Faire Trade Review: A Cozy Shop Sim Weighed Down by its Own Ambition

I have a soft spot for shopkeeping games. There’s a simple, almost meditative joy in the loop of buying low, selling high, and arranging your wares just so. I sank an embarrassing number of hours into Winkeltje, so when I heard the same developer was making a sequel, I was ready to lose my weekends all over again.

Faire Trade promises a bigger, better version of that experience. You're still running a shop in a charming village, stocking everything from home-grown produce to masterfully crafted tools. The daily rhythm of haggling, crafting, and serving customers is instantly familiar. But after spending a good chunk of time behind the counter, it's clear this sequel is a strange mix of smart improvements and frustrating missteps.

A Familiar, Addictive Rhythm

Let's get one thing straight: the core gameplay loop here is still dangerously addictive. That "just one more day" feeling that made Winkeltje so compelling is back in full force. The visuals have been given a nice coat of polish, making everything look crisper and more charming than before. The music is great, too, and I found myself getting completely lost in the zone for hours at a time.

The developer has also made some fantastic quality-of-life improvements. Customers and traders now have separate counters, so you're no longer fighting through a crowd just to buy some raw materials. Better yet, customers will no longer try to buy the crafting ingredients you've left out, a constant headache from the first game that has now been thankfully fixed. It shows the developers are listening.

The biggest new idea I actually like is the "room recipes" feature. If you build a room and fill it with specific items, like storage pallets, it becomes a dedicated "storage room" and grants you a bonus. It’s a genuinely cool mechanic that encourages you to think creatively about your shop's layout.

An Ambitious World That Feels Empty

Unfortunately, the game's new ambitions often get in the way of the fun. On paper, expanding the world with a separate town, a personal farm, and your own house sounds like a great evolution. In its current state, however, these additions feel more like padding than meaningful content.

The farm is a great idea, but having to run to a completely separate area every morning and night just to tend to it is a chore. I just wish it was right behind my shop so I could access it easily. The town itself feels empty and lifeless, and to make matters worse, there’s no map. Finding the few vendors scattered around is a frustrating game of hide-and-seek. And my house? It became completely useless the second I discovered I could just click on my shop doors to end the day and sleep.

While some players find the early progression satisfying, I hit a wall of grinding pretty fast. Making money feels slower now because customers only buy what's on display. This is made worse by the fact that you can no longer get a refund for store tiles, making any early-game layout experiments a costly, permanent mistake.

Still Under Construction

Let's be clear: this is an early access game, and it absolutely feels like one. The UI is a mess of unpolished, plain-looking boxes that desperately need some love. The end-of-day summary screen is bugged; it consistently told me I was losing money even as my profits were climbing. Finding decorations is a pain without proper filters, and it's not at all clear how to hire more employees.

Crafting also feels like a step back. When you're forging a tool, there’s no visual feedback, no fire, no sparks, nothing. It's just a progress bar. The old crafting interface in Winkeltje was far more interactive and satisfying. I also found it maddening that different items, like copper and iron sickles, look identical on the counter, forcing me to mouse over them just to tell them apart.

The Verdict

The biggest problem with Faire Trade is that it feels about 95% the same as its predecessor. The core gameplay loop is still solid and dangerously addictive, but that's because Winkeltje's loop was already great. The new features that are meant to set this sequel apart feel either half-baked or actively get in the way of the fun.

With all that said, I can't deny that I'm still playing it. The developer has a great track record of supporting their games through early access, and they're very involved with the community, so I have faith they'll iron out these issues. For now, you’re not buying a finished sequel; you’re buying a promise. It's a promising business venture, but one that’s still deep in development debt.

Score: 7.2/10 - A fixer-upper with great bones, but you'll have to live with the dust and exposed wiring for a while.

We at NLM received a key for this game for free, this however didn't impact our review in any way.