Review: Trash Goblin (Cozy & Family Friendly Games Celebration Demo)

Developer – Spilt Milk Studios Ltd

Publisher – Spilt Milk Studios Ltd

Platforms –  PC (Reviewed)

Note:

The Following Review is of the Demo released during Steam’s Cozy & Family Friendly Games Celebration 2024.

Note the game may change before release.

As someone who has a Side Hussle business of reselling media and electronics found from garage sales and thrift stores and other means, when I was shared the news of Trash Goblin, I knew I had to immediately download the Demo.

Trash Goblin is a wholesome & cozy shopkeeping game where you uncover & clean trinkets and treasures, then upcycle them to sell to customers. To discover these trinkets, you must find them by chipping away at the dirt and cruft they’re embedded inside.

Once you’ve unearthed a trinket by chipping away at the dirt, your next task is to meticulously scrub and polish it until it gleams. This thorough cleaning process ensures that each item is restored to its former glory, ready to captivate your customers when you proudly showcase it in your shop. The effort you put into making each piece shine not only enhances its value but also adds to the charm and appeal of your unique collection.

Before you start selling your newly discovered treasures, you have the opportunity to customize them by combining different trinkets. This creative process of upcycling allows you to transform ordinary items into unique, strange, and wonderful new creations. By using your imagination and crafting skills, you can merge various elements to design innovative products that will captivate your customers and set your shop apart. Each upcycled item tells its own story and adds a touch of magic to your inventory, making your shop a truly special place for patrons seeking one-of-a-kind finds.

Once you’re ready to sell your newly customized trinket, display it proudly in your shop. As you progress through the game, you’ll find yourself selling these unique items not just for profit, but also as part of engaging questlines. Some customers might be on the lookout for specific items to complete their quests, while others might simply fall in love with the quirky and imaginative creations you’ve crafted. These sales can lead to profitable paydays, rewarding your creativity and entrepreneurial spirit. With each sale, you’ll build a reputation for your shop, attracting more customers eager to see what extraordinary treasures you have to offer next.

After making a few successful sales, you can reinvest your hard-earned cash into upgrading your tools and purchasing new supplies. These enhancements will enable you to repair and polish your future discoveries with greater efficiency and precision, ultimately increasing their value. With better equipment, you’ll be able to restore trinkets to their former glory or even transform them into extraordinary creations, attracting more customers and boosting your profits. Investing in top-notch tools and materials ensures that each item you uncover and refurbish becomes a prized possession, enhancing your shop’s reputation and drawing in a steady stream of eager patrons.

While the demo offers over 90 minutes of gameplay, introducing players to the fundamentals of chipping, cleaning, and upcycling trinkets, as well as interacting with customers and combining restored trash into upcycled gems, the final game promises to be even more expansive. The full version will feature over 180 trinkets and accessories, each with multiple variations to discover, clean, repair, and upcycle. Additionally, players will have access to 8 different tools and will encounter over 15 unique characters, each with their own stories and needs, across more than 25 engaging quests, and will offer endless customer interactions and replayability.

This game has a huge Cozy feeling and a game I can totally see myself cozying up on the couch playing on Steam Deck after a long day of thrifting or packing shipments of my own trash turned into treasures. I can’t wait for the game to fully launch so I can dig deeper and search for more hidden treasures among the trash.

I do hope to hopefully see more ways to discover new trinkets then just breaking away the dirt however, to add just a little bit more to the discovery of finding new trinkets in the full game. I also hope the game’s characters help create an exciting and mysterious backstory for the items found and sold through-out the game, but only the release of the full game will tell.

If you think this game might be of interest to you, don’t forget to Wishlist the game on Steam here