Bookshop Simulator

Title: Bookshop Simulator
Publisher: Blep Games
Developer: Blep Games
Release Date: September 16, 2025
Genres: Casual, Indie, Shop Management, Simulation
Platform: PC, Steam
Where to Buy: Steam
Rating:

Open your own bookshop! Order books, stock your shelves, and earn revenue. Use your profits to decorate, expand, and hire staff. Collect rare books that give powerful abilities. Adopt a cat to keep you and your customers company along the way!

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Review

Bookshop Simulator is a game with potential and a decent choice for fans of shop simulation games. The game doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but in terms of simulation games it’s pretty fun, if a little grindy. It runs fairly decently, though the speed at which customers purchase books can make early levels feel overwhelming constantly restocking shelves.

Design wise, I feel a bit lukewarm about the game’s graphic design. All of the characters are ugly and animations are minimal. The colors are garish and shop lighting could be improved. The used books are a total eye sore. Some of the decorations are okay, though the size of some things like the Christmas tree are too big for the space. On the positive side, the books in the catalog are cheeky references to real books and I had a few good laughs over the creative titles, and some covers are cool.

The game is currently early access and is steadily adding new features, like the cafe which is cute but is currently pretty clunky and unfun to play. I put the cafe on the backburner until an NPC cashier can be hired to run the cafe. You are able to recommend books but it feels very basic and unsatisfying to do.

The most recent update added some quality of life changes, namely a highlight feature that shows where items are stored when you pick up a box. These recent changes make me a little optimistic about the direction that the game is going, and I hope that they continue to improve. The developers have stated that they will consider opening the game up to the modding community in the future, and I think that adding support for this will be a game changer in the same way that it was for TCG Card Shop Simulator, which has a passionate modding community. I hope that the developers keep working on this game so that it can be brought to its fullest potential.

Bookshop Simulator is the second book store management game that I’ve played and while decent, I much preferred Tiny Bookshop which is an all around better game in terms of design and gameplay. Not to say that it’s not worth playing, as the two games are different enough that you’d get a different experience from each.