Developed by Spellgarden Games and published by Assemble Entertainment, Sticky Business is a sticker shop management game where you not only design your very own custom stickers, but you also need to print them and then ship them to customers manually. It is a unique take on the whole business sim genre and one that is extremely cute and wholesome at the same time thanks to its charming visuals and aesthetics. The game has finally launched on Nintendo Switch and our review is for the Nintendo Switch version as well. This is our review of Sticky Business in which we create some cool stickers and pack them in colorful boxes before shipping them to customers.
Right after booting the game, you will be allowed to create your very own company. You can enter your name and your business’s name here and from this spot onwards, these will be your identity in the game. You can also set the speed of the day which could be Normal, Relaxed, or Limitless. Normal is the default speed of the day but if you prefer taking your time with each task in the game, you can go for Relaxed and Limitless which offer more time during each day and the latter only progresses when you go to bed. If you are starting for the first time, there is a brief tutorial at the start which introduces you to all key game mechanics and once you complete it, you are on your own to run your very own sticker shop.
You will spend most of your time in the Creator because this is where the magic happens. This simple UI is your workspace for creating new stickers, getting them ready for printing, and ultimately shipping them off to customers. The creator has a very simple feel to it. On your right side, you have different picture categories and in the middle, you have a plain white sheet where you can place any desired picture and edit it. You can combine multiple elements here, edit them, rotate them, change their colors, and everything else until you are satisfied with your creation. Different keys will allow you to move the cursor around the screen to menus where you can perform different actions such as grabbing and moving a picture around, rotating pictures, bringing forth or back, and so on.
There are tons of different pictures ranging from shapes, animals, food items, symbols, flags, themed items, and more which can be combined to create a custom sticker. It all may sound a little complex but Sticky Business makes sticker creation a breeze. Naturally, when you start your game, you have very few options to create stickers from but as you sell more orders and get some money in your account, you can purchase new options from the Upgrades section of the game. Sticker creation is not the only task that you have to perform in the game and since you are running your shop, you must print these stickers and then ship them out to the customers manually as well. All of these steps are different parts of the charming gameplay of Sticky Business.
The Printing section is where you can print your creations. The game gives you a pretty decently sized sheet where you can drag and arrange as many different stickers as possible on one sheet before you can print them out. You can also create and save custom sticker sheets to save time later and just quickly print the ones that you need for that day’s orders. You can save multiple sheets so even if you have a lot of stickers in your library, you can quickly print a multitude of them at the same time to save both time and resources. Printing costs money so you need to keep this in mind and make the printing process efficient for yourself.
You can choose different types of paper for printing however premium papers cost more money so it all boils down to your order. Once you have designed and printed your stickers, you then head over to the Packing area where you must check the orders and pack orders accordingly. Most of these tasks such as shipping, printing, and designing take time so you need to complete all orders before the day ends or you will fail the orders and you do not want that to happen. The Packing section also features a similar UI however it displays what stickers you have printed and are ready to go in your inventory. The left section lists the order for your ease and as you place down stickers in the box, it counts them as well, so it is very handy.
Apart from stickers, you can also choose the type of packing sheet and packing material colors as well. Apart from this, if you are feeling generous, you can pack some candies or other goodies for your customers as well which will make them even happier with their order. Once done, the final step is to head out and take the orders to the courier box and ship all of them. This concludes your orders but if you still have some time left, you can spend it designing more stickers and then heading to bed to conclude the day. At this point, you get your money for all orders sent, the report of the day, and other information on the screen, and when you wake up the next day, you have a fresh set of orders, and the cycle continues.
All of your created stickers must be displayed in your shop because only then will customers order these stickers, and each sticker type attracts a special type of customer. While there is not much to the game’s story, each order allows you to get to know your customers more and more so repeat customers will interact with you with their orders, and in these orders, they will share their life stories with you as well. This is not much but it keeps things interesting and with every order, you get to learn more about your customers and their lives. This is the only form of story that you will get in Sticky Business.
Sticky Business has the content to keep you busy for hours and hours. As you get some money rolling in, you can purchase new items in the Upgrade shop, and from there, the sticker customization is endless. You can create unique stickers with thousands of combinations as you combine various things for unique and innovative results. The UI is pretty simple and sleek, so it allows you to work without any complex mechanics or UI elements getting in your way. In the end, it is a business, and you must be ready to ship out all orders at the end of the day so it creates a very relaxing and rewarding gameplay experience at the end of the day. If you own a Nintendo Switch, you should own Sticky Business because it is one solid wholesome game that I have played this year so far.
Final Verdict:
Sticky Business is really a calming video game no matter how you play it. There is no rushing or challenge of any sort and the only thing you will be doing is creating some cool stickers, printing them, and shipping them off to buyers. On the wholeness scale, Sticky Business easily sits at the top. It features calming music, and the gameplay is pretty cool. The UI is simple to understand and once you have spent some time with it, you can quickly move around the screen without any trouble. If you always wanted to run your very own sticker shop business, Sticky Business is the best way to do it and on the Nintendo Switch, it just sits perfectly well because it is the perfect game to wind down on the go after a hectic day.
Final Score: 9.0/10
