rubbish on the floor and cover the broken furniture so you can open and begin your journey. Set in a medieval fantasy world, your business is surrounded by a beautiful forest, offering a nice background to your daily schedule. Walking around, it is clear that some of the world will fit into the storyline as you progress.

Back to my little tavern, I begin by having to order beer to serve my customers. The game features a well-organized system, with goods arriving on horse and cart, so you must monitor your stock levels to ensure you have sufficient supplies for your customers. Taking the goods from the cart, you place them in the stock room, making them available; in my case, a physicalised keg is now in the stock room, and the number of beers available to pour is shown on the keg at the bar.  Once the customers have finished their beers, you collect your money, clean the table, and then you have to wash up the dirty mugs.

Easy, right? Wrong. You have to get water from the well outside, one bucket at a time, then manually clean the mugs before you can reuse them. The system was quite buggy, as when I was cleaning, some cups became corrupted, blocking me from cleaning any more. This was quickly resolved by leaving the sink and coming straight back in.

After some time, I unlocked sausages, so this broke up the “beer simulator” and gave me something else to serve the customers. Then the next problem, ensuring I had enough sausages, as the shift seemed to move away from beer and onto sausages for my customers. Progression isn’t too slow, as you are consistently earning money as you serve customers to pay for upgrades and unlocks. Once you level up your tavern, you begin to unlock decor, furniture, a bigger store room, and bigger tables.

Keeping your tavern clean is the biggest part of the game, as this is what mainly drives your reputation and helps bring in customers to unlock tavern levels, food items, furniture, and extra buildings. Sweeping up footprints from the floor, collecting dropped rubbish, cleaning dishes, and preparing food. There is always something to do.

Soon after, I unlocked the toilet. Well, given it’s medieval times, calling it an outhouse is probably more appropriate. Another area I have to clean, and let me tell you, after all those sausages and beers, it’s not pretty.

Cleaning takes a large portion of your time, and it feels like a bit of a drag, especially with the sweeping. I unlocked the front door mat to reduce the dirty footprints, but it felt like it didn’t do much to curb the dirt constantly being stomped through my tavern.

Looking through management books in your office, there are 60 upgrades to unlock, each locked under its own tavern level, so you have a bit of time to put in, which gives the game good longevity. Be prepared for the grind, though. Mini games tend to break this up, and the majority of the tasks you’ll complete are done through these simple slider-type games. You use different variations of these for pouring beer, cutting wood, stirring soups, and cutting meat, to name a few.

What I am desperately lacking is someone to help me with these mundane tasks. Fitting with the fantasy theme, you have the ability to unlock fairies. They live in cute fairy houses at the rear of the tavern, and as long as you feed them fairy dust, they will work the tasks you assign them, giving some of your time back. From waitressing to cleaning dishes, and even cooking, getting some time back to order stock from the tavern was a welcome relief.    

The graphics work well, but don’t expect realism. It’s a fantasy world, and it hits the mark nicely. From the cockroaches crawling over food scraps in the bin, to the way the dishwashing water ripples, it’s a very pretty game.

Even going outside and exploring around the tavern, you will find characters to interact with. Being set in a fantasy realm, having goblins or monsters visit the tavern would have been a fitting way to break up the lack of variety that the human patrons offer. As you reach a higher level, you will see royalty and nobles come into your tavern, which mixes it up a little.

Sounds are in theme with the game. When the carriages delivering your stock arrive, you hear the horses neighing. NPCs mumble amongst themselves as they eat your food and drown their sorrows, while the clattering of cups and plates being washed fills the air. The music is just as relaxing as the game, and there were a few times when I found my eyes closing, drifting off for a little nap in between serving customers.

Tavern Manager Simulation is exactly what it has set out to be: a cozy management game. It tries to be different in a market flooded with simulators, and it hits the mark, but be prepared for the grind! You will constantly be completing tasks and working hard, but once the fairies start helping you out, you can focus on turning your tavern into a pristine halfway house. As your customers stop and forget their worries, you can sit back and watch the money roll in.