Shopenkraft's Magic Goods is the exact kind of thing I want from a VR game.

A few years back I worked at the Cleveland West Side Market. It was an amazing place that looked like it came out of some weird fantasy book about modern magic. A place of small markets all within a former train station. It, for real, looked like something from Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere.

For real, look at it.

While I was here I worked in a little pizza bagel stand. It was simple. Customer comes up, orders bagel, bagel goes into tiny oven, then to customer, take money, they leave, repeat. Sometimes it was a bit more complicated but it was mostly mechanical as the pizza bagels were sort of a thing people were coming into town for (despite them being incredibly mid).

It was a nice, repetitive, mechanical job. Once you got used to the grind, you'd go through it subconsciously while chatting up the customer. And while I love sims like Trading Card Shop Simulator that let you run a small business, nothing every captures the small scale stuff.

But then I had the chance to play Shopenkraft's Magic Goods on my Meta Quest 3 and I feel like the itch has finally been scratched.

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In Shopenkraft's Magic Goods you find yourself behind the counter at the titular magic goods store. You're given the EXACT amount of space I had at the West Side Market, and you're tasked with fulfilling customers' orders as they come in.

The orders mostly come in the form of requests for weapons and potions.

When doing a weapon order, you need to look at the picture of the creature they're hunting. If it's winged, you need to make sure the blade is made out of silver. If the customer is an orc you need to make sure you're pouring the molten silver into the axe mold. If the winged creature they're fighting is undead, instead of cutting a piece of wood for the handle, you're going to use one of your enchanted bones as a handle.

When doing a potion order you'll get a picture of a torso with indicators showing what they need. Is there an electrical bolt in the middle of the picture? They want an electricity ward which means you need to cut a yellow plant and grind it in the mortar and pestle before pouring it in the cauldron.

As you complete the orders you put them on the counter and ring a bell once the whole order is complete. As you go through the game you earn more and more things which can make the orders more complex. It's a fantastic grind with everything laid out beautifully. And if you don't like the main mode where the customers get upset over time and effect your score, you can do what I do and play on cozy mode, which is the same game but without time limits.

The controls are fantastic too, which is a must for a good VR title. If I wanted to use a tool I'd grab it and it would just work how I needed it to. If I had to use tongs to hold a hot piece of metal to an anvil whilst hammering it with the other hand it's the same motor skills I'd use in real life. Cutting roots and plants for the weapons and potions felt incredibly satisfying as if I was actually doing it.

It became second nature that I found myself making small talk with the NPCs while I was doing my orders just because the rest of the game had become second nature to me. It's impressive as hell and if you're looking for one of those VR titles that REALLY immerse you into the game, this is it. Right here. Get it, download it, love it.