LifeisXbox’s Merek’s Market review | Having your own shop set in medieval times, what more can you dream of, right? Okay yeah, maybe being a knight or a queen, but now you are a shopkeeper and not just a normal one. You’re Merek, who is looking to expand his shop through crafting items, haggling or bartering to grow your imperium. As you play through Big Village Games Ltd’s new game Merek’s Market you will encounter all kinds of strange situations where you will need to please the customer. So let’s set up shop and dive right into this weird little world.
ℹ️ | We played Merek’s Market for 5 hours on PC. This game is also available on Xbox and PlayStation.
What we liked!
- Sound / Voiced game | What I personally liked the best about the game is the medieval soundtrack that is playing constantly. You immediatly get in the medieval ambiance and it fits in just perfectly with the vibe that Merek’s Market is trying to establish. Luckily it doesn’t stop there. Another great thing is that the game is fully voice acted with some lovely old English accents. I think the choice to do this is also a great addition to the game. The mentioned above completed with some strong sound effects when you are crafting an item for example, is just amazing.
- Crafting | While playing Merek’s Market there is a wide variety of items that you can craft. Luckily, you don’t have to put all the recipes in your head since you don’t have to craft them all in one level. But when you are at a certain point and are having a big brain fart where you completely forget how to craft a certain item, there is always the big book of secrets for you where you can look up the recipes. Whether you are simply crafting a staff on your crafting table or smithing an mighty sword on your anvil, everything that you need to know is in there.
- Humor | The levels in this game are filled with humor. While it’s your goal to earn as much money in a certain amount of time by crafting the required items and then type in the correct word to sell it, there is also room for a little breeze and interaction with the customers of the shops. There is the little princess who falls in love with a different men each second and then has to change hobbies in order to get the men their attention. Or there is Tess who comes to gives you recipes. For example Tess gives you the recipe to craft gloves and instead of saying a nice thank you, they throw the pun Glovely! to your head.
- Play with friends | A nice featue about this game is that you can play it in local co-op with up to 4 people. You can even invite someone else to play with you through remote-play. And let’s be honest, every game is more enjoyable when you have the oppurturniyt to play with friends. And the developers are even giving out good reasons as why you should play together: Has the spark gone? Save the relationship with some quality time together. Or: Do you struggle with the most basic of video games? Looks like you’re doing something useful while your 3 friends carry you.
Somewhere between
- Graphics | Personally I like the graphical style of Merek’s Market. It’s a simple cartoony kind a of style and you can easily recognize the purpose of every object. However, sometimes it gives me the feeling that the developers rushed some things in order to make the publishing deadline. Like you have the oven and its fire which are very detailed, and the same goes for the craftable objects. But then there are the candles that light up the place and where you can see these are candles, the details that are used in other things are completly missing there. Also, I mentioned that the game is fully voice acted, which is amazing, but when you see a characther speaking it just doesn’t feel right and most of the times it doesn’t match with what is being said.
What we disliked
- Repetitive | I found Merek’s Market kinda repetitive. Yes, every level you get other items to craft and there are some changes but after playing a fair amount of the levels it just got boring to me. You are constantly crafting under a timed pressure over and over again. I found that the breaks I took between levels are getting longer and longer before I started the next one. The game just didn’t grab me and it wasn’t like there was an intruiging story that you certainly want to finish.
- Pause / menu | The thing that I absolutely disliked the most is the fact that once you start a level, you can’t pause. There is just no way of taking a break mid-level when you need to go to the toilet or something like that. The only way is to force close the game and then when you are back restart the whole thing. I hope the developers will look into this because it seems like an easy thing to implement. I get that the levels are made to be completed in a set amount of time, but you never know if you have to stop mid-game for some kind of reason.
How long to beat the story | 10-15 hours
How long to achieve 1000G | 15-20 hours
Similar with | Potion party
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