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Release Date 12 October 2022
Release Type Freeware
Demo
Content Advisory Occasional, mild | None | None
Operating System Windows
Setting Sci-Fi
Story Original
Play Length Demo
Graphics 320x200, 32-Bit Colour
Downloaded 118 All Time

About

Welcome to Menial; the utopian bagel simulator.

This isn't a traditional adventure game I should inform! :)

I'd quickly describe Menial as a restaurant simulator and a visual novel, with some light point 'n' click puzzling in a comic pixel art style very much inspired by the NES.

More broadly Menial is a game about making bagels and living in the City State of Ineria, a fully automated utopia. You step into the shoes of Maria, who's lifelong passion has been the (perhaps modest) art of making bagels. What does the following of your passion entail in a world of myriad possibilities? What pressures and attitudes must Maria endure from her surroundings? What is the utopian state of Ineria like and who lives there?

In Menial you: Make and serve your clients the best bagels using the Bagel Simulator, or just don't give them what they want; you don't have to worry about income, after all.
Learn about Ineria and it's citizens by discussing with your clients: get into arguments, help a man remember his fantastic travels, befriend a hiking botanist and her girlfriend.
Travel around the city to different bagel stands.
Help Maria start her day and open the bagel stand with some light puzzles.Gamble that hard earned cash or go shopping.
Read the news or take a nap and dream after a hard days work.

Have fun playing!

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Awards & Reviews

Image by 4KbShort

AGS Awards 2022 Nominee

AGS Awards 2022 Nominee

Best Demo

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Comments

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By heltenjon on 15 October 2022

This is an experimental hybrid of several game genres. The player can't influence the story much, so the visual novel part mostly give you stuff to read. That said, it's written very well, and the world building is excellent, so I didn't mind.

In addition, there's a bagel construction simulator that's extremely well done, although that genre naturally has its limits. The voicing and effects on this part makes it quite cool.

And there is an additional element of what the character likes to do on their spare time. For now, it's gambling on a race. What it all adds up to, I'm not sure, but it feels like a well written casual game, made with AGS.


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