# Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale

> Recettear is the story of an item shop, the girl who lives in it, and the fairy who turned her life upside down. Recette Lemongrass finds herself in charge of an item shop built into her house, in order to pay back a loan her father took and then skipped out on - and Tear, her newfound fairy "companion", won't take no for an answer!

## Game facts

- Developer: EasyGameStation
- Publisher: Carpe Fulgur LLC
- Release status: Released
- Release date: Sep 10, 2010
- Platforms: PC
- Genres: RPG, DungeonCrawler, Management
- Steam Deck: Unsupported (Steam, checked Nov 4, 2026: https://store.steampowered.com/app/70400/)
- Playtime: Main + some extras 15 hr (IGDB, checked Nov 4, 2026: https://www.igdb.com/games/recettear-an-item-shops-tale)
- Languages: Interface: Japanese (Japan), American English; Audio: Japanese (Japan) (IGDB, checked Nov 4, 2026: https://www.igdb.com/games/recettear-an-item-shops-tale)

## AI Review Analysis

Analyzed Sep 1, 2026

### Strengths

- An addictive gameplay loop that naturally connects shop management, bargaining, item sales, and dungeon exploration
- Cute and charming characters, humor, a bright atmosphere, and a distinctive world
- A progression structure built around collecting and selling items to repay debt, with a repeatable system that preserves some progress after failure

### Weaknesses

- Combat feels clunky and unsatisfying, with bosses in particular being criticized as disproportionately strong compared with normal dungeon difficulty
- Dungeon exploration can take too long, and the burden of repetitive farming increases in the late game
- Some players consider the game's core mechanics dated and boring

## Links

- [Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale on WAME](https://www.wame.is/game/3315)
- [Player reviews](https://www.wame.is/game/3315/reviews)

Updated: 2026-11-09T22:19:59.376Z