Lakeside Bar Review (PC)

In the thick of a continuous bombarding of unread emails, half-finished interviews, and a family outing that I ought to be paying more attention to, another pastime calls to me—a tab-sized managerial affair that asks only that I embellish cocktails and automate a Lakeside Bar of serene natural beauty and nautical vistas. On this dockside, embedded deep below a sea of open windows and a desktop of oh-so many icons, things are a whole lot easier to navigate. There isn’t a game here, but rather an idle clicking restaurant management sim that pretty much runs itself for whenever I’m not behind the counter.

Lakeside Bar doesn’t ask anything more of me than the occasional input—a fresh barrel of beer here, or some nifty structural upgrades there. Aside from that, the campfire and its sweet summer sounds develop on their own accord, with the vast majority of the events taking shape in tandem with other, more pressing matters taking place on the adjacent side of the screen. And that’s precisely what I love about it: the fact that I don’t need to be present to witness the natural evolution of the business, but rather, pitch in as and when I want, and not lose track of the things happening elsewhere. I can come and go, like a tide repelling a shoreline, drifting in and out alongside the ever-changing climate. That’s something I could quite easily raise a glass to.

Exquisitely Pure

Lakeside Bar isn’t built to feel the least bit taxing on the mind, nor is it in possession of its own share of endless scrolls of convoluted subtext, tutorials, or how-to mechanics. This isn’t that sort of gig. On the contrary, the idea here isn’t to numb your ego with perpetual cycles of unforgiving challenges, but to provide you with a clean canvas to enact a positive change as and when you deem it necessary to do so. In other words, there is no right or wrong way to play; the game will always move forward, regardless of whether or not you contribute.

Like so many other desktop-hogging simulators on the market, Lakeside Bar essentially aims to give just as much as it takes, meaning, the more you devote to it, the more likely you are to unearth its greatest assets. Regardless of how much time you decide to pour into it, though, the game itself marches forward and ticks in one way or another. Not that neglecting it would do you any favors, mind you, for the best part of this story isn’t in idle clicking, but delving deep into the root of its longing for evolution. With beverages to stockpile, structural upgrades to unlock, and an entire automated system to install, there’s plenty here to keep you plugging away. And that’s great.

Soaking Up Sunsets

Suffice it to say that, as far as rags-to-riches ventures go, Lakeside Bar doesn’t stray all that far from its fellow breweries and stepping stone-based IPs. Similar in design, this initial section of the journey consists of using the few items you have—a couple of cool beverages, a small plot of land above your bar, and the opportunity to participate in various pastimes and other extracurricular activities, like fishing, darts, or automating your work flow via the helping hands who mull over your allotment and business. As this business grows, it gradually begins to open up certain doorways for you to explore, with some allowing you to experiment with different alcoholic drinks and consumables, and others presenting you with the opportunity to decorate your yard with an assortment of thematic set pieces and personalized accessories.

The good thing about Lakeside Bar is that, despite there being a collection of upgrades for you to unlock through varying degrees of play, nothing is hidden behind any form of paywall or difficulty spike. As I briefly mentioned earlier, it gives just as much as it takes, and so, while you won’t have the most immersive experience in the world, you will, however, have one that snowballs on its own two feet and finds the means to award you for the occasional victory or small upgrade. And I could think of a dozen or so reasons why you would want to pursue such perks, too — the cozy atmosphere, wholesome aesthetic, and easygoing nature of the process, to round off just a few of them.

Verdict

As desktop-based idle clickers become all the more common across browsers and other platforms, it seems creators who help embellish them are also becoming increasingly aware that, to make an impact on the world, small windows must amount to big things in order to attract users. And honestly, I think Lakeside Bar manages to stand its ground as a genuine contender in its chosen field, with all of the matching bells, whistles, beers and beauty to represent an ironclad IP with a whole lot of heart and soul to show for its bite-sized appearance.

While Lakeside Bar won’t rob you of your entire weekend, I can say that there’s just enough stowed away in its casket to keep you chipping through for as long as you allow it to. It helps, also, that there are several mini-games and activities to engage in on the side of your ongoing effort to monopolize the lake. Sure, they’re a little basic, and it isn’t as if they elevate the design that was originally implemented in earlier works, for that matter. But they do, in all fairness, add a little extra pizzazz to an otherwise textbook clone of a generic business simulation game.

If you, too, enjoy claiming sanctuary in warmly lit boroughs that share a common love of intimate worlds and wholesome moments, then you shouldn’t find yourself struggling to rustle up a few cocktails for this cozy haven for quenchable critters. It’s small, sweet, and an ideal choice for those who might be looking to indulge in a harmless delight for a couple of hours or more.