Review: Book Bound Is a Short and Simple Shop Management Sim

While it’s absolutely entertaining when a shop management game tasks you with building the best store in town, Book Bound is a new simulation that feels like it takes things in a different direction. What if we just decide to run a shop and be happy, without worrying about being profitable? What a novel idea! While it’s a bit clunky and not incredibly comprehensive, it’s a relaxing bit of escapism that lets you build the sort of shop you’d like to run or visit without worrying about things like going out of business.

There’s no real story to Book Bound, as it thrusts you immediately into shop management. After you make a character, you head into an empty storefront. What’s basically a book fairy named Stefan is inside. Stefan helps you out as you get accustomed to running your new location, and the goal is to be a happy vendor with a shop you like. No need to worry about capitalism or KPIs! Just do what you love!

Progressing in Book Bound is fairly simple. You place shelves in the shop, as well as a checkout. You can also place chairs for people to sit in, to allow people to get comfortable, and other decorations to lend ambiance. Books are placed on shelves that fall into certain categories, like thriller, sci-fi, non-fiction, fantasy, and romance. People come in and typically find what they want themselves, though sometimes one will show a signal overhead or make a request for help finding a specific title and you can assist them. Maybe folks will drop stuff that needs to be cleaned up, or you’ll head outside to lure customers in or get inspiration for your own books. As you do well, you can buy decorations and perhaps even start to tailor your shop toward only focusing on one genre. 

I do wish that some elements of Book Bound were better explained. The tutorials Bit66 offered are very brief. Even though there’s a whole character named Stefan dedicated to teaching you the ropes of shop management, it doesn’t really do a great job of covering all of the things you’d need to know about running things in Book Bound. For example, when you make a sale, you’re put into a menu in which you need to give back exact change. It isn’t complicated, but it feels unnecessary and clunky. Elements tied to stocking and unlocks also could have used a little further explanation.

The other issue is that there are times when Book Bound feels a bit clunky. Shelves can only hold so many books, and you’re limited to one copy per spot. So if you want to stock 20 different books, you’ll need at least five large bookshelves that can hold four books each. Once you start a workday, you can’t pause it from what I’ve seen to restock. The minigame to attract attention involves button mashing to ensure four gauges all stay within the “green” sphere, but you’re just told how it works and in practice it’s quite awkward.

The saving grace of all that is that it’s just… pleasant. Book Bound is a relaxing novelty. It isn’t difficult to make money. You can succeed by focusing on genres you like. Once you hit a certain point, you can keep getting inspiration from the small world around you to create your own books. And it is tiny! It consists of your shop, part of the street in front of it, and a park. It’s about taking your time and doing things they way you want to, probably succeeding even if you mess up sometimes.

Book Bound is one of those simple shop management games that doesn’t need to go over the top with details to be enjoyable. It isn’t overly complex or filled with major challenges. Rather, it’s a more relaxed game that feels like it’s about taking your time and gradually building up the bookshop of your dreams, rather than min-maxing your way to commercial success. It’s so pleasant that I found it easy to forgive its occasional clunkiness.

Book Bound is available on PCs via Steam. 

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