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Writer's pictureJonathan Ribarro

The Convenience Store




At A Glance

  • Released: 2/17/20

  • Reviews: 2,018, net very positive, as of 7/2023

  • English Reviews: 1,373

  • Localized in: English, Japanese, Korean

  • Had Publisher: No

  • Majority of reviews:

    • English ~62%

    • Simp. Chinese~6%

    • Portugese ~6%

  • Price: $2.99

  • Review report:

    • Negatives: Unclear where to go or what to do, no checkpoints, slow and repetitive gameplay

    • Positives: Could’ve been longer, scares were good, tension-building was good, being a normal convenience store worker is enjoyable to players just doing little chores and hanging out



Gameplay

  • No instructions definitely made it confusing

  • Multiple stair paths to the lower half of the town (perhaps for players who wanted to explore?)

  • ‘First night’ begins, definitely creepier

    • One of the bridges/stairways down has collapsed, corralling the player towards the path that must be taken

  • Doors yesterday kept opening, wasn’t a glitch

Music

  • Music inside the convenience store is appropriate for a market

    • Upbeat tune, catchy

  • Music and ambience changes immediately when exiting

  • Different store music playing on next day

Sounds

  • No noise in house except ticking of clock

  • SFX for clothes on was poor, but it seems that didn’t detract from the popularity

  • SFX outside immediately start and are clearly coming from somewhere within the house

  • Seems like there are multiple audio sources bug chirping and night ambience

  • Manager walks out of the store, very loud, booming footsteps

  • On second night it is raining outside

Art

  • Graphics are VHS-style (like September 1999)

    • World is quite dark, but easily remedied with a flashlight

  • Bright, yellow icon displayed to show where the flashlight is

    • Clothes were not as obvious

  • Sky is dark blue, not a cloud/star in sight

    • Rest of town is foggy, only illuminated by tall lamp posts

  • Convenience store is brightly lit, a safe haven

    • Guy is outside

    • Says he was called there too warn us, day of reckoning

  • Town gets darker ono first night, lights don’t illuminate the ground

Writing

  • Starts by waking up, need to get ready for work

  • MC receives package, takes it home

    • It’s a VHS cassette

    • Video appeared to be someone standing and hobbling upwards

  • Someone knocks at the house door, package is left

    • Another VHS cassette, plays still shot of a yard?

  • Hamada comes by, caution area removed

    • Something moves

    • There’s a shed behind the area, locked

  • Clock stopped ticking, then came back on

  • Final night seemed to be a nightmare

    • Recording came from outside the shed

  • No note from the manager

  • Store turns dark, TVs everywhere, rusty french fries on ground, lots of metal creaking

  • A kid appears in the CCTV and looks at TVs

Scare Factor

  • Manager inside tells an unsettling story

  • After the tense walk through the dark town I felt relief when I got to the store

  • Old lady comes by and yells for taking over old house (creepy?)

  • Second night starts out of nowhere, startling

  • Next night the manager of the store is not present, look in the back to search

    • Jumpscare out of a locker to prank us, got me (verbal curse)

  • Someone closes door to back

    • Front door opens

    • Door unlocked?

  • Tall ghost woman appears on CCTV, jumpscares and makes camera blurry

    • Toilet also starts malfunctioning

  • Inside the shed, manager is dead, eyes gouged and there’s a TV and VHS and 4 on the screen

    • Door closes and everything starts banging

Extra

  • Unfortunately at the sequence with the TVs in the store the game broke and I could not complete it

    • I tested all TVs, and even though kid looked at one it was static

Overall

  • This was a great horror game that did a ton with the very little the team had at their disposal

  • I love convenience stores myself and I don’t know why this environment seems to do well in games but it does (this game, Some Some Convenience Store)

  • I think additional localization could have brought the game even higher, at 1K reviews it should be seriously considered

  • One of, if not their best work to date


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