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Cult classic capitalism JRPG and shop-running simulator Recettear: An Item Shop’s Tale will be getting an HD remaster in 2025, says the game’s developer and publisher. The announcement was made during day 2 of Tokyo’s Comiket convention—a surprise venue for a videogame announce, but why not?
“In 2025… prepare to re-open the item shop,” said translator-publisher Carpe Fulgur founder Andrew Dice in a post saying that original developers EasyGameStation have been working on it “for a little while now” and that “more information will be revealed in the year to come.” We don’t yet know if it’s just a nicely upscaled HD edition or if it’ll have any major gameplay changes.
Ah. Well, then.So with Comiket day 2 starting, the EGS crew have announced something they’ve been working on for a little while now.More information will be revealed in the year to come.But in 2025… prepare to re-open the item shop.https://t.co/GB6dqGndex#RecettearHDDecember 30, 2024
Recettear is such an all-time great in its genre that a casual search turned up not one, but two PC Gamer articles from the last few years explaining in detail how it has never been bested at its own schtick.
“In 2010, a Japanese indie game appearing on Steam was unheard of,” wrote Jody Macgregor in 2022, pointing out the rarity of a good JRPG you can finish in 25 hours. “I remember playing the demo in 2010 and being surprised by how much I enjoyed something so cutesy, with a protagonist whose catchphrases are ‘yayifications’ and ‘capitalism, ho!'”
Writer Steven Messner was also pretty gushing back in 2020.
“It’s undoubtedly right to assume that Recettear: An Item Shop’s Tale is one of the more important indie games that you’ve never have heard of,” he said—but he was quick to note how it hadn’t aged well, technically speaking:
“Ten years is a long time, especially for an indie game, and Recettear’s adorable charm and engrossing loop of dungeon delving and bartering are now buried under some archaic limitations.”
Thus, this HD re-release should probably excited a lot of people interested in exploring a classic.
Recettear also features in this 2018 article about the rise of videogame bread, which I love just as much as the day it was published.
If you’re curious, you can find the original Recettear: An Item Shop’s Tale on Steam. The HD remake doesn’t yet have a page, but we’re sure it’ll pop up soon.
Kurt Indovina
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