Game Preview - InKonbini: One Store, Many Stories

Have you ever wanted to work in a conbini (convenience store)?? Well, I haven't... but... perhaps the Convenience Store Woman (コンビニ人間) book may have awakened your interest in that world. I read a little of it, but never finished it (Japanese is hard!).

If you ever dreamt of working in a conbini, this looks like the game for you. You are a conbini worker who must stack shelves, check items and talk to customers to learn more about them.

The developer is Nagai Industries. Russian Dima Shen is leading his team of 8 in Tokyo to make this game. He recalls seeing conbinis in the 1999 game Shemue (シェンムー) for the Sega Dreamcast and was wowed by the sights and sounds. He says Russia doesn't have conbinis like in Japan. In truth, I think no country has conbinis like in Japan! If you have never heard of Shenmue, you should definitely read a little about it. It was a very influencial and wonderful game.

I love the way InKonbini game looks. There is so much character. It looks like an interesting world to spend time in. It is set in 1990 which will make it different to the conbinis we have today. I don't know exactly what that will mean. I never went to a conbini in the 1990s. Will there be ATMs? Copiers? Collaborations with game and anime franchises? Of course, the items in the conbini will be different to current Family Mart, 7-Eleven or Lawson products.

The subtitle is One store, Many stories. I wonder what the balance between work and talking to customers is. I guess the work will be easier than working in a real conbini! I think that there will just be a few customers at a time in this game, but I kind of hope that the conbini gets really busy sometimes! Can you imagine throwing chicken in the fryer then running to fill the drinks and clean the toilets?! It looks like it is a quiet countryside conbini though.

This is a game in development, so it will probably change some details. It is planned for release in 2025 "on multiple platforms". I hope that means it will come to Nintendo Switch! I will be watching the development of this game very closely.

One final thought, the game is called InKonbini. I don't like the name... It makes it sound like it is an inconvenience store rather than in a Konbini.

For more details and photos, check the Famitsu article below.

https://www.famitsu.com/news/202403/21337768.html