Merchants of Kaidan

About

Merchants of Kaidan is a single player and multiplayer casual role playing game with fantasy, economy, anime, medieval and others themes. It was developed by Forever Entertainment S. A. and was released on November 10, 2014. It received mostly positive reviews from players.

Merchants of Kaidan is a challenging trading game fused with lots of RPG elements. You start very humble, one cart, a purse of gold and silver coins is all that you have. Your task is to roam the world and search of opportunities to score some profit. Buy low, sell high - a merchant's motto is easy to grasp. And yet the job is harder than it seems. A good merchant needs to know everything about t…

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64%

Audience ScoreBased on 298 reviews

story17 positive mentions

grinding21 negative mentions

Unique and immersive trading simulation with a fantasy setting offering a rich, hand-drawn art style and atmospheric music.
Deep and engaging economic system with dynamic prices influenced by seasons, random events, and supply-demand factors, rewarding patient and strategic play.
Variety of gameplay elements including quest lines, hiring and training specialists, managing multiple merchants, and exploration of mines and ruins adding depth beyond simple trading.

High randomness and luck-based mechanics with unpredictable price fluctuations and frequent disruptive random events that undermine strategic planning.
Steep learning curve and slow pacing at the start, with late game becoming repetitive, tedious, and unbalanced, particularly when managing multiple merchants.
Technical issues including bugs, glitches, poorly optimized performance, frequent typos, confusing UI, and lack of polish that detract from the overall experience.

