I loved being involved in the playtest for Rekindled! It’s a super cozy management game with no stress and the best graphics! What a unique and special game.
The Backstory of Rekindled
Rekindled began with me flying on the back of a dragon named Draco. He told me that we barely escaped the fight and we should lie low for a while. I’m not sure yet if that information will play into the main storyline but he told me he knew a small village with an abandoned tavern that we could occupy for a while. We landed there, and the adventure began!
The Look and Feel of Rekindled
Rekindled began with a nice, comprehensive tutorial, which included specific steps I needed to accomplish in order to proceed. As I completed each one, a check mark appeared next to it. I like visual reinforcements like that! There was even a navigation indicator which told me what direction I needed to go next to complete a task. Please note, you cannot save during the tutorial, but it should take less than an hour to finish. After the tutorial ends, the game autosaves frequently.
The game appears to take place in a time period resembling the Middle Ages, with a bit of fantasy thrown in. The graphics convey that beautifully! I thought the buildings were extremely detailed and appropriate for the Middle Ages. The NPCs’ costumes were quite interesting. In my opinion, Rekindled very much resembled a small village in the Middle Ages.
I felt totally immersed in the time period, even the music in Rekindled was perfect. It was mostly composed by an artist known as Kanable, and he did a fantastic job! The village I lived in was near the ocean, and as I got closer to the shoreline, the sound of crashing waves got louder and louder. And the wind blew all the grasses and trees in a very realistic way. Love it!
The Gameplay in Rekindled
Rekindled is, at its heart, a shop management game. But it’s a real departure from the typical shop management game, in a great way! There is absolutely no stress, no timers, no need to sleep or eat. I was able to play exactly as I wanted to play, and you can do the same.
The key difference between Rekindled and other shop management games is that when the shop is closed, time stands still. And I get to decide when the shop opens! It’s all accomplished through the use of a candle, which opens my tavern. When I get up in the morning, the candle has not been lit yet. I can do whatever I want, and time does not pass until I choose to light the candle. Personally, I liked to harvest my crops and water my garden in this time period and then go wandering. I followed a lot of the same paths, but each day I also tried to explore something new. Later, I prepared food and drink for my customers and laid it out on platters so they could help themselves. All of this was done at my own pace and with time standing still, so there was no pressure to rush. Fantastic! Of course, you can arrange your day any way you want, which is a really neat game feature.
Operating my Tavern in Rekindled
Once I lit my candle and opened my tavern, villagers wandered in. They helped themselves to the foods I had prepared and found seats. I walked around and served them the ale that I had prepared. When I approached them, they said “hello”, and each one had a unique voice. That was unexpected!
I had to make sure I kept up with removing their plates and mugs after they left because my newer customers needed those seats. It wasn’t hard to do. As I cleared up, I got to pocket the money they left to pay for their meals. At a certain hour, the town bells rang, and everyone went home pretty quickly. That’s also when my candle went out, and time stopped once again. I was free to again do whatever I wanted with no time constraints. I liked to tidy up and go foraging once more, but could have done anything. I really appreciated that aspect of the game so much!
Exploring and Foraging in Rekindled
There was so much to explore in Rekindled! As I write this, I have played for almost 30 hours, and there is so much I can still do. There are rooms in my tavern that I have not unlocked yet, and an entire building called the “mansion” too! I think the full game will provide many, many hours of fun gameplay!
Another thing I love about Rekindled is that I don’t have to select or even use tools. If I find firewood, it’s already been split and bundled for me! I just have to hit A on my controller, and it’s in my inventory. The same thing with plants and large rocks. It’s absolutely stress-free!! I even get a cool graphic and a very satisfying sound when I’ve picked up an item, and each item has its own sound. I have a route that I like to take because I know I will find interesting plants, firewood and some rocks. You will probably play differently than I do, and that’s cool! I love that we have these options.
There was a wide variety of items I could forage for in Rekindled. They included tomatoes, mushrooms, onions and carrots. Like with the firewood, I just clicked A on the plant, and it was in my inventory. The plants were fairly visible, even from a distance and were usually clustered in groups of 3-5. I really enjoyed walking all over the place, looking for things to forage.
