I’ve been a fan of Placeholder Gameworks since playing Death and Taxes a couple years back, so discovering CraftCraft was a real treat. Published by Placeholder Gameworks and Hawthorn Games, this “Fantasy Merchant Simulator” is arriving November 20th. The demo, however, is available now during Wholesome Games Steam Celebration.

First Impressions

Opening up the demo, you’re plopped directly into a character customizer. Currently, you can choose to be a cat, a human, or an insect, and you can select a male or female body type. There’s no pronoun selection, but you’re only referred to with you/your pronouns so it’s a non-issue. The clothes are fun, have a variety of swatches, and mix and match easily.

Once you’ve made your crafter, you’re given some narration about your new shop. This could risk being boring, especially on repeat playthroughs, but in this opening scene setting we’re introduced to Meowl: our pet owl cat. That fact, combined with the tight writing and excellent voice acting makes the opening engaging.

Getting Crafty

There are two different types of crafting in the demo: blacksmithing, and jewelry making. We get to start out making a knife for a delightful badger. The whole smithing process is surprisingly tactile. You crank levers and manipulate the bellows. You lift the hammer and smack it down onto the heated metal to initiate the crafting process. Hammering the metal – for both the blade and the hilt, which are made individually – is an incredibly satisfying rhythm game.

The jewelry making is very different, but no less satisfying. You begin with filling in a blueprint with a stick framework (at least for the tiara we make in the demo) before going to town on creative expression. For the demo, we pop out to the back alley and collect bits and bobs in a way that reminds me of hidden object games. Scouring the screen for shiny treasures makes me feel like a magpie in the best possible way, especially given the fact that I’m about to turn around and put them to creative use.

In the demo of CraftCraft, we get to meet three colorful characters. Groundskeeper Belen is a gentle, softspoken badger who’s saved up for a quality knife. He is the perfect introductory customer, as you can’t help but want to do right by him. After meeting him we meet Freifrau, an upper-class raccoon who desires a handmade trinket. She is not the best at getting in your good graces, but she means well despite being obscenely wealthy. I had a lot of fun making a tiara to fit her whole vibe. The last character we meet in the demo is Daywatcher Anders. This birdbrained officer of the law needs a saber, as per city standards, but he keeps calling it a rapier. And he won’t take correction.

Room For Improvement

While I didn’t run into any bugs, and everything currently implement is very solid, there were a couple things I think could be improved. Sharpening blades relies on a subtle sound cue – a sharp shing! – and while it is very satisfying, it could be an issue for hard of hearing players, or for those with bad sound quality on their devices. Less important is how finicky/sticky the crank on the cash register is. All the other interactable stuff is smooth and responsive, so it is particularly noticeable in comparison. My only other complaint was that we can’t store our materials in the desk drawers, but that is a confirmed feature in the full game.

Final Thoughts

To be perfectly honest, I played the demo of CraftCraft through 4 full times (and a few partial times to boot). The creative possibilities and how good it feels to fiddle with it all is everything you could want from a crafting game. Combined with the gorgeous art, charming premise, and the promise of compelling characters and subtle influence over the story I could not be more excited.

CraftCraft is available for PC and Mac on Steam. Retail price is currently unknown. It will release on November 20th 2024.