My plea for good indie adventures with peaceful exploration and point & click controls* has been heard!
This one combines exploration, combat-free quests, funny NPCs and a mysterious backstory with simulation/management mechanics to let you fix up and develop an Inn (as the name would suggest). There are no elaborate character studies or anything particularly "deep", it's all lighthearted and relaxing.

TL;DR: I'd say if you can stand RPG Maker aesthetics for one more game (and can't be convinced of the even more underappreciated Looking Back) then let it be this one.

Gameplay is trouble-free and very accessible (*you can also use a keyboard or gamepad in addition to mouse) apart from minor quirks with approaching NPCs and items, and the good old watching your character walk (or optionally run) across the screen. About a week after release, I encountered zero bugs.

The game has a solid integrated tutorial system which tears down the Fourth Wall quite a bit. Add to that a dash of adventure game parody, and the result is more nostalgic fun than immersive. I had mixed feelings about that, but really enjoyed the game anyway.

You can choose different strategies, items, and guests to achieve the main goal. The difficulty level is above trivial if you want real success, but if you have any talent for logistics and such or experience with this type of game then it shouldn't be more than just a mild challenge. If not, you can choose to play in "relaxed mode". I played in "classic mode" and found it chill, but rewarding enough.

As the type of player who likes to take their time with decisions, roam around and explore every little detail, check if there are comments for random items, and come back to places and NPCs just to see if there's something new, my first playthrough was a lot longer than the 4 hours the game description promises. Judging from the achievements, there's still a bunch of stuff left to discover in New Game+. I've had a lot of fun with this game and am looking forward to playing more.

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For more recommendations of chill and story-driven games, check out my curator Peaceful Adventures and Stories.

Don’t run a farm (this time)! Run an inn instead!

Info
• Difficulty modes: Classic and Relaxed. Classic is “normal” difficulty, while Relaxed is “easy” difficulty.
• On the game’s store page, it claims it takes 4 hours for the first playthrough, but for me, it took 6 hours. It’s just going to vary based on how people play the game.
• It is not possible to get all achievements on one playthrough, but one might be able to utilize multiple saves to their advantage. Also, some achievements are only available through New Game+.
• This isn’t like farming sims. In addition to no farming, there is no fighting, fishing, or mining either. However, there is collecting, technically.
• Time doesn’t constantly progress. Time progresses when you’re ready, by speaking with the butler or going to sleep.
• This game mainly focuses on management (of the inn): optimizing good matches of rooms and guests to maximize profit to pay off a (mysterious) loan.

Praises
• As RPG Maker games go, this one is very detailed and customized. I didn’t find any flaws in the design. Usually, there are weak spots, like, places to get stuck or sprites overlapping or being able to pass through things the sprite is not supposed to. This game must’ve been thoroughly tested.
• I didn’t feel it was tedious at all. A lot of sim games can begin to feel like that after playing them for a while, but this game doesn’t overwhelm the player with too many tasks at once.
• There’s a mystery behind why the protagonist inherits the manor (that gets converted into an inn) from her aunt. In a lot of sim games, the protagonist just lucks out by inheriting property/land from whatever relative, so it’s nice to see this be more interesting for once.
• You can allow pets! Lots of guests have pets. (The butler was hiding a cute, little kitty in his room because he didn’t know if the new owner – the protagonist – would be okay with him. So cute!)
• The dev is clever, because coming up with your own art is expensive (assuming you can’t draw for yourself), so what do they do? Use Vincent Van Gogh’s art (with proper credit, of course). His paintings are featured throughout the game and are an important part of the story.
• The menu used for managing the inn is very useful, as it keeps track of tasks, guests, rooms, and amenities. I imagine it was complicated to implement in RPG Maker. It wasn’t confusing/difficult at all.

Complaints
• No character customization.
• New Game+ doesn’t have that much content or many features added. Just a few differences and items.
• Lack of racial diversity. Tokenism.
• Lack of queer diversity. All couples are hetero.
• The protagonist can’t romance anyone. I know that’s more of a personal preference, but the game already involves matchmaking, so why not?