There were a lot of really interesting buildings in Rekindled, and I got inside some of them. They contained fun little surprises for me, like the recipe to make cheese. I believe more will be accessible in the full game. From what I’ve seen so far, the doors had codes that I had to find as I explored. That was fun! The space I was able to explore in this playtest was very large. I’ve been told the demo will let players explore much of the same area. Playtime on the demo will also carry over to the full game, which is great.
Fishing in Rekindled
The fishing mechanic in Rekindled is just as cozy and stress-free as the rest of the game! (Looking at you, Stardew Valley!!) First, I had to look for disturbances in the water and fish jumping around. Then I aimed my fishing rod at the area and pressed A. It was obvious when I had a bite, and then all I had to do was press A again. Voila, I caught a fish!
Decorating in Rekindled
Some players like to decorate, and others aren’t as thrilled with it. The developer used two types of currency, coins and hearts, as he created Rekindled, and that’s great! I was paid with coins when I provided food and drink for the villagers. I used those coins to buy other things to support my business, like wheat plants to make my bread.
I also earned hearts along with coins when I provided my customers with food and drink. And I also earned hearts by keeping my tavern clean, which I did by sweeping the floor. Those villagers track in a lot of dirt!
I could purchase decorations with the hearts. The decorations don’t really affect the gameplay but they sure are cool looking! By separating these 2 forms of currency, the dev took away the stress of having to choose between spending money to improve the items I want to sell, or to decorate simply because I wanted to. That’s a great feature!
There’s So Much More in Rekindled
For example, Rekindled has a gardening mechanic. Like most sims, you purchase plants and then have to water them daily. Unlike many sims, these plants continue to produce over and over again. Most plants are ready to harvest in 3-5 minutes and even have a timer so you can see when they will be ready. As in most sims, they do have to be watered every time they are harvested. That’s a bit of a challenge because each well in the village can only be used once a day. However, there are quite a few wells so players can figure out a system for gathering water. And don’t forget, you can gather your water before you light the candle in the tavern, so time is not passing.
My Thoughts about the Playtest of Rekindled
A playtest is a group of players trying out a game before it’s been released. It’s a way to help the dev find bugs, inconsistencies, spelling errors and other issues. I enjoy participating in playtests because it’s fun collaborating with other players and the dev, and also because sometimes I can have input into the final game. I think that’s cool!
In the playtest for Rekindled, I could see that the dev was totally involved with us and fixed problems lickety split! I’m always impressed with game devs who are very responsive to players. To me, it indicates that they are committed to developing an excellent game and want to make sure the players have the best possible experience with it. So Bravo to Malum Games, the dev for Rekindled.
Final Thoughts
Rekindled was developed by a solo dev with 20 years of experience in the industry. That shows in the highly polished look, feel and gameplay. He was laid off recently and decided to try making a game himself, a game that he would really like to play! He likes management sim games but often finds them too stressful, hence the great choices he made with Rekindled. I love the stress-free features he included in the game and can’t stop playing! I played solo, but there’s also a co-op mode if you prefer. There will be a demo for you to try on Steam, hopefully in the summer of 2026. It should let you play for a few days in the springtime of the game, and I highly encourage you to try it. The full game will have all 4 seasons, which should make things interesting! It is projected to be available at the end of 2026.
I absolutely adore this game!! After almost 30 hours of playing, I still play it every day, and most days I play multiple times. The world we are playtesting is quite large, but the dev intends to make it even bigger with more areas to forage, fish and collect the fun stuff we collect! Rekindled has 3 save slots. In my first save file I created a fairly large tavern and hired helpers to assist me, which was really great and a lot of fun. But recently I’ve decided to try the game again and play on a smaller scale. Having the extra save slots is great!! My newest save is a small tavern where I can be more hands-on with my patrons. The dev specifically designed the game so players can do this, play the exact way they want and even change their play style if they want. I am so looking forward to the full release of the game!
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