I have the utmost respect for those that work at convenience stores. These brave souls are a part of many peoples’ daily lives as they are on the front lines helping ordinary folks get food, drinks, and, well, just about anything. There haven’t been many games that have put players in this role. Until now. inKonbini puts players in the shoes of a convenience store clerk, tasking them with everything that comes with the job. I got my hands on a demo build of the game running on PC (with an Xbox controller) at Tokyo Indie Games Summit. Let’s break it down.
Controls are pretty simple. You move around Makoto with the control stick and can interact with different shelving units with the press of A. When taking a look at the shelves, you can grab and place items with the triggers, get more information about the items with Y and adjust them to show the label properly with A. Before opening the store, you have to restock the shop shelves by bringing items from the back and placing them in the appropriate areas. Not only this, but you’ll have to make sure things are in the right places in the store itself. For example, some jokers put the bread in the refrigerated cases. If you don’t fix it, customers might make some comments on how odd that is. Overall, things felt on point and enjoyable. If you have some OCD tendencies like me, you might find yourself checking every single item in the store to make sure that the labels are facing outward and appealing to the customers.
Shelving items is just one part of the routine at a convenience store. When a customer comes in, they may ask for something specific or just try to start up a conversation. In the demo, an older trucker came into the store looking for some very specific cat food. This led to going through each of the cans of cat food to find what he was looking for. Conversations like this and about life in general are all a part of the experience. This same customer had interesting things to say, alluding to having some kind of spat with Makoto’s aunt and refusing to expand on it which I found kind of funny.
Of course, working the cash register is another duty that Makoto is tasked with. Being set in the early 90s, there won’t be any credit card or mobile payments. Everything is done in cash. Despite taking place in Japan, the money itself looks like yen, but is slightly different. Regardless, this aspect is pretty realistic in the game. Once the customer places down their money, you’ll have to make the appropriate change on your own. A helpful display also assists with making sure you give the appropriate amount of cash back, too. I only got to do this in the demo just once, but it seemed spot on.
inKonbini really focuses on minute details. Each of the items on the shelves are meticulously designed with brands from the game. Some of the items will look pretty familiar, especially if you’ve ever been to a Japanese convenience store. In that sense, the visuals here do a good job at portraying the make up of these shops. The demo was running on PC, so while I can’t comment directly on how this game will translate to the Switch, it didn’t seem to be doing anything that Nintendo’s system couldn’t handle. Even with that said, inKobini is a sharp looking game with a lot of attention to detail.
I liked what I played of inKonbini. The game looks great, the controls are spot on and there is a lot of attention to detail. It might be monotonous to some, but if you like slower paced, narrative based games, inKonbini might be up your alley. The game is set to arrive at some point in 2025 to the Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC and Mac.
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