Cellar Keeper Review (PC)

There is such a thing as milking the udder dry. Although, judging by the recent surge in popularity for incremental cleaning games—a trend that was, of course, successfully demonstrated by Librarian: Tidy Up the Arcane Library—it seems that folks are more than happy to drink from a bleeding udder and consume its condensed calcium. Take Cellar Keeper, for example. In less than a week, both Cleaning Up The Puzzle Gallery and Cellar Keeper have launched their own versions of Librarian, all in the hopes of being able to sample that sweet, sweet nectar without having to douse the formula with anything particularly, well, intoxicating.

Cellar Keeper, as much as it pains me to say it, is an awful lot like Librarian: Tidy Up the Arcane Library—to the point where you could, in all seriousness, forget which is which. In fact, it takes less than sixty seconds to spot the similarities  that it shares with its arcane-centric kin. A cluttered space; thousands of loose objects; and a chore list that demands that you put everything back in the right place. It’s so similar, in fact, that it even borrows a little bit of that magical flair to construct its plot, with which it adopts purely for the sake of adding a little extra meat to its bones. Honestly, though, it doesn’t really matter, as it doesn’t add a lot of value to the overall experience.

It goes like this: the former owner (and questionably obsessive collector) of 2,448 bottles has turned into a chicken as a result of an ancient spell that went awry. Due to the transformation of the feathered keeper, the cellar has now collapsed and left quite the mess. But of course, you couldn’t care less about the keeper, much less reversing the spell that will allow them to fly the coop and return to the real world. All that you care about is the mess, and how you’ll muster up the energy to return over two-thousand bottles to their rightful shelves.

If you’re familiar with Librarian: Tidy Up the Arcane Library, then you ought to have a good understanding of how Cellar Keeper works. As the incredibly patient janitor of a bombshell-spotted world, you must meticulously allocate, pair, and restore each bottle that flocks beneath the rubble. Like searching for a needle in a haystack, every bottle has its own section, its own label, and its own value. It’s simply your job to categorize them and to return the cellar to its former glory.

On the off chance that you’re searching for more, I can honestly tell you that, there isn’t. With there being no hidden layers to the experience and no special endgame unlockables, what you essentially have here is a drawn-out cleaning gig that requires little more than an able eye and a patient soul. Granted, the game does provide you with the usual upgrades to help make your job a little less burdensome. For example, you can unlock abilities that allow you to carry more bottles, identify hard-to-find locations, and move at alarmingly swift speeds. Again, like Librarian, but with bottles instead of books.

Of course, it would be unfair to label Cellar Keeper as a bad game, as it does wax a niche concept, as does it provide all of the satisfying gameplay elements that make Librarian-like games oddly fun to work through. The thing is, it doesn’t do a lot more than what others have already accomplished in the past. Sure, the setting might be different, and the product might be from a different shelf, but at the end of the day, Cellar Keeper is still, unfortunately, a cheap and somewhat shameless clone of a game that is arguably stronger and more refined.

I will give credit where credit is due and say that, in spite of my best efforts to talk down on the whole ordeal, I did enjoy the process of restocking the old cellar. While never exactly amused by the situation, I did find it pleasantly satisfying and therapeutic. As it didn’t drop a timer on my shoulders to keep tabs on me, it was easy enough to switch off and simply grovel through the bottles at my own pace. At times, I just didn’t see the point. But, similar to Librarian, I often felt that sudden urge to finish what I started. I couldn’t care less about the chicken — I just wanted to claim the opportunity to appreciate a hard day’s labor.

As I said, there isn’t a lot of gamification to Cellar Keeper. Aside from a handful of upgrades, it doesn’t give you a lot to work with. Rather, it drops you into the deep end, and it instructs you to, well, get on with it. To some, that might not be enough to scratch an itch. But, for those who enjoy incremental experiences that grant you the freedom to work at your own leisure and, more importantly, without the watchful gaze of an eagle-eyed colleague, it’s something of an introvert’s dream. Though, the question remains: is it worth playing?

Verdict

Cellar Keeper doesn’t shy away from its infatuation with Librarian: Tidy Up the Arcane Library, as made clear through its oh-so-familiar setting and stacking-based gameplay mechanics. On that basis, it’s difficult to celebrate it as an original concept. Don’t get me wrong, it quite clearly serves its purpose as a self-contained organizing sim, but it also falls short on innovative ideas.

While Cellar Keeper doesn’t exactly bottle lightning, it does build on a niche (and incredibly novel) idea that has since become something of a fad amongst gamers. And so, if you are one of the select few who did enjoy Librarian: Tidy Up the Arcane Library, then you’re probably going to get just as much joy out of Cellar Keeper and its thousand-plus jigsaw pieces. With that being said, I wouldn’t suggest putting all of your eggs into this basket. It might do enough to scratch an itch, but it’s still a far cry from being a perfect game.