Despite its issues, I really liked it! For a $5 RPG Maker game, it really kept me entertained. I recommend it to anyone who likes management sim games.

It's a nice game, don't get turned off by the RPG-Maker looks. The mechanics are simple but fun, the world is engaging and the characters are fine. For the current price (3,99$) you will get a lot of entertainment.

To be more detailed: You start of as an heir to a mansion and you have to pay your aunt's debt, so the prremise is similar to Recettear - An Item Shop's Tale. You have 30 days to gather that money, in these days you have to turn your acquired mansion into an Inn, repair the house, upgrade it and gain high ratings from your guests, which most of the times have all special needs (not in a mentally challenged way). All your guests are unique NPCs that want to have special room configurations, which you can change each day.

The only downside are the controls, sometimes they're a bit clumsy, but that's fine. All in all it's a fun game which is simple and yet doesn't make you feel bored after a while. In these kind of economic simulations it's always important to experience some kind of progress, and many games let you feel you've seen everything after a few minutes. This is not the case here, luckily.

The Lost art of Innkeeping is a RPG/sim game where you play as Elinor who inherited the Manor of your Aunt in the middle of a quiet scarce vilage along with the 20,000 debt that comes with it and needs to find a way to pay it back in 30 days or risk losing the manor for good.

Luckily you can turn it into an Inn, Now it's up to you to turn this run down manor into a 5 star Hotel and get enough funds to not lose it.

The gameplay is quite addictive. It has a series of little puzzles, story and achievements that you can unlock as you play. You will need to have good time management to pass the game with all the achievements but luckily the game is not very very hard, it gives you a lot of hints and tips on what your objective is.

Overall, I recommend this game, it has a lot of replay-ability and again, did I mention it was addicting? I pretty much got sucked in the moment I started the game

I debated buying this for a long time because while I was intrigued by the concept, I was turned off by the graphics. I'm really glad I decided to take a chance!

The Lost Art of Innkeeping is an enchanting, relaxing simulation game that takes approx. 4 hours per play through. The character sprites are adorable, the writing is funny, and the mystery narrative is predictable, but fun. There are more layers to the game than meets the eye and there is absolutely replay value for the second time around in terms of making different choices to see the outcomes, and in hunting achievements.

I would recommend taking notes early in the game as to when visitors could/will arrive at the inn and what their preferences are, especially if you don't plan to play the game in one sitting. This will help you maximize profits early on by knowing what types of rooms to prepare, and are useful when playing again as New Game+

I loved this game. Great story and game play. I went in blind with no idea what was gonna happen; I sat down and finished it in one sitting. I can gladly say it was time well spent. Will def be checking out NG+ later

Best RPG Maker game I've played! The core innkeeping gameplay is fun, and there's lots to see and do.

Ok, I am only a little bit into it and so far it seems nice. It is dead easy getting started, Lets you choose what type of interface (controller, keyboard or mouse). It seems sort of Harvest Moon like but with a different sort of story line. Definitely worth what I paid for it and likely much more.

It's a cute, solid little game. Gives me vibes of a faster paced, simpler Stardew Valey. When I say faster-paced, I mostly mean that I completed a playthrough in the time I have played as of writing this review.

There is New Game+ and I may give her another run down the line. For now I feel satisfied. No regrets. If you are looking for a cute, wholesome and interesting game to lose yourself in for 4 - 8 hours, I'd recommend this one for sure.

8 / 10

This game reminds me of the early Kings Quest games - same sort of playing feel and graphics, without the difficult beanstalk to climb into the clouds. Nice story line, nice music, easy to pick up and resume where you left off, gets more complex as you progress into the game. Replayability looks good as there are many "tasks" that are not easy to achieve the first time thru the game, as you are learning how the game works. Family-friendly, no language issues, and great for all of us who love a treasure hunt with a story line!