Shop Titans 36 Hours Playthrough Review By An “Almost” Addict
It’s been a while since I played a shop management game, the last time was on Facebook when Cafe World / Restaurant City was all the rage. Being in a “foodie abundant” country, it was a natural theme to get into until the hype dried out and slowly the developers stopped putting out new content and eventually closed their servers.
So when Shop Titans appeared sometime last year, it did come up in my Steam list (because I wishlisted quite a few simulation games in the past) but I didn’t focus too much on it as there were quite a number of AAA titles released during that time and I was all for console gaming too (yes I recall trying to finish Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and Monster Hunter during that time too).
So as things started to die down a bit in October 2021, and with many AAA titles getting delayed in releases due to the pandemic, I am once more on Steam looking for something to play.
So while I was thinking to myself “running a virtual lemonade stand doesn’t seem like a bad idea at all”… and boy after a playthrough of this game, I am starting to have regrets playing this title… in a good way.
First Impressions
I am not new to the shop management games, with some experience in Roller Coaster Tycoon and also two of the biggest shop management games in their heyday : Facebook Games like Cafe World / Restaurant City.
So whilst the idea of running a shop with medieval themed characters and wares does pique me (since I am into Might and Magic, Sword and Sorcery type of games), I do wonder how much depth it really has since “there is only so much that a shop simulator can do” to keep me immersed in the role of a quaint shop keeper trying to “make it” in the economy of a town with heroes and questing needs.
So when I first fired up the game, the character design was enough to bring back fond memories of Cafe World / Restaurant City. The tutorial was careful enough to show some concepts of the game, including crafting queues and interacting with the NPC and customers, and also how to actually “make a sale” and last but not least how to design my shop.
Interface wise everything is in the right places and very clean as various concepts are introduced every time a new “level milestone” is reached. There is also ample room for exploration if you are curious enough on certain on screen items by tapping on them and looking through the details. Also not forgetting you get in game pets to keep you company as well… which is kinda sweet for a shop management sim.
Graphics & Storytelling
Character design wise Kabam did a great job of introducing a myriad of characters in terms of Heroes, Champions & Workers that are essentially the “life of the city”. This carries the game forward as the player has a chance to explore different paths as they see fit – warrior, rogue and magic.
I am playing on the PC, so in terms of graphics it does its job very well to get you emotionally invested in the myriad of characters (and I am pretty sure you can relate to some of them based on the conversation you have with them). Stereotypes can be expected in this game based on the D&D genre and you’ll have a good time laughing at the anecdotes of the characters in no time. I am still pretty early in the game however, through many sporadic returns to the game, it feels like walking into an all too familiar tavern and meeting old friends again.
Gameplay
This is not an action game, it’s a shop simulation game with timed actions. Means everything you do in game has a timer for completion : crafting, questing, resting. So if you are a person who enjoys multi-tasking or tapping on something sporadically, this game is a good fit for those odd down times of waiting while you work.
However be warned, at least for the first week you’d be hooked on “what else you can unlock” as the timers are relatively short just to get you experience the joy of running your own store with your own shop and goods. It will be like this until Level 20 (this is easily 3 to 5 days if you play 8 hours a day) when you’d probably settle down with an “ok-ish” timer and unlock at least 50% of the in-game content.
I’d say if I had a chance to replay the game again, I’d focus on a certain niche instead of “general across the board” strategy as you will discover that prices (investments in certain establishments, people and also your own shop) will become quite hard to manage over time.
One would also say that this is a strategy to convince you to spend money on the game *hint*.
There are four types of in-game currency to unlock stuff – gold, gem, exchangeable tokens and guild coins. Earning them is not difficult, it’s a matter of preference sometimes depending whether you are into “shop keeping”, “hero questing”, or “unlocking aesthetics”.
The customers who visit your shop come from different hero classes and they would be looking for something specific in your shop. In fact there are also times where the customers would want to sell you something instead, which is good especially when there are items of higher rarity that will probably take more resources for you to craft, and if you are invested in your heroes as much as I do, you’d wanna have some good equipment on them to get rare ingredients as well.
It’s an entire economy here as you can choose to be purely a “rare ingredients supplier” instead of the usual “gear store keep” approach, which I think it’s a good mode of play for those who reached insanely high levels that they don’t grind as much anymore but still can become a “Shop Titan” in game.
Why dig for gold when you can sell shovels?
Shop Titan does have a good “marketplace” for you to get rid of excess inventory that seems to have a system for fluctuating prices based on the “supply and demand” concept. So you can stock up your inventory and fulfil any requests (and it is a nice bonus when the item is selling for a higher price than usual). Of course, the downside to this strategy would be that you will need a lot of inventory space to keep those extra items handy.
