Code provided with many thanks to GameDrive NL.
I go through various management sim phases fairly regularly, including market sims. I cast around for something that will scratch my itch to set up a shop and cheerfully bicker with customers, and that took me through classics like Recettear and Moonlighter, and games with hefty touches of that niche, like Rune Factory and Ooblets. But eventually I run out of the big names and start looking deeply indie. There, I once found a game named Winkeltje: The Little Shop.
It was a charming little thing; very low stress, not a lot of pressure to make rent so long as you marketed your seasonal wares properly (and set your difficulty levels appropriately). With a slight German forest fantasy theme, you offered potions and fruits and other wares to your neighbors, bought new dresses, and swank up your shop as opportunities allowed. It was a slim but satisfying game, and I enjoyed the dozens of hours I put into it.
Now imagine being handed an early access code for something with a name that’s faintly familiar — it’s been a long couple of months for me — and having that sense of deja vu persist as the developer’s name loads onto the screen. By the time the character creator loads, it hits me: Faire Trade is the follow-up to Winkeltje that I genuinely forgot was in the works.
We’re Back in Those Bucolic Farmlands
Wahoo! Faire Trade is Winkeltje, but more so! That’s exactly how it should work for a game that got quite a lot of cozy things right the first time around. Loading it up reveals it’s still a little rough around the edges, with sharpish (but improved!) polygons on a character that will look much better when they’re a tinier doll milling around your first shop floor.
The general operations are similar; you’ll be building up a basic shop with displays to entice your customers into the door, buying what few items you’ve scrounged up for your first few weeks. As time goes on and your options widen, you’ll be selling produce you’ve farmed and products you’ve crafted. Your decorative options will have an aesthetic impact on both your enjoyment and your customers, helping you fine-tune your clientele and your financial targets.
As an early access release, some things will feel a little constrained when it comes to spiffying the place up. There’s a solid game loop and lots of things to already do, but the developers are up front about the fact that there’s at least another year in the oven for Faire Trade. That it’s already stable is quite nice, with enough options to give you a good taste of what’s going on.
Firing up your Faire Trade
With sandbox and creative modes available, a fuller story is yet to come. Winkeltje was pretty sparse on the topic, focusing mostly on the mechanics of running your shop and managing a handful of specialized employees, so having a story will already be a neat upgrade over its predecessor.
Getting started is pretty similar, laying down foundations and walls and setting up decorations on your way to getting your first few sales out the door. As an educational and non-critical note, early access always means exactly that — a number of UI and control elements are still in development, and the game is currently optimized for keyboard and mouse controls. While the game will boot smoothly on the Steam Deck, you will need to build a customized control scheme in order to interact with the game’s building options.
As Winkeltje ran just fine on the Switch and the palette of commands you’ll need to set are pretty minimal, a controller-friendly UI scheme is almost certainly in the works with Faire Trade. If you’d like to try the game but aren’t comfortable making your own controls, give Sassybot a healthy while to work. I’m sure it’ll get easier in a few months.
Faire Trade’s Bucolic World
I’m already noting a wider variety and brighter quality of graphics available in Faire Trade, with streams and cobbles and lush forests scattered around. Of special note is the ability to actually leave your shop and see what the rest of the village is like! Mostly, I’m just charmed by how much more lush and green the world feels, with solid farming options to give your farming sim serotonin centers a boost, too.
Again, this is not a mini-franchise that is going to have as much character detail as something with six times its budget. Models are a little bit sharp and plain in places, but there’s a real charm to them that keeps the tone of the game where it belongs: homey, handcrafted, and chill. It’s… man, there’s no way to explain it to someone who never had German relatives, but it’s a game that feels like watching golf with your 74-year-old grandfather back when he still remembered growing up in Prussia.
Final Thoughts
With plenty of time ahead before Faire Trade is complete, it’s going to be a treat to see how this game grows into a stronger package. While there are a few hurdles for the most casual of sim players to overcome, the game already has a nice loop, a stable setting, and the experience in hand to grow this game into something better than its already charming predecessor.
If you’re not confident in your ability to wrangle its early access controls, do try out Winkeltje instead. It’s lightweight but charming, and it’s still a nice way to support a developer that’s found out something they’re really good at and is building on it. Good luck, Faire Trade. I’m genuinely happy to see you out here.
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