Merek’s Market [Xbox]
Developed and published by Big Village Games, a team of two from Sheffield, Merek’s Market is a time-management/crafting game where you play as Merek, a handy craftsman with his own little shop. There’s a decent selection of requests to fulfill for your customers that increases in difficulty as you progress. What begins as items as easily crafted as a staff moves on to more intricate (i.e: more steps) items such as glass and even armour. You’ll get abilities as you go, such as running to allow you to get around the shop floor faster; as well as foresight, that will allow you to prepare for incoming orders and get a few of them pre-made to allow you to cope with the sudden influx a little better.
There are boss levels for you to complete, that require you to build various larger, multi-part items such as statues and carts, and these have their own little mini-game style processes within, including a Simon Says style pattern repeating mode, as well as matching up thumb-stick angles to balance items. These inject a little bit of variety into the gameplay, and help to prevent it from feeling like too much of the same thing. You can also play local co-op with up to four players (including yourself), and this is done in a split map style mode, with one or more players in each section of the map, in control of making orders, or handing them over and taking payment. It’s a lot more chaotic in co-op, focusing less on the story and more on just throwing you more than you can handle, so it’s worth trying out both modes if you can.
Visually, it’s quite standard, with chunky, awkward looking characters that are oddly quite endearing. Your ‘medieval shoppe’ style setting improves as you progress, getting larger and with access to new functions. The voice acting is very British, with a charming cast of characters that add a good bit of personality to the dialogue, as well as all of the jokes. The soundtrack is very simple, almost verging on generic. It’s pleasant enough, with a joyful little tune, but I could swear I’ve heard it elsewhere before - I just can’t quite place it.
Each level has three potential coins to gain, with Gold being the highest. There are also friend and global leaderboards available for you to compare your best scores and times with, and this really helps to encourage you to go back and try for a better score. As you craft items for your customers, they’ll queue up at the side of your shop to pay - and will require a few quick button presses to get the best tip. Getting these correct will increase your multiplier, allowing for bigger and better tips, which will help you fly up the leaderboard. You’ll also occasionally get customers who don’t want items crafted, and instead are looking for other products from your shop - these ones result in a quick bit of bartering back and forth as you attempt to secure the highest price (within reason). Getting the knack of your customers’ spending habits is important, as you don’t want to miss out on any profit!
Overall, Merek’s Market is a surprising little game that actually gave us a good laugh and a lot of fun. Whether you’re looking for a game to play solo, or co-op; if you’re looking for something in the vein of Overcooked, then I’d recommend you check this out. It’s got plenty to keep you interested, and the satisfaction of climbing the leaderboard (particularly as there’s less than 200 players ranked on each level, at least on Xbox) will have you coming back time and time again. And at the price of £14.99 on the Xbox Store, it’s a decent price too!
In the end, we decided to give Merek’s Market the Collecting Asylum rating of 8.5/10.
Have you played Merek’s Market yet? What did you think of it?
Let us know in the comments below!
- V x
Thank you to RenaissancePR for the Merek’s Market Xbox review code!