Slow and steady (with good friends) sort of helps you win the race, and having active guild members does help a bit on the investment front (hint : communicate in your guild to see where to invest so that everyone benefits). You can also opt to complete bounties to earn “renown” points for your guild, so that you can qualify for some “perks” that may improve your quality of shop keeping (such as faster generation of resources, shorter rest time for heroes). A quick check on the global leaderboards for guilds at time of writing top 3 positions are dominated by guilds with minimum 12.14T Guild Net Worth, which means they probably started way early in their domination, probably first day itself (whoa). Well it doesn’t matter as you can easily just create your own little group of homies and slowly grow it just to enjoy the game together.
There is however 1 quirk that I find in the game that sometimes you can’t help another guild member simply because “their Shop Titans app is not up to date”. I am not sure whether it’s because generally Shop Titans players are either playing on the Steam version or the mobile app version (and someone did share that he managed to link both his profile on both devices via an ID to carry the game around). I guess this is what they meant when it’s complicated to create a game with cross-play features and you really cannot control the version of the game that the player has…
Decorating your shop when you unlock new stuff is also quite fun in itself (if you have the space for it). Not just that, furniture like Vertical Rack, Table, Shelves, Mannequin (and pets) gives you “energy points” to make better sales by offering discounts and surcharges to customers, or even speed up crafting when you need it. You can also do “small talk” with your customers or upgrade your counter / feed your pet / upgrade your furniture to generate more points. One strategy I use personally is give discounts only on the Tier 1 items, and surcharge them for higher Tier items as the mechanism tends to lock at a fixed 50% increase / decrease on prices.
On the crafting side, it slowly builds up the challenge as you go into higher Tier items that require much more time, resources and special ingredients before you can craft it. In fact, there are already a few items that need some prerequisite Tier 1 items to craft, so it would be a good idea to keep some lower tier items in the inventory.
Another thing I noticed after being in 2 or 3 different guilds is most players will make investment in magic based items first. This strategy is good if you operate based on “per item sale” as in how much direct profit vs the time and material you spend. However, when it comes to applying discounts it can be quite hefty in terms of cost of energy. I personally tried the warrior items first but found that the iron mine investment tends to be more expensive. Perhaps after a few more levels plus trial and error I would find a strategy that works for my style of play and I love how this game manages to balance the strategic depth when it comes to shop keeping at such a nice pace.
There is certainly something for everyone… and that makes this game very interesting to keep coming back to.
Exclusive Content (Is it Pay to Win)
Happy to note that although notifications on “good deals” are quite plentiful in this game (every 2 days or so some in-game NPC will drop by to make an offer to entice you to spend in game), you can always ignore that and be happily in business as usual.
One of the things I noticed was this game had a Scholar and an Engineer character (which are considered Exclusive Paid Content). The Scholar rewards more merchant XP per sale (which means you level up faster, and unlock stuff faster). The Engineer that opens up the archer / guns set of gear (which apparently sells for much higher value in game) and questing perks like less item break chance. These may help you gain traction faster in game especially if you wanna play “catch up”.
Not to say it’s a bad thing as it’s a viable option to reward players who are “really into it” and want to play with the “big boys”.
Ongoing Content Updates
Shop Titan was released on 5 May 2020 by game developers Kabam, who is already quite famous for their other title “Marvel Contest of Champions” (which I still have on my mobile phone). Touted as the “Ultimate Shopkeeper Simulation” of 2020, it has garnered players in major markets like China and the US, and Japan.
So far I am pleased with the build quality of the game, despite being free to play they understood the mechanics well enough to “keep it going” and its little charm has no doubt managed to convince players to put real money into it, just for kicks or that little extra in the game.
Being a person who plays quite a few “Free-To-Play” mobile games often (up to the point until I hit a paywall which will remind me on whether it’s worth putting real money into it), I’d say the acid test comes after 1 year of launching the game, whether they are still producing content / running events that attract new players.
At time of writing its the start of October 2021 and there is a current running Guild Event called “The Lost City of Gold”. Basically you would participate by sending your heroes on a specific quest to get golden chests and keys and get interesting items & a chance to get an exclusive blueprint for a new item. There was also a dungeon event, and crafting event running every month, leading to an app update or two to fix balancing issues and add new decorations to an ever growing library.
Conclusion
I’d say this is a fun time waster, charming and not too difficult to get into for a good time selling stuff. If you are bored and need that occasional click fest, this is one game I’d say is good for passive players who are looking to fill in some “gaps” or need that short distraction since it is a timed action game.
