Mineko’s Night Market Review

thesixthaxis.com:

It’s been a few years since the first footage of Mineko’s Night Market piqued many gamers’ interest; its striking artstyle, promises of satisfying crafting and conversations, and vast numbers of feline friends made it stand out in an ever-growing field of cosy games. I have been keenly following its development and was excited to get hands on with the full game so did it live up to my expectations? In short, not even close – for the longer version, read on.

Taking clear influence from the likes of Stardew Valley, Mineko’s Night Market sees the titular character moving to a small village with their dad and facing the prospect of making friends and establishing their rule in a new community. So far, so very generic, but the twist is that there is a mysterious legend of a magical cat called Nikko surrounding the village with sinister Agents in FBI-style suits staking out all the island’s major locations. The central narrative sees Mineko teaming up with other children to release captured cats, foil the Agents’ plans and save Nikko. This plot is broken up by an endless stream of repetitive foraging and crafting activities and disappointingly charmless dialogue with an assortment of mostly unlikeable and one-dimensional characters.

This summary may sound a little harsh, and to some extent it is, but the various gameplay loops in Mineko’s are hideously over-exposed through longer play sessions. The incredibly superficial mechanics quickly began to grate and I was having to force myself to persevere for the sake of this review. It is clear that this style of game is intended more as a daily snack than a feast and short sessions of underwhelming gameplay may help to conceal Mineko’s mechanical shortcomings, but the lack of polish