Humble Bundle is publishing what we’ve already decided is the cutest game of 2018: Mineko’s Night Market, an indie game from Meowza Games.
Mineko’s Night Market is the first title from the young, two-person indie studio. The adventure title stars Mineko, a girl who takes on a job as a vendor in a weekly marketplace. With responsibilities ranging from collecting resources, crafting items to sell, participating in local events and befriending customers around town, the game sounds like a much fuzzier take on Stardew Valley.
The best part of the game is that its setting draws from a real life place beloved by cat lovers. Tashirojima is a Japanese island that’s home to more cats than human beings — much like the world of Mineko’s Night Market, which takes place on a cat-worshipping Japanese isle called Mount Fugu. The biggest difference between the two places is that in Mineko’s world, there are still plenty of humans to hang out with, but expect to see — and play with — a huge variety of kittens as well. (You’ll even get to befriend an especially big one.)
The game’s heading to Mac and Windows PC sometime next year, and it won’t be exclusive to the Humble Bundle Store; players can expect to buy it from Steam and other storefronts too. Check out its latest teaser trailer above for a fuller look at the adorable indie.
Update: We got to play some Mineko’s Night Market during Game Developers Conference 2018, and we had two big questions: Can we take this home, like, right now? and Please, can you bring to this to Switch?
Well: Nintendo announced this week, during its indie-themed BitSummit in Japan, that Mineko’s Night Market will launch on Switch sometime this year. The console is a perfect fit for a game that’s as much like Animal Crossing as it is like Pokémon; watch the cute new trailer below to see why.
The next level of puzzles.
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