Xbox Review | Discounty

A new adventure awaits in the small and close-knit town of Blomkest, where your Auntie has entrusted you to run its only brand-new supermarket store, Discounty. It’s within this store where you’ll have all the control, being able to operate and organise the store in whichever way you see fit. That’s not all, though. In Blomkest, there are plenty of residents to build relations with. And who knows? Perhaps you can lend a hand to anyone who needs assistance with a problem. Find out more about the residents, manage and run your store, upgrade your trade deals, or just take in the sights; there’s always something for you to occupy yourself with, depending on how you’d like to spend your time. Please read on below to find out more about how I got on with Discounty.

Things I liked!

• Progressive story | From small beginnings to successful business owner, during your time in Blomkest, there are multiple main and optional quests to complete. As you expand your business, increase your reputation to improve your trade deals, and assist residents, the story takes a few unexpected twists and turns. As you continue to grow Discounty, fellow Blomkestians start to have differing opinions as the world around you starts to be affected. Whether it’s a local rat infestation problem you could find a solution to or a larger-scale issue that is halting your store from daily operations, you’re handy journal helps you keep track of any current tasks you have in progress or have already completed. The story of Discounty is one I didn’t expect but welcomed. Running Discounty was a mixed experience, but I made sure to always be on top of everything: The stock levels, serving customers, and clearing up spillages asap. Seeing customers walk around with their shopping lists and seeing them become influenced by products always puts a smile on my face.

• Gorgeous visuals | More so than other games in this genre, I found the visuals to be charming and cute. There’s enough detail in everything to make all the visuals recognisable: The residents, shop items, buildings, and environment all benefit from the minimalistic design. The use of colours is definitely something which deserves recognition, as there are colourful visuals throughout Discounty, which give the town and store a cosy, joyful, and upbeat feeling when combined with the music. The visuals can also change based on what area of the map you find yourself in and the time of day you’re there, which I found to be a nice touch. Once you unlock wallpapers and flooring, you can bring your home and store to life from the gloomy beginnings you found yourself in. One thing I will mention is your character’s hair during the running animation: I can’t get over it bouncing like you have some kind of temporary headpiece on!

• Overall audio | As with most cosy games, I expected the music in Discounty to be relaxing and laid back. Safe to say, it did not disappoint. Not only was the audio pleasant to listen to, but it also changed based on circumstances and areas. For example, during some cutscene dialogue with residents, the music would change based on the topic and emotions being conveyed to enhance the experience. The sound effects also made a nice impact, especially the scanner. I don’t know what it is about the ‘beep’ that I find soothing, but I did nonetheless.

• Running Discounty | For someone like me who is a neat freak and likes things to always be organised, I took great pleasure in running Discounty. I was a very proud business owner and always wanted to make sure there was enough stock and that the layout of my store met high standards, making customers have a positive experience. I was always moving shelves around and trying to add decorative features to make everything more appealing. I was never 100% happy with the layout, and that’s because of customers having issues (you can read more about this in the next section), but I tried to always make the best of poor situations. Every evening, I restocked everything so I could come in fresh as a daisy. I found the management to be straightforward and not too strenuous: it just took a little more time to organise with the more products and customers you brought in, which was to be expected.

• Venturing around town | In the mornings, evenings, and on Sundays, you have free time that you can put to various uses. It’s always encouraged that you explore the town of Blomkest for different reasons. Whether it’s for quests, to buy/expand on trade products, advertise your store, clean up trash, buy additional decorative items, upgrade your shelves, recycle, or talk to fellow Blomkestians: you should always use this time to your advantage and never waste it! It’s beneficial and refreshing to have a little wander; I just wish I would heed my own words in real life more.

Mixed & Disliked!

• Frustrating issues | Unfortunately, Discounty isn’t without its issues, which greatly affected my enjoyment throughout my playtime. The problem which occurred the most for me, and made the game incredibly infuriating, was customers and my ‘assistant’ getting stuck in the shop for no obvious reason. I tried every possible fix I could think of: Moving counters, making sure the floor was always clean, moving stock, and completely rearranging the layout of my store, but nothing helped the issue. This meant customers were always leaving with angry reactions through no fault of my own, affecting my overall satisfaction rating. I also had issues picking up litter, interacting with residents, scanner inputs which wouldn’t work, and not being able to skip the ‘end of day summary’ is just silly. Multiple quality of life updates and fixes need to be implemented to really show Discounty at its full potential.

• Mixed atmosphere | One thing I couldn’t ever seem to shake during my time playing Discounty was the sour atmosphere and negative conversations I had with the residents. Most of the time, residents were in such a doleful state, which made Discounty feel quite uncomfortable playing at times. I understand there is usually one or two NPCs who are known to be grumpy, but it felt like the majority of the town was always sad or angry about something, no matter whether it was relevant to the story ot not. It would have been nice to include more happy topics and funny conversations to lighten the mood, considering the game’s cosy setting.

• Limited customisation | For both the supermarket and home, I was a little underwhelmed by the lack of customisation options available for purchase and use. The wallpapers and flooring options were very limited, the inability to move things around in your home and/or the till in the store wasn’t great, and the decorative pieces you could buy from S didn’t offer much variety. It would have also been nice to have more colour options included in the character customisation. Overall, the customisation felt lacklustre and left me wanting more options to mix and match. Perhaps more choices will be available in future updates, but as the game is, it doesn’t quite hit the mark.

• Abrupt ending | ‘Completing the game’ felt incredibly sudden. Due to the quests I was actively completing, I knew I was near the end of the main story, but the concluding scenes could have played out smoothly to allow the game a more natural ending. The post-game is also limited: There are some resident quests you can complete to make amends, you can continue to run Discounty, and achievements you may need to clean up. Based on what is in the game, I could see possibly content updates in the future. Based on how the game currently plays out, it feels like a rough jump from playing the main story to the ending/post-game.

How long did I play the review before publishing? Approximately 20 Hours
How long to beat the story? Approximately 15-20 Hours
How many Achievements did I earn before publishing? 15/17 OR 850/1000G
How long to achieve 1000G | Approximately 20-25 Hours
You’ll love this game if you like these | Stardew Valley, Supermarket Simulator, Spirittea

Conclusion

Score: 72/100

Discounty was everything I expected it to be and more, minus the issues I encountered. As the developers are constantly updating the game with fixes, I have no doubt these will be resolved in the near future. If you’re looking for that new cosy game which you can put a few hours into each day or even longer, Discounty might be what you’re looking for. With its store management and trade deals, somewhat linear story, and fantastic visuals/audio, it’s a great addition to the genre, which I mostly enjoyed my time with.