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Merchant Game Cover

About Merchant

Merchant is a single player casual role playing game with fantasy, economy, medieval, historical and others themes. It was developed by Retora Games and was released on October 9, 2018. It received positive reviews from players.

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Games Like Merchant

Looking for games like Merchant? Here are top casual role playing recommendations with a fantasy, economy, medieval, historical and business focus, selected from player-similarity data — start with IdleOn - The Idle RPG, Almost a Hero — Idle RPG or Darkest AFK: role-playing game.

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Reviews

85%Audience ScoreBased on 7,209 reviews
story44 positive mentions
monetization339 negative mentions

  • Addictive and fun with a unique blend of RPG, crafting, and merchant management elements
  • Ethical free-to-play model with non-intrusive optional ads and reasonable one-time purchases
  • Retro pixel art and relaxing music create a nostalgic and immersive experience
  • Late game features long wait times and grindy progression which can feel tedious
  • Inventory and UI management could be improved with features like sorting and auto-repeat quests
  • Some players report bugs including lost progress and difficulties with cloud save or in-app purchase restoration
  • monetization

    502 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    17% positive mentions, 15% neutral mentions, 68% negative mentions

    The game's monetization is broadly praised for being fair and non-intrusive, with all ads fully optional and no pay-to-win mechanics; players appreciate the ability to progress without spending money and the reasonable, content-focused in-app purchases. Many users commend the lack of forced ads and microtransactions, highlighting offline play and balanced gameplay without aggressive monetization tactics. However, some report recent updates introducing frequent or lengthy ads that disrupt gameplay, issues with ads not rewarding properly, and the absence of an option to permanently remove ads, which detracts from the experience for a portion of players.

    • “After playing for a day, I opted in to pay $10 for the whole experience, which includes no ads, increased inventory space, new expansions, etc. If you enjoy the game, please reward this creator by purchasing it.”
    • “The in-app purchases are DLC that are worth buying and serve only to add to the experience, not single-use items that leave you feeling scammed.”
    • “Really compelling idle game with extremely fair monetization that makes you feel glad when you spend money, not disappointed.”
    • “I just paid $18 CDN to unlock "everything" yet I still need to watch 30-second long ads to get gold reward after every quest. This means if you are grinding and want the gold reward you spend half your time watching ads.”
    • “Ads kill the game, every 2 minutes you are forced to watch 30 seconds of ads, sometimes even two.”
    • “Having to watch an ad every time you finish a quest is annoying, I spend twice as much time watching ads as I played the game.”
  • story

    430 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    10% positive mentions, 84% neutral mentions, 6% negative mentions

    The game lacks a defined story or narrative, leading to mixed feelings among players; while some enjoy the open-ended, imaginative aspect of creating their own stories, many find the absence of plot and direction makes the gameplay feel repetitive and grind-heavy. Users frequently request features like quest automation, repeat quest options, and more meaningful quest or story content to enhance engagement. Overall, the story aspect is minimal and would benefit greatly from additional narrative elements or objectives to provide purpose beyond crafting and quest grinding.

    • “If the game included some story elements for the various challenges your heroes can face, this game would be top class; as it is, I'd say Merchant is one of the best and honest games available on mobile devices.”
    • “This game told an incredible story of a young hero who was the seventh youngest in his group.”
    • “Finally feel immersed in my position as the innkeeper, storyteller and most importantly... the merchant!”
    • “No story, no real goal or purpose.”
    • “If the game included some story elements for the various challenges your heroes can face, this game would be top class, as it is I'd say merchant is one of the best and honest games available on mobile devices.”
    • “Without a story or at least long-term goals, the game is very grindy.”
  • gameplay

    332 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    46% positive mentions, 50% neutral mentions, 4% negative mentions

    The gameplay is generally praised for its simple, addictive, and well-balanced mechanics centered around crafting, questing, and resource management, with no intrusive ads or pay-to-win elements. However, many users find it repetitive over time, lacking variety and deeper strategic or action elements, and some criticize slow progression, unclear mechanics, and reliance on real-time waiting. Overall, it's considered a solid, casual fantasy merchant simulation with room for more engaging features and better tutorials.

