Code provided with thanks to Plan of Attack.
Gobble Inn – A Cosy Little Mining Trip
Sometimes you want a game that challenges your brain, tests your reflexes and leaves you questioning your life choices. Other times, you just want to dig up some food, make a bit of money and potter about without worrying too much. Gobble Inn looks to be aiming for the latter, offering a cosy roguelike experience with no fail states and a relaxing gameplay loop.
Digging For Dinner
You play as Aunty Val, a goblin tasked with keeping the local inn supplied with ingredients. The gameplay is split between exploring the mines and making use of the resources you bring home, with the mining side taking centre stage in the demo. Each run sends you into a procedurally generated mine filled with different blocks to dig through. Breaking blocks earns experience, allowing you to level up and choose from a selection of three upgrades. These can improve your digging speed, expand the area illuminated around your character or increase the chances of finding certain resources. There are different block types to discover, too. Some are tougher to break, while others have interesting properties that make you think a little more carefully about how you approach them. One type, for example, one block only breaks provided you hit it from the correct side.
The goal is straightforward: gather what you can, find the exit and descend further into the depths. When your time is up, you’ll return to the inn with your haul. There are no terrifying chasms to fall into or dangerous enemies to worry about in this demo, so the emphasis is firmly on digging, collecting and experimenting with upgrades rather than surviving a hostile environment.
Back At The Inn
Of course, all those resources need to go somewhere. Back at the inn, you can use your gathered ingredients to cook dishes; any money you earn can purchase new items. You can also invest in the inn itself, buying things such as additional tables. Trinkets and upgrades add another layer to the mining runs, with different options appearing as you expand. You’re always being drip-fed something extra per round. It’s a simple loop, but one that works well for the kind of game Gobble Inn wants to be. Head underground, fill your bag, return to the inn, spend your earnings and head back out again. There’s always another little goal to work towards.
A Work In Progress With Potential
Visually, Gobble Inn keeps things fairly simple, with a light-hearted presentation that suits its cosy approach. Some of the character designs in the demo are clearly placeholders, with NPCs represented by basic shapes and portraits, so there’s still work to be done before the full release. That said, the overall direction is easy to understand. This is designed to be an approachable game that you can dip into when you want to unwind, rather than something that demands your full attention every minute. An early checklist of objectives also helps point you towards things to try without overwhelming you with instructions.
Final Thoughts
My time with the Gobble Inn demo has been a pleasant introduction to a game that understands the appeal of a simple, satisfying gameplay loop. Mining for ingredients, choosing upgrades and bringing everything back to the inn gives you a reason to keep going, while the absence of fail states helps maintain that relaxed atmosphere. It’s clearly still a work in progress, so I’m interested to see how the inn management and run variety develop as the game gets closer to release. For now, though, there’s enough here to make me curious about the finished product. If you’re looking for something light-hearted to chip away at after a long day, Gobble Inn is worth a look. Keep an eye out for the demo becoming available to everyone, and see whether a spot of goblin mining is just what your evening needs.
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