Unveiling the Enchanting World of Mineko’s Night Market: A Must-Read Review

While Mineko's Night Market attempts to capture the essence of previous social/life simulation games, developer Meowza Games falls short in delivering an enjoyable gameplay experience. The Japanese-themed game initially shows promise with pleasing graphics and a tranquil soundtrack, but unfortunately, it fails to deliver anything substantial.

Mineko's Night Market follows the story of a young girl named Mineko and her father, who move to a sparsely populated island that has seen better days, according to the local residents. The game introduces a local legend about a giant cat named Nikko, who is unable to return home from the nearby Mount Fugu for unknown reasons. Additionally, the island is plagued by inattentive Agents on a mysterious mission to capture Nikko, and these stereotypical men in black show a lack of professionalism as they easily become distracted by Mineko and her newfound friend, Bobo.

The most noticeable aspect of Mineko's Night Market is the persistent anticipation that maybe the game is simply starting slowly and will surely pick up in due course. It's possible that the player hasn't made enough progress yet, but once a specific milestone is reached, the real excitement will begin. Unfortunately, this never materializes. Week after week, season after season, the game plods along, offering some distraction but primarily provoking boredom. There is no eagerness to play and no thrill in anticipating what will happen next. Even the ultimate objective of bringing the adorable Nikko back home fails to generate enough interest to see Mineko through to the end.

Meowza puts effort into differentiating Mineko’s Night Market from other games in the genre. The main focus of the gameplay is to learn new recipes and sell them at the Saturday Night Market. The recipes are intriguing, but unfortunately, the unique creations such as the Feelings Journal, Fish Pond, Bug Diorama, and Ant Farm do not serve a practical purpose.

The townsfolk often request items to enhance their homes, and a few of these items do make an appearance in the game. For example, one character hangs a windsock gifted to her from a pole, while another townsperson adds a planter filled with pretty flowers to their house. However, it is disappointing that the crafted items cannot be used by Mineko herself. The fun toys collected from the vending machine cannot be displayed in her room, she cannot wear the magic cape she makes, and the fishing pond cannot be added to her own house. Most of these items end up being sold, making their uniqueness essentially pointless. It becomes redundant to create a beautiful Sakura Fan knowing that it will just be sold or given away to a villager and disappear.

It all becomes quite monotonous and repetitive. The majority of the player's time is spent traveling to various locations in order to gather supplies, while slowly unlocking these areas as Mineko acquires new tools to progress through the story. Each new place has been infiltrated by Agents, and Mineko's task is to clear them out. Surprisingly, this is accomplished by freeing the cats that the Agents are guarding. In order to do so, Mineko may have to sneak around halfheartedly while the Agents patrol in a very predictable and simplistic pattern, or put on a Delivery Outfit to distract them with food. This kind of performance is repeated every time Mineko enters a new area, with only minimal changes. It lacks interest, poses no challenge, and, like most of the game, becomes tedious rather quickly.

Every Saturday, Mineko brings her merchandise to the Night Market, and to conclude the evening, there is always a mini-game of some sort. This could involve searching for hidden lanterns, marching in a parade formation and following commands, or racing on a cat around the track. There are a limited number of mini-games in Mineko's Night Market, and the player will find themselves repeating the same ones. Some of them, like the parade, are hardly entertaining even the first time, yet they are repeatedly encountered. The dialogue is also monotonous, with the announcer and marketgoers uttering the same meaningless lines after each mini-game. Winning the mini-game seems to serve no purpose other than obtaining a trophy, which then ends up forgotten and covered in dust on a shelf in Mineko's room as the seasons go by.

The entire game feels as if it is somehow half-asleep. In other life simulation games, the townspeople may tend to their farms or take leisurely strolls, and it may be possible to engage them in conversation to receive a variety of responses. There might be festivals marking the end of each season or celebrations to give the player a sense of accomplishment. Mineko's game offers none of that.

The villagers are devoid of life, resembling mere paper dolls with only a faint hint of breath to distinguish them. Some of them may relocate from time to time, but their existence remains stagnant, with repetitive responses that never alter. Not even the presence of rain prompts them to seek shelter indoors, perpetuating an unsettling atmosphere. Certain townsfolk, like Right Cat and Left Cat, introduced at the game's inception, appear to serve no purpose. They never provide quests, endlessly utter the same lines, and solely budge on Saturdays. Meanwhile, the unfortunate town cat, encountered on the first day, remains immobile within the dilapidated boat throughout the entirety of the year.

The gameplay of Mineko's Night Market is not the only aspect in need of improvement; issues with player convenience and enjoyment have also been overlooked. The long loading times, considering the simplicity of the game, are incredibly frustrating. Lag spikes are also a regular occurrence, even on a high-performance PC. This lag can be particularly aggravating when it ruins a timing-based crafting sequence, resulting in wasted resources and a ruined item. Furthermore, the interface has been neglected, requiring players to dig through the Options menu just to exit the game.

In addition, there is no log to track the tasks that the townspeople want accomplished. This becomes problematic when the Night Market finally arrives, as it's easy to forget to purchase something that a specific character requested. Unless players manually take notes, they may have to wait another week in hopes that the item shows up again for sale. Similarly, there is no easily accessible log of learned recipes, making it impossible to determine if a certain item is a needed ingredient when browsing vendor offerings at the Night Market.

The inventory in Mineko's gameplay is the most problematic aspect. She spends her entire day collecting ingredients and crafting various items, which quickly leads to a cluttered inventory. The absence of an auto-sort feature results in empty spaces when an item is used or sold. While the game provides visual grouping options for categorizing items, some items like fish are strangely excluded from this feature. Additionally, all crafting materials, such as paper, wood, dyes, and flowers, belong to the same category, making it difficult to differentiate them effectively. Moreover, there are occasional display bugs, like blank squares instead of items, revealed by a heart icon representing the energy restored by the missing item. Although these issues can be resolved by exiting and re-entering the inventory menu, they contribute to a pervasive sense of confusion, disorganization, and lack of refinement.

There are various grievances, like the initial focus on earning money, which disappears once Mineko obtains all crafting tools and benches, immediately nullifying one of the few gameplay elements that kept players interested. However, Mineko's Night Market ultimately blends tedium and frustration, with much of the frustration stemming from the missed potential of the game. It possesses impressive graphics, captivating music, an intriguing story, and the foundation for an engaging gameplay loop. Regrettably, it seems that nothing was fully realized, leaving both the game and the player yearning for more.

Mineko's Night Market

Mineko's Night Market is a captivating game that showcases the beauty of Japanese culture and weaves a heartwarming tale of friendship, tradition, and the enchanting world of cats. Embark on an adventure as Mineko, an inquisitive young girl who has recently moved to a charming Japanese-inspired island nestled at the foot of Mount Fugu.

Experience the wonder of Mineko's Night Market on PC and Switch, with upcoming releases on October 26, 2023, for PS4, PS5, and Xbox One. Game Rant received a PC code for the purpose of this review.