A Merchant's Promise

About

A Merchant's Promise is a single player survival simulation game with a fantasy theme. It was developed by Game Draft Studio and was released on March 21, 2025. It received positive reviews from players.

A Merchant's Promise is a physics-based trading game where you fully control items from pickup to placement, balancing risk and profit as you rise from a lowly merchant to the King's Merchant. Manage survival elements like hunger, thirst, and stamina while adapting to weather and item loss. Permanent Death mode offers a high-stakes challenge for daring players.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

Skip User Reviews

90%

Audience ScoreBased on 108 reviews

gameplay8 positive mentions

optimization2 negative mentions

The game has a unique and engaging physics-based system that adds depth to the trading experience, making it enjoyable to transport goods and manage your cart.
The developer is highly active and responsive to community feedback, frequently updating the game and showing a commitment to improving the overall experience.
The game offers a cozy and immersive atmosphere, with charming visuals and a relaxing gameplay loop that appeals to fans of simulation and trading games.

Currently, the game lacks substantial content and direction, which can lead to a repetitive experience and confusion for new players.
The controls and mechanics can be unintuitive and frustrating, particularly with the cart physics and item management, making it difficult to enjoy the gameplay fully.
There are several bugs and performance issues that detract from the experience, including lag in towns and problems with item interactions, which need to be addressed as the game develops.