story
121 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
14%
83%
3%
The story in Merchants of Kaidan offers a thematic foundation centered on trading, vengeance, and social ascent, enriched by over 100 quests including main, council, side, and rank-up missions. While it provides emotional resonance and motivates progression through a merchant guild system, many players find the narrative repetitive, occasionally stagnant, and hampered by bugs and confusing quest design. Despite its shortcomings, the story adds value to the trading gameplay, delivering a slow-paced but enjoyable experience for fans of trading sims with RPG elements.
- “The story provides a strong thematic backbone to what could otherwise be a purely mechanical trading simulation.”
- “Its world feels alive through shifting markets and unpredictable events, and its story gives emotional resonance to the pursuit of profit.”
- “As for the gameplay: a unique mix of trading with some RPG elements thrown in as a story develops around your character of treachery, vengeance and secret societies.”
- “The story gets boring and repetitive where you just click the same buttons for hours and hours with no fun at all.”
- “The story has a tendency to stagnate, and there were times when I was just wandering around trying to figure out what I had to do to advance it.”
- “The mechanics are so simple that they become tedious and repetitive, and finally, the RPG story part adds nothing to the game.”
gameplay
97 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
29%
65%
6%
Gameplay in this trading simulation offers a relaxing and addictive experience with a unique blend of trading, RPG elements, and exploration, supported by pleasing music and art. However, many find the core mechanics shallow, repetitive, and burdened by unclear rules, random events, and unprofitable or poorly balanced systems that can cause frustration and hinder progression. While the game has interesting features and variety, its lack of polish, narrative depth, and logical economic modeling may disappoint players seeking a deeper or more refined gameplay experience.
- “Excellent, colorful merchant simulator; mechanics are relatively simple; there are always many possible actions available.”
- “A very fun, slow trading game with a surprisingly rich world and mechanics.”
- “There are so many things which make this journey enjoyable that it's hard to list all of them and it's a pleasant surprise to see a relatively simple game with so many interesting mechanics and random events, such as being attacked by robbers/beasts, finding hidden stashes, meeting fortune-tellers, the possibility to explore abandoned mines that are inhabited by legendary beasts (like a manticore).”
- “Every time you're about to have some fun, it feels like there is some arbitrary mechanic preventing you from actually progressing.”
- “It can be frustrating in the beginning with the confounding price fluctuations and string of random events (that are often bad), but the only real problem is the lack of clarity of the mechanics.”
- “I usually like trading games but this one is just too stupid; the economy makes no sense at all. A few examples: an iron mining town sells iron at higher prices than any other town on the map; all other towns just won't sell their main or local product cheaper than other towns; villages won't sell food cheaper than a big city. This is just 2 of many mechanics in the game that make no sense at all.”
graphics
37 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
51%
38%
11%
The game's graphics feature hand-painted, beautifully detailed 2D artwork with a charming and imaginative style that enhances world-building and character individuality. While visually pleasing and running smoothly even on low-end systems, the graphics are somewhat static, simplistic, and lack advanced animation, which some may find outdated or mediocre. Overall, the art style is unique and evocative, though opinions on it vary among players.
- “The artwork is very detailed and beautiful, fitting the setting of a fantasy world with airships, very alien-looking races, and mythical monsters.”
- “The graphics aren't very complicated and could be described as rather static (even though there's always at least one moving element, like a spinning windmill, a chimney blowing smoke or just leaves falling), but the artwork of the scenery is beautifully drawn.”
- “The world building, artwork, and music are all beautifully done and very evocative.”
- “While there are options to change the resolution for the game, all this does is scale up the simplistic 2D art assets used to make the game, which makes little or no difference to the graphics quality.”
- “Without any other substantial graphics tweaks, it's not possible for gamers to improve the lacklustre 2D visuals.”
- “Pac-Man, Space Invaders, and Asteroids had more advanced animation and visuals going on than this game does.”
music
29 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
48%
42%
10%
The music is widely praised for its relaxing, enchanting orchestral style that complements the game's calm atmosphere and beautiful artwork. While generally considered superb and fitting perfectly with the gameplay, some note the soundtrack's repetitiveness and suggest more dynamic or varied tracks to match different in-game events. Overall, the soundtrack significantly enhances the game's immersive and soothing experience.
- “The music can be clearly described as excellent: the tracks consist of enchanting, relaxing orchestral music that never gets boring throughout the gameplay.”
- “The world building, artwork, and music are all beautifully done and very evocative.”
- “The hand-painted pictures and soundtrack are superb!”
- “Might want to mute the music after awhile.”
- “Music is ridiculously calming... all the time. Don't get me wrong, it's good music, but maybe a 5-second long 'tragic' tune when you get sprayed by a stinkbeaver or robbed would help. Give me something here, devs; I want some music to help me feel sorry for myself for those 5 seconds.”
- “This is an excellent trading game with a bit of a storyline and inspiring (albeit somewhat repetitive - only 5 tracks) music.”
grinding
21 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Grinding in the game is widely regarded as tedious, repetitive, and slow, with slow progression and micromanagement becoming overwhelming especially when managing multiple characters or partners. Although the core trading mechanics have potential, they often feel unprofitable and cumbersome, with RNG elements and inconsistent trading further detracting from the experience. Overall, the grind wears down engagement, making the gameplay feel more like chore than enjoyment unless purchased on sale or for niche audiences.
