Tavern Keeper Hands-On Preview: The real medieval fantasy dream

Once, before the pressures and fast pace of life caught up with me, I loved a good sim. Zoo Tycoon was my jam, and I was willing to spend hours perfecting every inch of whatever business or home I was working on a simulation game. However, knowing that they simply take more time than I have nowadays, mostly I have my old favourite sims sitting in my Steam library in the same way Bilbo Baggins keeps the ring on that shelf above the fireplace.

After playing Tavern Keeper, I felt the call of a lovely, cosy sim once more. Greenheart Games' medieval fantasy life sim is exactly what it says on the tin. You are a tavern keeper, tasked with running and maintaining your own fantasy tavern. Like many other fantasy worlds, this one is full of heroes, orcs, elves, and plenty of other strange things you'd expect in the genre, but even though you are the story's protagonist, you are no traditional hero. Just a simple businessperson, trying to make it through each day without anything going wrong.

As you can probably guess, in Tavern Keeper you start with little more than a tap and a small seating area. Luckily, those things come with the dingy place you just bought, and once you've hired your first employee, you're open for business. Things like extra rooms, different types of ale, recreational activities like darts and odd decorations all come in time as your money grows, and it offers a fairly simple path towards success, allowing you to grow your tavern in this early stage without too many systems being thrown at you. We can't speak for the later game here, as we only got a short amount of time with Tavern Keeper, but without an overload of systems in your face as soon as you get started, the game gave us a smooth and streamlined introduction.

That's not to say there isn't anything to do besides watching your new orc hire stumble around the tables taking orders. As well as separate objectives you'll get as your tavern grows, you may also be treated to (or have to endure) a visit from a special kind of traveller. In the demo, we met an armoured knight who thought himself a hero, looking for a worthy quest to prove his valour. This is where Tavern Keeper shifted its gameplay, opening a large book in the centre of the screen, and allowing us to pick certain dialogue options to deal with the knight. Channelling my past in hospitality and remembering the type of customer this knight proved to be, I didn't give him the time of day, crushed his dreams, but then restored them slightly by telling him his great destiny could be achieved by doing something so simple as sitting and drinking at my tavern.

Those moments sprinkled in between gameplay sections allowed Tavern Keeper to keep from ever feeling dull. Alongside the main game as well, there's also a very detailed creator, which lets people flavour their taverns however they wish. During the demo, we were shown some sample creations from fans much more talented than yours truly, who managed to make anything from a giant alchemy setup to a D&D table to a gambling table, complete with "cards" that were actually made from tiny rugs. While there were heaps of customisation options available, adding in something like this lets players bring their personal touch to a tavern, and for those who want to get lost decorating every square inch of their business, Tavern Keeper certainly gives you the capacity for it.

While it would have been nice to see how the tavern and gameplay would evolve past the demo we played, we did get to blow up our business at the end, which was satisfying in itself. Tavern Keeper is a cosy, simple simulator where even though you're running a business, you don't have to be switched on in order to keep your customers happy. It's not one of those games where it's really just a second, micro-managing job, but instead does feel like an escape to what many of us would be doing if we actually lived in a fantasy land.