“Design can be art. Design can be aesthetics. Design is so simple, that’s why it is so complicated.” – Paul Rand
Overview
Sticky Business is a casual business management sim in which players run their own sticker company, taking care of everything from designing the stickers to shipping them out to customers.
Developer: Spellgarden Games
Released: 17th July 2023
Price: £8.50 – £8.99
Narrative
Besides the overarching narrative of the protagonist owning a sticker business and striving to make it successful, Sticky Business offers a selection of light story elements in the form of customer requests and messages. Learning what stickers customers would like, and the things in their lives that make them choose these designs, is a fun way to add narrative in a laid-back way that doesn’t require too much from the player in terms of concentration or long-term memory. This keeps the game feeling casual and stress-free while adding an extra aspect to the experience as a whole.
Gameplay
The basics of Sticky Business involve designing stickers, printing, packing, and shipping them. Beyond this, there are a host of extra tools and mechanics that make the process much more involved and entertaining. Players can purchase additional elements with which to design stickers, as well as different colour options, various types of printing paper, alternative packing materials, gifts to add to customers’ orders, and extra shop space that allows players to offer a wider range of stickers.
Currency comes in the form of coins and hearts and is earned by selling stickers, but also by gaining XP. This is obtained at the end of each day, when any element on a sticker design in the player’s shop is rated out of 5 stars, when a sticker with that element is used, the rating increases and XP is gained.
The game uses basic time management, and any activity, whether it is sending orders or printing sticker sheets, will take a set amount of time, limiting how many things can be done each day but giving plenty of freedom of choice. However, it is crucial to print, pack, and ship orders in a somewhat timely manner, or they will be considered late.
The narrative side of things, in which customers send messages and request certain types of designs or subject matter for stickers, gives players a structured sense of achievement as they fulfil these casual objectives whilst also leaving room for extensive sandbox-style play once these requests are met.
Styling
Sticky Business features delightful, hand-drawn, 2D pixel art that uses lots of vibrant colours, giving the game an upbeat feel. The music is similarly charming and consists of relaxing lo-fi tracks with a gentle liveliness. The overall aesthetic is coherent, cute, and colourful.
Book of Shadows DLC
Book of Shadows is the latest DLC for Sticky Business and boasts a bewitching and mystical theme. It offers 83 magical new stickers, 10 charming new customer stories, 8 new arcane goodies, and 6 sparkling glitter papers! This adds new options for sticker designs, builds on the existing narrative elements, and provides tools to further the creative possibilities. It provides a good amount of extra content and, at its low price, is decent value for money.
Summary
Overall, Sticky Business is a great game; it is simple and relaxing, but very engaging and hard to step away from. It offers fun, stress-free business management mechanics and allows players to exercise their creativity as well as enjoy narrative elements in a way that doesn’t dominate the experience. The audio and visual aspects are delightful and really suit the style of the game and add to the whimsical, upbeat feel of the gameplay. Sticky Business will easily entertain a player for several hours due to the combination of objective-based and sandbox-style gameplay. This is a charming and thoroughly enjoyable game, and I highly recommend it (and the DLC) to anyone looking for an upbeat game to chill out with and lose themselves in.
Looking for more casual management games? You may also enjoy these reviews:
Minami Lane – A Cute, Cosy, and Casual Building Sim – Kamaeru: A Frog Refuge – A Charming Farming Sim Full of Cute Frogs! – Calico – A Wonderfully Wholesome Community Sim with lots of Cats!