Developer: Isolated Games
Platform: PC (Reviewed)
Genre: Adventure, RPG, Simulation
Publisher: Isolated Games, IndieArk
Travellers Rest is a casual tavern management game. Travellers Rest was developed by Isolated Games and published by Isolated Games and IndieArk. Travellers Rest is similar to games like Graveyard Keeper and Sun Haven. The game is currently in Early Access on Steam.
Travellers Rest can be played multiplayer or single-player. Travellers Rest allows local co-op play where you can play with another player on the same device through a split screen. As good as the split screen can be in the case of most games, I felt as though it felt constricted to each player, so the developers have added online multiplayer, with up to four players is even better. Online multiplayer allows everyone to have their own full screens, with many skills and recipes being unique to each player. We had played Travellers Rest online between two players, and the experience was very nice, with no delays or performance issues. I would say that if you plan on playing by yourself or with friends, the experience is just as fun, though I feel as though in multiplayer, you tend to save money as you do not need to buy as much stuff and gathering resources is so much quicker.
As for the controls of Travellers Rest, they are quite simple and easy to get used to. As you begin the game, Mai guides you through how to age drinks, cook food, manage the tavern, and serve basic customers. The introduction is semi-guided, though thoroughly explains the main mechanics. As you level up taverns and unlock new abilities or skills, you get a detailed pop-up explanation of how certain mechanic works. For instance, Trends is a mechanic where you can see trendy food items and drinks within the week, so your menu features those items for extra cash. After certain levels are reached, you will unlock new things to enhance your tavern-keeping skills.
Travellers Rest features hand-crafted pixel art with a warm colour palette. The 2D top-down view gives you a great view of your tavern and surroundings that allows for easy management. The game has simple pixel-like elements, but the detail in furniture, equipment, NPCs and food items is astounding and really adds to the atmosphere of the game. What I really enjoyed were the decoration elements and the rustic feel of the tavern. The town and the buildings seem to have medieval fantasy-like aesthetics that fit with a magical atmosphere. The animations in the game are nice and smooth. Quite expressive, from pouring drinks to customers raging about your tavern. Even the little lines that they speak whilst eating at your tavern are always funny to read up on (though they do get repetitive). As Travellers Rest features seasonable changes, the environment also changes to enhance the immersion, with leaves turning orange in fall to snow falling in winter. With the cosy feel of the game, you get a gentle soundtrack that matches the pace of the game. Soft instruments and ambient noises add depth to the game.
You know, by the looks of Travellers Rest, you would assume you’re embarking on another Stardew Valley-like clone game, but the experience is extremely different. Think of running your own diner, except you get to take part in farming/buying all the ingredients, cooking your recipes, decorating your tavern, and running your tavern on your own time. Travellers Rest allows players to do so many different things, from farming crops to foraging items, to unlocking recipes, to crafting, and so much more.
First of all, Travellers Rest is quite an addicting game. I started off the game thinking I’d play a few hours, then go back to it another time but found myself playing almost 10 hours in one sitting. The game is good, but there are a few bits here and there that I feel need to be fleshed out. Obviously, the game is still in Early Access, so the developers have several updates coming. For instance, they recently released a Pet Party update that introduced two new characters, a new town show and the ability for you to have your own pet companion. The update adds such a beautiful charm to the game.
As I said earlier, the game is addicting, but it also feels a bit too grindy, especially when you start off. Travellers Rest works around this economic system where making money will help your business, and if you are low on money, it makes getting items and ingredients difficult. But that does not entirely take away from the experience. It took me a while before I fully understood how I should approach the game, and once I did, I was finally my tavern expert.
Farming is especially easy to do. You can buy your seeds from Rhia, or you can buy specific ingredients such as vegetables, fruits, fish, meat, and yeast from other shopkeepers. The seeds work on a seasonable basis. Some crops are especially nice as they will continuously harvest over a period of time, and most tend to last over two seasons. I would say the watering, planting, and hoeing mechanic is quite nice as your character is able to dig out all the space around them without having to move much and watering crops is even more efficient.
