Merchants of Rosewall Review - Shop Management Visual Novel with a Twist

Big Blue Sky Games' first title, Merchants of Rosewall, is a blend between a visual novel and store manager with a unique take on crafting. It’s an impressive first outing for the indie studio. Not only is there a complete and well-thought-out storyline along with the distinct management mechanics, but there are multiple NPCs and a cozy art style to go with it.

Stock the Shelves in Merchants of Rosewall Shop Simulation

The story begins with you arriving in Rosewall. You’re part of a merchant program that aims to strengthen relations between the Estoiq Trading Company (ETC) and the city. You’re in charge of a shop, though the ETC owns it and the land the building is on. Maintaining your merchant status comes at a cost, with strict requirements set by the program.

This is where the shop management part of Merchants of Rosewall comes in. To get inventory, you need to hire members of the various crafting guilds. Cooks, masons, smiths, artists, tailors, and woodworkers are all waiting to be hired, though not at the same time. As you work through the first couple months of the game you’ll get letters announcing when someone is available to join you.

Companions specialize in a certain craft and rank from S to E. The higher the rank, the more they can produce. Not only that, but the chance of creating extra merchandise or being able to craft another set of items for the day increases. This can come into play if you have, for example, too many artists and not enough tailors to fabricate the products you want on the day you need. You can assign one of the artists to the Tailor workshop by looking at the rankings and selecting the best candidate for the job. 

The different crafting specialties are all related to each other, especially as the recipes become more complex later in the game. A smith may make regular steins, while multiple cooks craft some ale, and a woodcutter puts on the final touches to a set of Ornate Steins. Some of the best items to create are the ones that take a variety of companions to produce.

I really loved this interconnectedness. Not only is it more realistic, but it can make things especially difficult to create. It’s a new challenge that evolves with the game, requiring more to make an expensive item then just pricey materials. It also means that not every employee will produce a unique item to go on the shelf. With sales goals in mind, this can be the difference between failure and continuing on. 

Companions don’t only craft inventory, but they act as your salespeople, stockers, and greeters. These store skills are ranked the same way as crafting skills, impacting how much you can bump prices, bring in customers, and keep merchandise on the shelves. The likelihood that any companion is idle during a day at the shop is rare. 

Delve into Rosewall History

Woven between daily crafting is the narrative of Merchants of Rosewall. Styled like a visual novel, you accidentally swallow a bit of elemental energy known as a Memory, and stumble onto a mystery that could impact how Rosewall currently functions. Most of the NPC interactions and world exploration take place during these story moments. 

Choices made during dialogue exchanges don’t necessarily matter as the story progresses in a linear fashion. You’ll often find yourself going through all the available options before being able to move on. That’s simply because there are multiple pieces of the puzzle that have to be explored. 

Seeing the narrative elements taken seriously and not as a quick addition to create breaks to the shop keeping made me quite excited. It’s not a straightforward story with little thought put into it. There are even plot twists that took me by surprise, which I really enjoyed. 

The Good, the Bad, and the Bugs

While the game operates smoothly, for the most part, there are some issues with it. First is the biggest one, a failure to mark a quest step as complete when the required Renown level is reached. This blocks progression, causing you to fail, ending your journey in Rosewall.

Another issue, though it’s a boon to players, is that companions assigned to a store task the day before, can remain assigned there even though they’ve crafted something. Typically, Companions are only able to do one task per day. This is seen when you go into the storefront menu. Companions assigned to workshops are grayed out, unable to be moved to a shop position. 

However, one may fill the slot they were in previously. If you don’t replace that Companion or take them out of the lineup, you’ll get the bonus from that slot, even though you’re not supposed to. This makes the game easier, so it’s not the worst bug, but one nonetheless.

Merchants of Rosewall Review | Final Thoughts

Merchants of Rosewall is an endearing entry in the shop management genre. Not only is the way you operate the shop different from other titles, it also has an interesting story laced throughout. Progression-blocking bugs can be problematic if encountered, but Big Blue Sky Games developers are already working on solutions. Whether you’re interested in management games or visual novels, Merchants of Rosewall is a title to check out. 

Merchants of Rosewall was reviewed on PC over the course of 14 hours with a code provided by Big Blue Sky Games. Screenshots were obtained during the course of the review.