Review of Tavern Master. A niche, dead-end fast food from the world of tycoons

Hello!

At first glance, the unassuming Tavern Master can satisfy the need for uncomplicated tycoons of a user starved for them. In Tavern Master, the player takes on the role of a pub owner. From a bird's-eye view, the player will observe the growth and development of their tavern. You have to develop the staff; the longer they work, the better they become — the wonders of the virtual world, and nothing more! Eventually, the bartender will be able to set a record number of drinks on a tray in mere seconds, and the waiter will deliver what is needed and bring it safe and sound, another virtual wonder! The game overall feels like a dollhouse for young people, or if you will, a kind of Sims: Pub Adventures for broke students.

After a few hours of active development, a hotel will become available which you can build and furnish on the second floor. The most profitable and cozy-looking investment in the tavern. Guest amenities include a crackling fireplace, silk beds, and cabinets with tomes.

You will need to guard the tavern, pay for the knight's gear and equipment. Make sure the tavern doesn't catch fire — optimally place buckets, chandeliers, etc.

Beauty!

At some point, replenishing barrels with spirits becomes tedious, the bustling overcrowded hall becomes tiresome, along with tracking the weather and balance. The development tree, like in Founders’ Fortune, finishes very quickly. Ultimately, you realize that the game is good for a couple of evenings, if not less. This is likely the problem with all budget tycoons — everything is built, logistics are optimized, technologies are researched, relative beauty is achieved — a limit. And you don't even want to try the sandbox; your eyes have seen it all.

Gameplay-wise, Tavern Master is probably painfully simplistic — like fast food, it satiates hunger with quick carbs, it is tasty, filling, but soon the simplistic mechanics turn into a routine, becoming bland. Even the DLC with winter, pirates doesn't add any special variety to the old game — the same mechanics, just instead of adventurers now, there are pirates. At some point, you wake up from the fast-food menu and realize that in a normal situation you would never have touched Tavern Master, Hero’s Hour, Metropolis 1998, because such games only fill vacant niches. We await the Chinese The Bustling World.