gameplay
23 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
35%
52%
13%
The gameplay in this merchant simulation game features a complex loop of buying and selling goods across villages, enhanced by various mechanics such as cooking, equipment maintenance, and physics-based movement. While the game offers a relaxing and engaging experience, some players find the abundance of mechanics overwhelming, and the tutorial could be clearer in explaining essential gameplay elements. Overall, the game is praised for its intuitive controls and unique features, though players hope for future updates to expand gameplay challenges and improve the user experience.
- “The current gameplay loop is to buy trade supplies, food, drink, etc., from one village and bring them to another, making profits based on distance traveled, lack of damage on items, seasonal changes, and lack of weathering.”
- “Gameplay-wise, it’s a casual merchant sim on the surface, but there’s way more going on underneath.”
- “It’s one of those rare titles that offers a relaxing, yet deeply engaging gameplay loop that’s both meditative and strategic.”
- “There are a lot of mechanics and gameplay features, and it can be overstimulating to learn all of them.”
- “The current gameplay loop is just to spend all your money to fill up your cargo, go to another location, and sell it all.”
- “Right now, the trading mechanic is too obtuse; the game has a tutorial but doesn't explain what is counted as goods or where you should put them.”
graphics
11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
36%
37%
27%
The graphics of the game are generally praised for their clean and smooth aesthetic, contributing to an engaging and cozy atmosphere. While the art style and visuals are appreciated, some users feel that adding more life to the environments could enhance the uniqueness of towns. Overall, the game showcases a good level of polish and appealing visuals, despite some mixed opinions on the art style.
- “The visuals are super clean and smooth.”
- “Aesthetic - the feeling you get, walking near Ivernox, summer night with stars raining in the sky above with a cart full of goods by the colorful shimmering rivers on your way to become filthy rich.. or sitting in your cottage with an ale, warm stew on the fire and the glow from the flame knowing you're the king's merchant, gives you a cozy feeling that's hard to beat!”
- “Great art style, fantastic physics, looking forward to the final vision!”
- “I feel like the aesthetic is extremely important in a game like this, and even if they had a bit more life to them, it would make towns feel a little more unique.”
- “You don’t like the art style or the graphics.”
- “You don’t like the art style or the graphics.”
atmosphere
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its calming and immersive qualities, enhanced by beautiful background music and a handcrafted art style that evokes a storybook feel. Players appreciate the rich, vibrant settings, from rustic villages to bustling marketplaces, which create a cozy and engaging environment. Overall, the game offers a peaceful experience that encourages players to fully immerse themselves in its atmospheric world.
- “It has great atmosphere with the background music and setting, very calming gameplay.”
- “The stylized art direction gives it a handcrafted, storybook feel; rustic villages, rolling hills, treacherous mountain passes, and bustling marketplaces all feel alive and rich with atmosphere.”
- “The game itself is peaceful, atmospheric, and generally pleasant to look at.”
story
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The story begins engagingly with a rags-to-riches theme set on a banked ship, complemented by a charming, storybook art style that brings the world to life. However, players find the narrative experience hampered by challenging controls and a lack of clear guidance, making it difficult to navigate quests and objectives. While there is potential for future content to enhance the story, the current execution leaves much to be desired.
- “The way the story starts, with the player on a banked ship, was nice; it really added to the rags-to-riches element.”
- “The stylized art direction gives it a handcrafted, storybook feel; rustic villages, rolling hills, treacherous mountain passes, and bustling marketplaces all feel alive and rich with atmosphere.”
- “Look around, read the signs, pick things up, experiment, talk to NPCs, etc. but no hand-holding, no prompts, specific goals, missions.”
- “The controls are ridiculously hard to use, especially steering the cart and figuring out quests. The tutorial was lovely but did not match the game at all.”
- “Look around, read the signs, pick things up, experiment, talk to NPCs, etc., but there's no hand-holding, no prompts, and specific goals or missions.”
- “Though there may be some type of quests and jobs system added in the future.”
optimization
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
25%
50%
The game's optimization is a work in progress, with users noting that while performance is generally acceptable, it can experience slowdowns on certain systems. The developers are actively working on improvements, making sacrifices in visual quality to ensure better performance on lower-end PCs, and providing various video settings for players to adjust their experience. Overall, the performance rating stands at 7/10.
- “And wanting to ensure their game is optimized.”
- “The developer is trying to keep performance in mind and does sacrifice higher quality terrain and items for lower ones so that the game works well on lower-end systems.”
- “It also has various video settings to help adjust performance.”
music
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
75%
25%
The music in the game is described as calming and atmospheric, enhancing the serene gameplay experience as players forage and travel through beautiful scenery. The soundtrack effectively complements the adventure, creating a peaceful ambiance that makes long journeys feel purposeful, though some players suggest it pairs well with their own music for a more personalized experience.
- “It has great atmosphere with the background music and setting, very calming gameplay.”
- “The soundtrack complements this beautifully, providing a calming yet adventurous ambiance that makes long journeys feel peaceful and purposeful.”
- “Forage for food and sellables on your way through nice scenery to the next town with calming music, with items sold gaining a bonus for distance traveled.”
grinding
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players appreciate the game's cozy atmosphere and grindy nature, but many find the grinding aspect to be more tedious than challenging. The lack of clear tooltips and important information can lead to confusion and frustration, detracting from the overall experience. While the game aims for immersion, the absence of helpful overlays can result in players missing critical gameplay elements.
- “I'm not sure if the game developer was pushing for a greedy monarchy feeling, or just wanted to add a challenge; it's more of a tedious nuisance than a challenge.”
- “Having the tooltips, game mechanics, and important information as an overlay on the screen would be much better. While I understand the desire for immersion, looking at signs in the game can be more tedious than just having a tooltip pop up. I missed important information and ended up breaking the law within 20 minutes of playing, which felt unfair.”
stability
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game currently experiences some bugs and glitches, typical for early access titles, but the developer is highly responsive to feedback and actively addresses issues. Despite these stability concerns, players find the game charming and worth supporting for its potential.
- “Although there are some bugs and glitches in the game's current state, the developer is really quick in responding to bug reports.”
- “While buggy in its current state, the developer is extremely on top of it and very receptive to complaints, suggestions, and criticism.”
- “You're bound to run out of content after a while and encounter some bugs, as it's still early in development.”
emotional
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players report forming a strong emotional connection to their cart and items, with experiences of both frustration and heartbreak, such as the annoyance of pulling the cart and the devastation of rain ruining their efforts, which ultimately enhances the game's charm.
- “You form such an emotional connection to your cart and wares after a few hours.”
- “Pulling your cart can be sort of annoying, and watching rain destroy all of your hard work is heartbreaking, but it all adds to the charm.”