Ever wanted to be a Gothic, antiques dealer? Well now is your chance!
I get hundreds of emails everyday offering me to review games so I have to be really select on what codes I accept. I am only one person so I need to assign my time to the games I think will be amazing and that might pass most gamers by.
So when I receive a press release for a Tetris-style, Rogue-like that sees you taking on the role of running an Gothic, antiques shop then hell yeah I am interested. This sounds like my kind of game! Quirky, weird and interesting whilst employing Tetris and Rogue-like game mechanics. I am definitely 100% the audience for this Fortune Seller. Or so I thought!
Story
The story in Fortune Seller is minimal to say the least. That’s fine. Not every game needs a deep backstory and lore. Give me a simple set-up backed by great game play and I am a happy little gamer.
A set-up is exactly what Fortune Seller has. You have inherited a dusty little antique shop and a mountain of debt. Although you haven’t really inherited a shop because you have a landlord. Oh and the landlord puts the rent up every week! Who the hell agreed to this lease? And why would you agree to inherit such an awful contract?
Now, I admit, I am no expert in inheritance law but I am pretty sure that if someone left me a mountain of debt (actually I do know that you can’t inherit debt in the UK. The debt must be paid by the estate before I can inherit the business) and a shop where the rent increases every week I’m pretty sure I could just say no thanks. In fact I am 100% certain I could just refuse to inherit any of it. I wish I had refused to review this game. Maybe the executor of the will lied to you just like the press release for Fortune Seller lied to me?
Gameplay
I mentioned in the intro to this review how the press release caught my attention by describing Fortune Seller as a Tetris-style Rogue-like game. There is no sugar coating this or a diplomatic way to address it. This is a straight up lie!
Take the “Tetris-Style” gameplay mentioned in the press release. It doesn’t exist. What FOrtune Seller actually gives you is a Backpack Brawl type of inventory management mechanic. You have a 5×5 square space in which to fit as many items as you can. This involves not only rotating items to fit but also doing so in a way that makes maximum profit from bonuses and modifiers.
The items come in a wide range of shapes with elemental buffs (which are never explained). Add to this Tarot cards, Spell cards and Arcanas and you have an incredibly poor Balatro clone! Not the rogue-like gameplay that Balatro provides or the press release promised.
Now, as a general rule I hate comparing games to similar titles in the genre as I feel it is unfair to indie and grassroot developers to equate all the time, effort and skill they employed to create a game to a simple throwaway comparison. I genuinely believe each game deserves to be appraised on its own merits and flaws. But if you are gonna make a cheap cash grab clone of Balatro then lie in your press relase I am going to call you out for it.
Graphics
As if I haven’t ranted enough in this review already but as a classical goth I have some major issues with the graphics too. They are just another example of the developer kiwick being incredibly lazy. The graphics in Fortune Seller are not Gothic. They are a cartoon-ish representation of Gothic culture at best. It’s like someone asked a 13 year old girl to create a Goth aesthetic using AI.
Final Thoughts
Starfall PR lied in their press release for Fortune Seller but I can see why. The developer Kiwick is lazy in every aspect of Fortune Seller and trying to promote it must be incredibly difficult. Fortune Seller is nothing more than a cheap cash grab of Balatro. It is designed to take advantage of its success but has none of the effort, skill or care that was put into developing Balatro.
I could say more, a lot more, about Fortune Seller but I am seriously starting to think I have spent more time on this review than the developer spent on making the game. I definitely spent more time on this game than it deserves.
Final Score – 1/10
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