Retro Rewind Review (PC)

The general consensus for the average millennial is that video rental stores were the “chef’s kiss” for any good childhood. Before streaming services, when VHS rentals and late-night popcorn runs were the norm, everyone had something to lean on to scratch “that” itch. It was familiar—simple, but familiar all the same. The act of manually rewinding cassette tapes; the troves of categorized movies; the sticky carpets that gave off a strong scent of salt and butter; and the queues of folks who would be hell-bent on catching a midnight release at their local rental store just to have something to talk about at the water cooler the next day. Back then, everything felt more communally driven, almost as if the entire entertainment circuit had a single “safe” haven to lean on in times of need. And if Retro Rewind does anything at all, it rekindles that same familiar wick to take us back to the golden years of VHS-driven communal harmony. Heck, it even keeps ahold of the salt and butter-smothered sticky carpets, if only for the sake of keeping the rustic charm and nostalgia fodder intact.

From the moment you take a whiff of Retro Rewind’s salted popcorn machines and assume control over your own retro video rental store, the goal becomes clear: to manage a store, and to capitalize on the good people’s love of old movies and tapes with the intent to establish the next go-to spot for entertainment. You have blockbuster favorites to categorize, niche movies to recommend, appliances to install and upgrade, and even a team of like-minded film fanatics to manage. There’s a lot more to it than that, but the goal, really, doesn’t deviate all that far from your traditional job simulation game. It’s a textbook sweep-and-serve sim that, like Rental Store Simulator, invites you to step back in time and operate your own business, nothing more, nothing less.

What sets Retro Rewind apart from other business and job simulation games of its kind is its seasonal approach. See, unlike your usual management sim where players would normally operate on a one-track system and make minor adjustments, Retro Rewind tasks you with working through each season and using the power of market manipulation to adapt with the changes, whether it’s by scouting time-appropriate releases or applying a business model that suits a specific event or festival. And that’s something that Retro Rewind does and does well: it uses the rotation of the seasons to keep the experience feeling fresh and interesting. Case in point, rain brings higher demand; bank holidays require more stock; and special events—Halloween, Christmas, and so on and so forth—require you to publicize a library of products that fit the season and the needs of your customers, if you catch my drift.

While the bulk of Retro Rewind is mostly reliant upon the usual pillars of a textbook job simulator—the stock checks, checkout transactions, and the small upgrades that come with hours’ worth of shifts and monotonous grafting practices— the passing of seasons does add an extra layer of complexity to an otherwise generic experience here. The core gameplay loop, however, is incredibly similar to what you would have seen a dozen times before in alternate storefronts. In other words, if you aren’t carefully finessing the formula to accommodate a new season, then you’re either adding new movies to shelves, shoveling butter popcorn into buckets, managing your finances, or working behind the checkout counter to earn a few extra bucks to invest in cosmetics and other items for your store.

I’ll admit that, while Retro Rewind does foster almost all of the same trappings of a conventional shopkeeper sim, the game does feature plenty of great elements, including a customization tool that allows you to alter the appearance of your store interior—the artwork, decals, posters, carpets, and color combinations, for example—as well as a ton of Easter Eggs that pay homage to classic blockbuster movies and beloved franchises. Moreover, it fosters a solid progression hook that can keep you invested for the duration of the seasons, with numerous movies to juggle, needs to fulfill, and an ever-shifting schedule to keep tabs on. And that’s a lot more than what other store-centric sims have to offer, truly.

Of course, having lived through the golden age of VHS stores (rest in peace, Blockbuster), I have to say that, visually, Retro Rewind more or less hits the nail on the head and truly captures that faithful, albeit tacky nineties essence. From the ugly carpet patterns to the dated neon signs, the arcade-style popcorn machines to the denim-heavy outfits — Retro Rewind finds that look and builds on it with all of the pulpy extracts that you could ever need from an ode to old-school stores. And it’s the tiny details, too, that make it that much more appealing to the average clerk—the complaints; the ridiculous questions; and the lack of helping hands, for example. Retro Rewind features all of this, and then some.

Let it be said that, while the attention to detail here is great, Retro Rewind still has a few notches in the belt that could do with a little extra work. For example, the movement is incredibly wooden, and the lack of visual polish often makes the game more of an eyesore than a striking piece of art. But even still, Retro Rewind has a lot of great facets to share with its audience, most of which outweigh the negatives. It might not be the perfect job simulation game, but it is one that will appeal to the target demographic and to those who share a love for old-school grafting and shopkeeping exploits.

Verdict

Retro Rewind is an absolute blast from the past—a faithful descent into the golden age of salted popcorn and sticky cassette tapes, horrific carpets and idiotic questions. Although still with the usual aspects of a textbook business sim, its attention to detail and vast seasonal variations and movie synergies are more than enough to give it that little extra oomph. And that’s something that I’m more than happy to take away from this whole experience: the fact that it taps into a nostalgic world and hits the nail on the head with all of the time-appropriate bits and pieces.