I quite enjoyed carrying out the daily tasks. I thoroughly liked foraging, especially when walking down to the beach, as you never know what clams or crabs you can encounter for your dishes. Plus, the town you live in is filled with trees that will occasionally produce fruits such as lemons, mangos and more. It really saves you from spending your money buying ingredients. Also, the fishing mechanic is nice and easy to follow. All you need to do is attach bait to your fishing rod, reel in the rod once there is a bob, and then hover the green bar over the fish icon to catch it. Normally, when I was waiting for my crops or my beers to age, I would make dishes that would cook with the forage items to earn more cash.
Rafting and mining go hand in. There isn’t any exclusive mining besides encountering big boulders of coal, copper and iron around your plot or in other areas of the town. These replenish every day, so you will never be short of such materials. As for crafting, I liked how intricate the game makes building stuff. For instance, almost every machine you use needs fuel. Fuel that is processed through a sawmill or used with coal. The fuel then lets you smelt items, polish rocks, build furniture, cook food, prep ingredients or brew drinks.
Travellers Rest does feature a skill tree that gives you skill points every time you level up in a certain skill, which could be crafting, cooking and more. While I did play the game, I only ever found myself gaining skill points in the management section as I would level up the tavern. As you level up the reputation of the tavern, you can earn recipe fragments that can be used to buy new recipes for your tavern’s menu.
Besides doing the casual daily tasks, here comes the actual fun part about Traveller Rest, which is managing your tavern, cooking recipes and brewing drinks. Managing your taven lets you decorate the keep as you want for customers to feel comfortable. You always need a light source, and at times, if things feel a bit too chilly, then you can turn on the fireplace. Everything you add to your tavern aesthetically will help build a reputation that will let you level up much more easily.
As you level up your tavern, you can also hire staff, which makes the management even more accessible. Instead of having to pour drinks, wait tables, serve customers, clean floors, and kick out disrespectful customers all on your own, you can hire a staff each from four different categories. The more you use each staff, they will level up, and their skill points will increase as well. However, if you do have another player to play this game with, it saves money hiring other staff as they can do just as much! It does not just stop with serving drinks and food to customers in your tavern; but, after some time, you can also unlock the ability to rent rooms and provide room service, which I was absolutely shocked by. Travellers Rest has so much for players to do, and they can easily do it at their own pace.
We were thankful to have been provided with another code to try out Travellers Rest in multiplayer. Moody had the following to say, “I have always wanted to play a game where it felt like those diner dash games, and this went beyond my expectations. It mixes life sim with bar management and even housekeeping, which is so much fun. I always found myself serving the drinks and cooking food whilst I got my sister to clean the tables and fetch the ingredients. The construction capabilities for the game are endless as well, as you can easily expand to the size you wish and can assign each room to various areas. I would say that I felt overwhelmed at the beginning of the game because it felt like making money was so difficult, but I was finally able to get the hang of it. Still, making money is difficult, but rather than opening the tavern every 3/4 days, I should stick to serving one dish and two drinks every day to make earnings, as money truly is your friend in this game. I think the only thing I would wish to see is more atmosphere added to the town area, as you would normally just go to buy items but not really interact with characters. Overall, I loved the Traveller Rest experience and cannot wait for future updates!”
Travellers Rest is a cosy and charming game that’s easy to get into and hard to put down. Whether you’re managing your tavern solo or teaming up with friends in multiplayer, there’s always something satisfying to do—be it brewing drinks, farming ingredients, or decorating your perfect medieval inn. The game strikes a great balance between relaxation and progression, with just enough challenge to keep things interesting. If you’ve ever dreamed of running your own fantasy tavern, crafting the perfect ale, or just relaxing in a warm, pixelated world, Travellers Rest is definitely worth checking out.
Overall: 9/10
This is S & S. We are world game explorers. We play games. We have played over 10,000+ games! We travel, we write reviews AND we play more games!!!!
