Indie Spotlight: Traveller’s Rest

I recently found Isolated Games’ Traveller’s Rest via the For You tab on Twitter. (I was as surprised as anyone that that page and being forced to be on it would have been valuable, but it was!) Everything about it was great. The pixel art style, music, the concept… You’re a humble innkeeper and must build your tavern from the ground up. To do this, you farm, mine, craft, and serve tasty food and drink to the local villagers who stop by.

All in all, it’s a pretty great experience that highlights the great power behind “Early Access” titles. The game has a solid foundation, devs that communicate often and are willing to listen, and a community that’s steadily growing.

The game (is currently) being developed by Isolated Games, a studio located in Barcelona, Spain, and is currently in Early Access. The other game from the studio, an ambitious space game called Between the Stars, is also in Early Access. Isolated acquired Traveller’s Rest from “another developer who for personal reasons had to abandon the development and offered us the opportunity to take it over without any upfront payment,” and the goal was to use the sales from Traveller’s Rest to fund Beyond the Stars’ development.

I’ve been having an incredible time with Traveller’s Rest. I’ll admit that I didn’t get into Stardew Valley like most people I know. Yes, it’s a fun game, but the thought of making sure I was keeping up and talking to people and giving them gifts they liked was a job, without even thinking about farming or mining or taking on enemies when you were mining. And the energy meter? Oh man, I felt like I’d go until noon, and I’d be depleted. As someone who just wanted to play the game mainly to farm and create stuff, it wasn’t quite the coziest experience. Again, that’s not to say it’s terrible. It just wasn’t 100% my speed.

Enter Traveller’s Rest. You’re an innkeeper on a quest to turn a not-so-great tavern into a space where everyone wants to go. To get there, you’ll brew the most refreshing beverages, cook the tastiest food, and build the coziest atmosphere to attract patrons.

From the start, it’s hard not to think of Stardew Valley with the art style and character creator. But honestly, if it’s not broken, don’t fix it. There are not a ton of options now, but I’m sure that will change as development progresses. And a note: You can change the name of your tavern on this screen, and I was so wrapped up in the character creator I missed that option. After the character creator, you jump right into your tavern.

You start off being able to make porridge. As you play through the quests available in Early Access, it’s a great way to begin making money, so you can purchase different items to put in it and make a bit more money. From there, you can invest your physical, mental, and nature points into being able to roast meats, make soup, and bake bread. You earn those points from building, crafting, and cooking/brewing. I have almost everything unlocked in the cooking skill tree; I’m just waiting on getting my tavern’s reputation level up so I can build a Cheesery and Distillery!

Crafting is also vital in Traveller’s Rest. Around the area of your tavern, you can chop down trees and harvest iron, copper, and coal. Wood goes into making planks – the basic building block of new furniture for your tavern, and when you’re able, it’s necessary to make your tavern bigger. (More people coming in equals more money!) Iron is essential because that’s how you’ll make iron plates, hinges, and nails, all three vital for crafting.

I haven’t done much with copper as of writing this, but from what I’ve seen, I can create fixtures for my tavern that will add “comfort,” adding to the positive reputation of my establishment. Crafting is the area I’ve invested the least in so far, as I’ve earned enough coins to purchase most of the items I’ve wanted.

Farming, cooking food, and brewing beverages have become my favorite part of Traveller’s Rest. You can order ingredients for cooking, but it’s much more cost-effective to purchase seeds and grow them yourself. (And while more work, it’s more fun!) Putting enough XP into your crop yields means you can suddenly go from four tomatoes to 40, so I’m never short of food. You can make a wide variety of even the same food with all the options from farming.

You can brew beverages from mead to beer to wine with several variations you can unlock with your physical, mental, and nature points. It takes more of these at higher levels, but after a day of making food and making sure you have planks and nails to expand your tavern, I haven’t had a problem unlocking anything I want.

All the above is just a snapshot of what you can do in the Early Access phase of Traveller’s Rest. Isolated Games has teased many other features that will be in the eventual 1.0 release of the game, including:

+ More recipes for food and drink

+ New items and furniture for your tavern

+ Customer interaction (quest giving, spreading rumors, and more)

+ A world to discover and explore

+ An overarching story to progress through

+ Collectibles/achievements

+ Magic!

+ Multiplayer

Traveller’s Rest boasts “Very Positive” reviews on Steam and is currently $14.99. You can follow Isolated Games on Twitter and the game’s official Twitter account to keep up with news of the game. There’s also an official Traveller’s Rest Discord and Reddit community, and they regularly post on the Steam page. Let me know if you pick it up!