    • “Game has many different strategies for optimization, and builds on previously introduced mechanics.”
    • “The gameplay loop is satisfying and the premise is simple and unique; there aren't many games where you manage a fantasy store and a small army of adventurers for supplying the merchandise. I highly recommend it.”
    • “Addicting gameplay and it's not full of ads.”
    • “The mechanic of "wait until it's done" combined with items only taking seconds to finish makes the game impossible to play leisurely; gameplay boils down to "press button, wait, press button, wait" with almost no enjoyment.”
    • “The gameplay starts out interesting but rapidly falls apart due to sloppy content additions undermining the core mechanics and motivators.”
    • “The core gameplay is very tedious; jumping around menus of mediocre design to start various timers had me uninterested within 3 minutes.”
  • graphics

    265 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    46% positive mentions, 49% neutral mentions, 5% negative mentions

    The game's pixelated, retro-style graphics are widely praised for their nostalgic charm, simplicity, and fitting aesthetic that runs well even on low-end devices. While some users desire more variation and animation—such as heroes visually changing with gear—and occasional graphical glitches or UI scaling issues are noted, the low-fi art style is generally seen as a strength that complements the relaxing, easy-to-navigate gameplay. Overall, the graphics effectively enhance the game's atmosphere without overshadowing its strategic and idle mechanics.

    • “Charming pixel-art graphics and runs even on low-end devices - a+ a keeper!”
    • “First off, the pixel art and graphics are just absolutely beautiful!”
    • “It's amazingly organised, perfectly laid out, has stunning retro graphics, and astonishing playability.”
    • “Unfortunately, this completely deforms the graphics, breaks the immersion and I can't bring myself to play merchant in this state.”
    • “The text is hardly legible and the graphical interface looks blown out and out of scale.”
    • “The artwork is a disgrace, looks like one big blur.”
  • grinding

    209 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    0% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 100% negative mentions

    The game features extensive grinding, especially in late stages, with crafting and farming materials being central but often tedious and time-consuming. While early and mid-game grinding is generally rewarding and engaging for fans of RPG-style progression, late-game grinding becomes repetitive, slow, and sometimes frustrating due to micromanagement and lack of automation. Overall, players who enjoy a heavy grind and crafting loop will appreciate it, but those seeking faster, less repetitive gameplay may find it tiresome.

    • “The worst thing about this game is the grind to get enough materials to level up and make equipment for heroes who need more materials.”
    • “I've been farming materials for a single sword for the past two days and am only at 8/15.”
    • “Becomes frustratingly grindy after level 10, and I uninstalled after the second map since I could not be bothered with waiting anymore.”
  • music

    121 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    45% positive mentions, 48% neutral mentions, 7% negative mentions

    The game's music is widely praised for its charming, relaxing, and atmospheric medieval/retro soundtrack that enhances the overall experience, though many users find the limited variety and short looping tracks repetitive and desire more musical options and sound effects. Some also note issues with audio volume control and occasional playback glitches. Overall, while the music is a strong positive, adding more diverse tracks and sound effects would greatly improve player enjoyment.

    • “Seriously the music is one of the greatest things about this game.”
    • “Absolutely wonderful game: charming, interesting, well drawn, pleasant music, balanced, varied, and a nice progress system that is rewarding.”
    • “Charming hand drawn graphics, highly interactive interface, and a hypnotizing soundtrack all provide an engaging gaming experience especially for those fond of classic PC games.”
    • “The music is awesome but it's a 1-minute loop, so it gets repetitive very quickly (we want more music).”
    • “The game's music is ridiculously loud and I'd rather not have to mute my whole phone every time I boot it up.”
    • “Buttons make no sound at all when clicked, and the repetitive background music is rage-inducing after a while!”
  • stability

    45 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    7% positive mentions, 2% neutral mentions, 91% negative mentions

    The game experiences frequent freezing, glitches, and bugs, such as issues with crafting, quests, and ads, which can disrupt gameplay and occasionally cause data loss. However, ongoing developer support has addressed many problems in updates, improving stability significantly over time. Despite these issues, some players find the core gameplay enjoyable and continue playing.

