Shoppy Mart: Steam Edition Demo

Most of the jobs that have a horrible reputation involve having to deal with other people on a regular basis, which might be the reason for the whole thing. Granted, there are plenty of repetitive jobs that don’t include human contact, but at least you can distract yourself with other thoughts. When you have to speak to other people, on the other hand, it’s mandatory that you maintain your focus on what they are saying.

Shoppy Mart: Steam Edition is a simulator that aims to bore you to death and maybe inflict some long-lasting emotional scarring on your soul, and it does so in style. It’s not meant to be a fun experience, so you shouldn’t expect it to be either. On the other hand, it can be pretty rewarding, especially after you learn how to play it properly, although that only means you are a successful cashier.

You start by participating in an interview, since you don’t get the job right away. Granted, the questions you have to answer are pretty simple, so you should be able to get them right the first time around. It’s in this phase that you are told what’s expected of you, in the form of a manual that’s basically a tutorial for the game. You are warned that five customer complains in a row means you are automatically fired.

The gameplay is more complex than you think, because there’s more to it than just scanning items. Thus, you also have to place each item in the bag and make sure to arrange them properly to avoid damaging products or the bag itself. You also have to greet the customers, ask about coupons and members clubs, handle the money and move as fast as you can in the meantime.

On top of it all, not all items can be scanned directly, since some lack the necessary labels. Fruits and vegetables have to be typed in manually, and you’d better memorize the codes if you want to keep up with the allocated time for each customer. Obviously, there’s an easy mode that removes the time limit entirely, but that’s better used for practice than anything else.

Shoppy Mart: Steam Edition is certainly not the type of game you recommend to your friends, but it is a pretty accurate simulator. Unfortunately, accurate does not equal fun in this case, except for the fact that you can quit at any time, unlike with a real job.