inKONBINI was provided by Nagai Industries for review. Thank you!
While there have been so many great, action-packed games recently, it’s nice to sit back and relax sometimes. Some of my relaxing games are still a little bit on the action side, but I do like to just let myself get lost in great music, a calming atmosphere, and just go at my own pace. inKONBINI: One Store. Many Stories is exactly what I’d be looking for. Despite some minor grievances, inKONBINI is a wonderful way to spend an evening chilling out with stories that will ultimately hit hard in the feels.
The gameplay is well on the basic side, as we will mostly be spending our time restocking, fixing, and organizing our Aunt’s store: Honki Ponki. There isn’t much depth to it, but I found it oddly relaxing to put items on the shelves. Holding down the right trigger to watch all of our items get put on the shelves was nice, and for the most part, we can go at our own pace. There’s no specific time window we have to finish and open the store; we just do our own thing.
There were times when the store would open automatically, so there was a bit of a rush to stock up, but I generally never felt like I had to rush around and stress out. The game is all about taking your time and relaxing, and it does it well.
However, the best part of this game is easily the story. We play as Makoto, who is working at her aunt’s convenience store for a week while the aunt is on vacation. Over the course of that week, we will meet an enjoyable cast of characters, who all have a story to tell. There really wasn’t a customer who came in that I didn’t end up liking, and learning more about them as they kept coming in kept me curious about what would happen the next day. They can seem as clear as a boy who started his own business to afford capsule toys, while others become more engrossing as we investigate, like Chief's issues with your aunt.
On top of that, we have the overarching plot that involves Makoto. At first, she doesn’t really see the appeal of working at a store like this, but as time goes on, she starts to realize just how the seemingly mundane can actually be quite invigorating. It’s all about how life never really stops going forward, and how others deal with the changing tides. Ultimately, it culminates in a heartwarming, emotional experience that is well worth seeing until the end.
There are some little nuisances here and there, and it would’ve been nice to move a little bit faster to stock the store, but I understand why we were moving at our own pace with a game like this. There were also some little typos and grammatical errors here and there, but it was nothing that took away from the experience.
Ahead of its release, inKONBINI was given the Steam Deck Verified, and it really deserves it. The game feels perfect to play at the highest quality settings with a 30 FPS cap, and with how slow-paced this game is, it feels perfect this way. The visuals look beautiful, 30 FPS feels smooth enough, and battery life is much higher. Honestly, I don’t think anything needs to change outside of this. This genuinely feels perfect.
However, if you do want a higher frame rate, you could bring it up to 40 FPS while on high, but still get some slight drops when walking outside. This should be fixed if you bring it down to the medium quality preset, but I still don’t think anything needs to change to enjoy it to its fullest. There may be some spots where it drops, so it isn't perfect, but it's playable.
inKONBINI: One Store. Many Stories is quite possibly one of the most relaxing, heartfelt games I’ve played this year. The laid-back feeling of stalking the store, while talking to and getting to know the intriguing customers, is great. The gameplay is on the basic side, but it still feels enjoyable. There are some little nuisances here and there, but nothing takes away from how great it is to relax and play.
And it runs quite well on the Steam Deck. I loved playing it at the high-quality preset at 30 FPS, which I felt was perfect for a game like this. It has some malleability, but it feels wonderful playing this way.
Our review is based on the PC version of this game.
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inKONBINI: One Store. Many Stories is a relaxing experience that focuses on the intriguing tales of the customers that come in, and it's enjoyable on the Steam Deck.
