Growing up, I loved browsing bookstores and reading the little staff recommendation cards. I could never land a retail job myself, so when I saw Tiny Bookshop, a cozy game about running a mobile bookshop, on TikTok in 2023, I was instantly hooked. Now that I’ve played it, it’s more than I expected, but is it worth the shelf space?

In Tiny Bookshop, you play as a second-hand bookseller who moves to the quiet town of Bookstonbury with a mobile shop. As you sell books, you build relationships with regulars and help them with their problems. Over time, you find your place in the community of people who enjoy books as much as you do.

You can customise your mobile bookshop with furniture that boosts sales, affects customer turnout, and changes travel costs. Some pieces are automatically added during story missions, but you’re free to rearrange them to make the space your own. A few items can be tricky to move and may need to be stored and replaced, which gets frustrating, but thankfully, not everything works like that.

Unfortunately, you will not always recommend the right title, especially when you’re low on stock, and there will be times you’ll forget that some books are not suited for certain audiences. I’ll never forget the time a kid came up asking for a “historical fantasy” book, and I, without thinking too hard, handed over Fire & Blood by George R.R. Martin. The child was horrified, and it gave the same energy as handing Icebreaker to a 13-year-old because of its cute cover.

But my biggest gripe is the character story missions, at least one part of it. On the surface, it’s wholesome and makes you care about these characters. However, there is one moment that just feels strange in terms of execution; it doesn’t make any sense. Without spoiling anything, you will decide if you want to expose one of your regulars for a crime, and you explicitly tell them what you intend to do after they admit to it. In real life, that would seriously mess up a friendship. But in Tiny Bookshop, they take the news weirdly well and still talk to you like nothing happened. Also, they don’t face the consequences of their actions because “everyone knows everyone”.

What’s more confusing is that the game gives you dialogue options, but most of your choices don’t matter. If Tiny Bookshop can lock you out of missions due to seasonal changes, you’d think that having dialogue trees would do the same thing? It has the perfect setup to create tension or change how certain characters treat you. But instead, it treats your words like nothing happened. They could perhaps visit you less often or have someone make a side comment, which would have been enough. Heck, maybe have your decisions lock you out from achieving specific character-based tasks and allow the player to fix things when the next season rolls over. 

There are so many ways to address this, but then again, it’s a cozy indie game about selling books, and the story is just there to give you something extra to do. In terms of art, sound, and character design. It’s simple, but it gets the job done. The music is charming, the location looks vibrant despite its simplicity, and when comparing your regulars with the NPC, it doesn’t feel like you’re playing “find the protagonist” until you’ve met them over and over and recognise their design.