As for me, I can’t wait to unlock more of the game (I am still free to play at the moment) just for fun and uncovering some hero stories in due time. Just happy that this little game was a good side distraction as I wrote this article!
Download it from Google Play Store | Apple App Store
Official Website: https://playshoptitans.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ShopTitansGame/
More Information About Shop Titans
(This section may contain spoilers, read it at your own risk)
Is Shop Titans Cross Platform?
Yes the game is also downloadable via Google Play and Apple Store. To transfer your profile over you need a “Shop Titans ID” (Go To Menu, Click on “Settings”, then “Shop Titans ID”, then “ID from this device” in your current device). On the new device just go through the tutorial scenes and once you get access to the game settings, use the same steps but click on “ID to this device” and put in the code. There ya go, convenience in multiple devices!
Can You Level Up Heroes that You Hire in Shop Titans?
Yes, everytime you go on a quest with your Heroes they earn XP, and there are items that boost the XP that they gain. Also you can increase their attributes if you invest in Attack, Defence and Health seeds, apart from making sure they are well equipped with gear matching their level.
Which Heroes are the best in Shop Titans?
According to Kerri’s excellent analysis article on Shop Titans: Heroes – Which to Hire, Retire, and Avoid, heroes are made available during different player levels (and quite expensive to hire).
I will just park a quick summary here on the best heroes to hire at each stage:
Your First Heroes – Thief / Mage
Level 10–15 Heroes – Monk
Level 20–25 Heroes – Musketeer
Level 30–35 Heroes – Wanderer / Ranger / Sorcerer
Level 45+ Heroes – Samurai / Spellblade / Ninja (as many as you can)
Level 53+ Heroes – The Berserker / Geomancer / Dancer
FINAL LINEUP:
- Musketeer
- Wanderer
- Spellblade
- Samurai (2)
- Geomancer (1–2)
- Ninja (4 or more if you have the slots)
- Dancer (1–2)
- Berserker
Where To Spend Seeds:
- HEALTH SEEDS: Priority goes to the Spellcaster Class.
- ATTACK SEEDS: Priority goes to Fighter Class, then Rogue.
- DEFENSE SEEDS: Priority goes to Spellcaster Class, then Rogue.
Do note that Kerri’s article was written in September 2019, so it might be outdated because the game did go through many updates and balancing fixes so far.
How Do You Get Champion Coins in Shop Titans?
Champions are basically in-game NPCs that power-up your heroes if you include them when they go out adventuring together. Each of them has a unique side story (even though not full fledged back stories but it’s still some bits of entertainment if unlocked). To unlock them you will need coins, which can be obtained when the NPC drops by your shop and asks for certain items to be fulfilled. There is another way that you can get champion coins by exchanging with Fortune Tokens (you get this when you complete Tasks in game), and it shows up as a redeemable option when you get around 1,000 coins.
A reddit user said this:
“Champions visit on a set schedule. They’ll come by every other day, spaced about 6 hours apart from each other. Argon typically comes around 5pm PST, Lilu at 11pm, Sia 5am, Yami 11am. It’ll be the same time for everyone regardless of timezones (so it might be at 7 or 8 for you instead). If you’re not online when one comes in they’ll come in next time you’re on, even if you completely slept through their block”
Again this was written 2 years ago from the time of writing, it may be inaccurate given that there are many more Champions now in-game.
Shop Titans Event Calendar
So far what I noticed from the Steam updates is that there are 3 major events in-game happening every month (as of October 2021):
- Lost City of Gold – Explore ruins and get gold bars in exchange for gold chest and keys. At the end of the event there is also a chance to win an exclusive blueprint.
- The King’s Caprice – Craft items according to the King’s orders and win favor which can get you exclusive “Limited Edition” stamps (double surcharge your customers) and Antique Tokens (purchase old seasonal items for your collection needs).
- Tower of Titans – Solo event to get rewards that potentially power up your hero and champions. There is even an end reward that makes your Champion a demigod…
Where to Find Shop Titans Guide and Tips?
If you are the analytical sort and want to know every bit of hacks to get ahead, this is a list of websites that probably has related info that you can munch on:
- ST Central : https://st-central.net/events/
- Kerri Rowland’s Medium Blog :https://poeticallyuninvited.medium.com/
- Professor Tran : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtreoJp9q5k
Personally I think half of the fun is just to play the game “as is” and just chill out on the specifics… no stress play is indeed possible albeit at a much slower pace.
What Are Other Games Like Shop Titans?
If you are game for other titles similar to Shop Titans, head on over to Top Similar Games like Shop Titans to get a comprehensive list including unreleased independent titles on steam. You might find another similar title to support with your time or even do a live stream playthrough just for kicks!
