Gemporium: A Cute Mining Sim

cute cozy game

It's really fun, a shop sim that doesn't feel stressful to play.

Let's list all of the positives first. The artstyle is pretty, the game has a lot of charm and it really feels like a lot of heart was put into it and the upgrade progression is well made. That said, as much as it hurts to say, Gemporium kinda sucks. Only kinda, because it wasn't terrible, but still. The gameplay loop is fun for maybe a couple hours, then it becomes really boring, because the main mechanics don't change at all through the game. The soundtrack, while not bad, sometimes uses sounds, which psychically hurt my ears, not sure why, maybe it's the pitch. There is not much else to say to be fair. "Cozy" does not neccesarly mean "doing one simple task over and over with little to none gameplay variation". Also I hope the protagonist's grandma perishes in fiery depths of hell. Imagine the grandpa from Stardew valley, but he is mean and he sucks. ♥♥♥♥ you Grandmole

The Good: Firstly, it is totally unique. I haven't seen the fossil fighters style of excavation in any PC game, so this game was able to scratch that itch quite nicely. I also think that the art style is quite cute and enhances the game as a whole. I did like the phone calls you'd get from your grandma or your pet rock, those served as a nice break between the days with some silly dialogue. It was pretty satisfying to upgrade stuff and immediately see the benefits, such as getting a stronger hammer or more gem spaces in your pouch. Finally, I did enjoy optimizing the game in order to make as much money as I could, making do with the time limit imposed on me. Learning small little techs to speed up the process like intentionally missing a crack check, or hammering the gem directly to mine it out quicker, made the game pretty fun for me. The Bad: The game was fun for the first 2-3 hours, but I think it moved too fast overall. A day lasts about 4-5 minutes before any upgrades, and in this time you have to manage mining the gems, cleaning them and selling them. It's a very stressful timetable to try and make money every day. While there's the alternative option to stock up on gems on…

Really good game - Everything is well explained, has good accessibility options, great price. Good experience

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