Over the past decade, Stardew Valley has single-handedly revitalised and energised a specific subgenre that combines nostalgic pixel art with the dream of slowing down and running a quiet rural business away from the hustle and bustle of city life. Of course, there are quite drastic variations within this otherwise relatively small framework. For example, Moonlighter added small roguelite combat scenarios and replaced farm management with shop life, while My Time at Portia placed extra focus on larger construction projects. The games are different, but the concept is the same - you escape the hustle and bustle of the big city and instead find meaning in running a small business somewhere where you can feel nature and get to know the villagers better.
Danish Crinkle Cut Games is now bursting onto the scene with their first game, Discounty, and if you have any fondness for this specific way of composing and structuring games, then this is truly a recommendable take on the genre's unique characteristics.
You arrive in Blomkest from the city at the request of your aunt Tellar, who asks for your help in starting and running the town's local supermarket, Discounty. From an isometric perspective, you can explore the town, meet and talk to the residents and, perhaps most importantly, order new goods, stand at the checkout and continuously expand and adapt the shop so that you can earn a living. This is done, for example, through dedicated side missions that reward you with special purchase agreements with suppliers in and around the town. As you explore and manage the store, a more serious narrative unfolds around pollution and abuse of power, but for obvious reasons, I won't spoil it for you. In addition, there is an ongoing discussion about what constant expansion does to a small village environment, where some believe that your constant thirst for greater and faster profits through expansion and efficiency sucks the life out of the quiet, relaxed charm of the town and its surroundings. It's a pretty funny "play" on the whole management sim aspect, which I appreciate the game takes up.
The game's slightly awkward charm draws inspiration from Stardew Valley and other isometric games with a narrative twinkle in their eye, such as Sidebar Games' Golf Story and Sports Story. It's certainly not because each of these characters, such as the gravedigger journalist Cornelius or the aforementioned Aunt Tellar, will have their own designated fan clubs among enthusiastic players, as in Stardew Valley, but in terms of creating personality and charm, Crinkle Cut succeeds here in shaping a community of unusual types. This is also reinforced through the aforementioned purchase agreements, where those you trade with have specific Perks to unlock, so even though Stardew Valley's rather boring heart system has been cut out, there is still reason to interact with those around you, it's just more harmoniously implemented in the game's central gameplay loop.
The appearance is also a kind of modern interpretation of classic isometric 16-bit era games, so think something along the lines of Earthbound, and you're there. In fact, countless games have succeeded in recreating these technical frameworks and making their individual settings shine, and Discounty partly succeeds in creating a memorable aesthetic framework. There is a level of detail that makes it immensely satisfying just to look at the town of Blomkest, and it's clear that the small team has put a lot of effort into ensuring that every nook and cranny oozes personality. The colour palette in the game is not quite as contrasting, perhaps to give the city a slightly different feel, but it's still a bit of a shame that Crinkle Cut did not go the extra mile and play around with the colours a little more, as perhaps a more exaggerated visual profile would have helped. However, it's certainly not directly grey and boring, and since the music is reliable (though not flashy), neither the aesthetics nor the sound are anything that really gets in the way.
Discounty won't win you over if you're not already into the whole "shop owner" thing. Whether it's managing the sushi restaurant in Dave the Diver, selling a successful harvest in Stardew Valley, or selling out in the shop in Moonlighter, it appeals to my most basic instincts to get involved in running such a shop, and luckily Discounty hooked me from the start. You have to order the goods you need, decorate the shop yourself, place the goods on the shelves yourself, and calculate the total purchase price for each customer at the checkout. Yes, it's the essence of "busywork", but boy, is it fun. Even better, even though the game continuously expands its loop with the aforementioned meta-narrative about Blomkest's challenges, the game stays true to the specific task of running your shop. A curveball or two is thrown at you, but whereas Stardew Valley, for example, impresses by constantly expanding its own framework, Discounty is far more limited, and you can sense that this is a conscious design decision. This also means that it's much easier to recommend to those who find some of the more grandiose "cosy games" intimidating in their assumed length.
To be completely honest, there is really not much I would change here. Certainly not everyone will fall for a little "cosy management sim", or however you choose to position the style and genre, and in the midst of the early autumn action frenzy, Discounty may tremble a little in the shadow of the big titles that are bursting out of the starting blocks. But I'm happy to argue that this little Danish gem is worth your time and money, because Crinkle Cut Games has really hit on something here.