Everyone who has ever played a role-playing game will wonder what the experience is like in virtual reality. In the case of RPG Merchant, a game for the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift, you are effectively a shopkeeper within an RPG setting. The game costs $14.99 and offers quite an interesting experience, as it feels oddly satisfying to pick things up and hand them over to customers.
RPG Merchant is a Sublime Experience, for the Most Part
Although there are many different VR games where you have to run a shop or something similar, RPG Merchant takes an interesting twist. You are an apprentice merchant in a medieval shop looking to learn the ropes. This means you start off with a limited set of items, which will grow as you complete different levels. Rather than just picking up items and handing them to customers, you also have to deal with thieves and muggers. With time not being on your side either, it is evident RPG Merchant requires players to remain on their toes at all times.
There is only one good option to deal with thieves: killing them. This may sound rather brutal, but in the Middle Ages, it was rather common to punish thieves on the spot. Your “victims” range from women to children or even orcs. As a shopkeeper, NPCs in this game will quickly take advantage when you aren’t looking for a few seconds. Allowing a lot of thefts will result in a low score at the end of the level, often forcing you to replay the same level over and over again.
While the experience itself is pretty solid, the graphics in RPG Merchant are not the greatest. It almost feels as if you’re playing a game from ten years ago, but set in virtual reality. It is not annoying whatsoever, though, but it’s something to take into account before purchasing this game. Thankfully, there is a lot of content to choose from, and you will learn some useful traits for real life as well along the way. Not everyone is cut out to be a shopkeeper, that much is rather evident.
It is evident the current price of RPG Merchant is a bit on the high side. If it is $10 or less, it’s definitely worth picking up. If not, it may not be enough to warrant the full price as of right now. With both a story and “endless” mode, it has become evident there is a lot of content to enjoy, if this is your type of game. The experience does get a bit repetitive after a few hours, though, but that is only normal for VR games where you actually have to ‘work”.
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