- “Everything slows down significantly and buries itself in tedious micromanagement when you get partner traders: very uncomfortable movement, limited exchange, and rarely encountered storages (they disappear if you do not buy immediately, and then new storage may appear after 8 hours of playing in a random city and you can’t buy it if the offer has appeared to a non-primary merchant. If you simply switch between merchants in the same city at the same time, the offer will also disappear. So you can have only 1-2 storages for the entire game in the most inconvenient places).”
- “Although the mechanics are there and could be very interesting, they are quite tedious and awkward to interact with, and turn out very unprofitable, too.”
- “As you move up through the ranks, though, this becomes increasingly tedious, and none of the new features you unlock add anything meaningful.”
stability
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
17%
83%
The game suffers from frequent bugs, glitches, and occasional crashes that can hinder progression and cause frustration, especially early on. While many issues are minor annoyances rather than game-breaking, stability remains inconsistent, though developers appear responsive to major problems. Despite this, the game runs well on lower-end hardware and offers engaging gameplay for those who can overlook its buggy nature.
- “Runs great even on PCs with integrated graphics and has a surprising amount of depth if you devote some time to it.”
- “The game likely won't be bug free, but it seems that major problems will be met with a fast response, and for that I'll give it a thumbs up.”
- “It's got too many glitches and crashes, especially if you save scum or item dupe.”
- “Bugged out and frozen multiple loadings; cannot even get into the game when it freezes on the first quest.”
- “It's a great game but the thing that makes me want to say I cannot recommend the game is just the buggy mess.”
atmosphere
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
38%
62%
The game features a rich, hand-drawn visual style that creates a calming yet tense atmosphere, blending medieval themes with alien sci-fi elements. The relaxing sound design and music enhance the immersive experience, making it a compelling setting for fans of trading games and far-off, mystical worlds.
- “Visually, the game opts for a hand-drawn, illustrated style that emphasizes atmosphere over technical spectacle.”
- “The atmosphere and sound are very relaxing while still adding a sense of tension surrounding turning a profit.”
- “What an atmosphere to have a medieval feel smashed up with alien sci-fi culture.”
replayability
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
Replayability varies, with some players appreciating different modes and story options that offer new challenges and approaches, while others find it limited due to small maps and early-game restrictions. Overall, the game provides moderate replay value, especially through varied goals and advancing storylines.
- “I can see a lot of replay value in this.”
- “The different modes set different end goals and make you take a different approach, adding replay value.”
- “Has tons of replayability and is really fun as you advance through the story.”
- “Once your empire is huge and you've played for 10-20 hours, you've pretty much seen it all, although the other story/quest options allow for some replayability.”
- “I tried starting over, but since there is only one small map and you are limited in what you are allowed to do to begin with, there is no actual replay value.”
- “The different modes set different end goals and make you take a different approach add replay value.”
optimization
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The game's optimization is mixed, with smooth performance and pleasing visuals noted by some, but others highlight poor optimization and lack of refinement, likely due to its development in Unity without sufficient focus on performance.
- “This narrative context gives weight to every decision, transforming the pursuit of wealth into something more personal than simple number optimization.”
- “The music and visuals are very pleasing and the game runs smoothly, the character portraits are a welcome touch as they give every character a sense of individuality.”
- “It's full of half-baked features, poor optimization and a general lack of refinement.”
- “Made in Unity with disregard for optimization.”
emotional
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game delivers a unique emotional experience by focusing on trade over combat, embedding personal and emotionally driven narratives within a dynamic, living world. This approach adds depth and resonance to the pursuit of profit, making progression feel meaningful and engaging.
- “The game distinguishes itself by making trade—not combat—the primary driver of progression, while still grounding its systems in a personal and emotionally motivated narrative.”
- “Its world feels alive through shifting markets and unpredictable events, and its story gives emotional resonance to the pursuit of profit.”
humor
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's humor is generally appreciated as entertaining and worth the low cost, providing a fun and lighthearted experience. However, it still requires significant improvements to fully realize its potential.
- “I gave it a fair shot and for the funny cents I paid (bundle deal), totally worth the experience.”
- “All together: the game is a funny timesink at the moment, but needs a lot of work to be done.”
character development
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game features basic character development through numerous side quests and activities, along with two additional playable trading characters, allowing the story and gameplay to expand and reach their full potential as you progress.

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7h Median play time

12h Average play time

4-25h Spent by most gamers

*Based on 5 analyzed playthroughs

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Merchants of Kaidan is a casual role playing game with fantasy, economy, anime, medieval and others themes.

Merchants of Kaidan is available on Nintendo Switch, PC, Mac OS, Phone and others.

On average players spend around 12 hours playing Merchants of Kaidan.

Merchants of Kaidan was released on November 10, 2014.

Merchants of Kaidan was developed by Forever Entertainment S. A..

Merchants of Kaidan has received mostly positive reviews from players. Most players liked Merchants of Kaidan for its story but disliked it for its grinding.

Merchants of Kaidan is a single player game with multiplayer support.

Similar games include Merchant of the Skies, 16bit Trader, Caravan, Cosmonautica, This Merchant Life and others.

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