    • “I gave it 4 stars because it's well made, seems bug free, and I can see why others would like it.”
    • “I have a two-year-old ZTE phone and the game runs great.”
    • “Runs great and keeps me interested right now and probably months to come.”
    • “I recently purchased the expansion and it just freezes most of the time for 2 seconds then continues.”
    • “I paid $8.99 for the full paid pack because I thought it was a great time killer and wanted to support the devs, and now the game freezes after 20 seconds in game.”
    • “But after a few days of solid play getting 5 heroes, the game freezes and when I restart all data was erased.”
  • optimization

    10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    50% positive mentions, 20% neutral mentions, 30% negative mentions

    The game is praised for smooth performance, low resource usage, and efficient optimization that supports extended play sessions without overheating or draining battery. Its minimalist graphics contribute positively to performance, though some users note a lack of clear information on optimizing gameplay strategies. Overall, it runs well and provides a seamless, time-consuming experience.

    • “Game has many different strategies for optimization and builds on previously introduced mechanics.”
    • “Optimized for low resource usage and scratches that RPG itch.”
    • “Great game with minimalist graphics which is awesome for performance, battery usage, and phone temperature.”
    • “Not optimized, held my attention for about an hour or two before it became not worth it to continue progress.”
    • “He died because apparently hand-me-downs are an optimized set they do not make.”
    • “Despite lack of coherent information and data about game mechanics for optimization of playing efficiency, this game is incredible.”
  • atmosphere

    8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    63% positive mentions, 37% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    The game features a unique and immersive atmosphere highlighted by nostalgic pixel art and fitting music that enhances the medieval/fantasy vibe. Players appreciate its engaging aesthetic and pacing, which work together to create a memorable and enjoyable experience.

    • “I thought the music would get annoying after a while but it really just adds to the whole atmosphere of the game.”
    • “Has great atmosphere other apps of the same category severely lack.”
    • “The nostalgic, pixelized art and atmosphere brings back the memories.”
  • humor

    6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    100% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    The humor in the game is appreciated for being simple, funny, and well-integrated with the gameplay, providing enjoyable moments and clever references. While some players desired more varied comedic content and NPC personality, the overall tone is lighthearted and adds charm to the experience.

    • “Simple and funny game.”
    • “10/10 game for now, funny and gameplay is fun as well.”
    • “Love the humor and the game.”
  • replayability

    6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    67% positive mentions, 16% neutral mentions, 17% negative mentions

    The game is generally praised for its high replay value and addictive simplicity, offering surprising depth despite a straightforward approach. However, some users find limited replayability, though the overall experience remains enjoyable and engaging.

    • “Fun game, has lots of replay value.”
    • “Love the game, very replayable.”
    • “Great game with a simplistic approach, surprisingly good depth, and high replay value.”
    • “Not much replay value, but delivers as advertised... somehow, oddly addictive...”
  • character development

    2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    100% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    The character development in this game is simplified and strategic, focusing on choices related to combat, crafting, and inventory management rather than exploration. It offers an old-school RPG feel with loot surprises and grinding, appealing to players who enjoy streamlined progression.

    • “If you like old-school gameplay, loot surprises, strategic character development, and just a lot of fun, this is for you.”
    • “This game removes the exploration from the traditional RPG experience and leaves you with the rest: choosing what to attack, crafting, inventory management, and simplified forms of character development, and grinding.”
  • emotional

    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    100% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    Users find the emotional experience hindered by repetitive screen tapping and limited inventory space, which can feel frustrating and restrictive, especially with new characters starting at level 1.

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Play Times

19h Median play time
20h Average play time
4-28h Spent by most gamers
*Based on 6 analyzed playthroughs
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Frequently Asked Questions

Merchant is a casual role playing game with fantasy, economy, medieval, historical and others themes. Common tags for Merchant include free to play, indie, pixel graphics, stylized, crafting and others.

Merchant is available on PC, Phone, iPad, iPhone and others.

On average players spend around 20 hours playing Merchant.

Merchant was released on October 9, 2018.

Merchant was developed by Retora Games.

Merchant has received positive reviews from players. Most players liked Merchant for its story but disliked it for its monetization.

Merchant is a single player game.

Similar games include IdleOn - The Idle RPG, Almost a Hero — Idle RPG, Darkest AFK: role-playing game, Hybrid Warrior : Overlord, Soda Dungeon 2 and others.