Dealer’s Life 2 is the follow up to Dealer’s Life, a tycoon game made by Abyte Entertainment.
It has you dealing and running your own pawn shop as you work your way from the ground up in a Suburban District all the way to the swanky Luxury Tower District.
Charming
As I have not played the prequel to Dealer’s Life 2, on the surface all I can say is how different both games look in their artstyle. Dealer’s Life 2 has a more cartoony look and charm compared to its predecessor. It’s the visuals that makes the game appealing as you encounter many colourful customers as you build up your home and charming store even if it’s just a nuclear shack/dumpsite. It is always exciting to see what combination of outfits/features/characters of customers will come in next.
Customers
Customer comes in with an item to sell/buy/pawn. Depending on the negotiating price from there on. What affects the price of the item are based on the customer’s psychological traits, “impatient” where they won’t play ball and negotiate with you for long, “Competence” how well they know the item they are haggling for, “Greed” is where they won’t stray too far from their original asking price and lastly “Collector” where having high stat on this will mean they will overestimate the price of the item and tend to overpay for it.
Your Character
To know the exact level for the traits of the customer and also recognize fake items easier, would require you to have a good level of “Insight” so you know how to deal with each customer. This insight can be either leveled up through your character screen or by hiring staff. On your character screen, together with “Insight”, you can also level up your “Charisma” which makes negotiating easier and you can also sell fake goods easily. Leveling up your “Competence” will give you a higher accuracy to estimate its price, “Luck” will give a buffer against bad encounters and also can increase customer count.
The level of fame for your character, it increases based on the size of your shop and skill points which influences on item and customer generation. Your reputation is based on your encounters with fake goods and it influences who will visit your shop.
Items & Staff
Another way to level up your stats albeit temporarily is by hiring staff that can boost your starts. At the end of the week is where you will have to pay each staff their pay according to their star rating.
Items that you encounter will have varying degrees of rarity, condition and price. So early on where you tend to not know the estimated price of an item can be a tad tricky especially if you’re making the first offer. So playing it cautiously will be key as you will have low “Insight” early game.
Thoughts
Dealer’s Life 2 is a fun casual game, sure progress feels a little bit slow/grindy if you don’t take up loans to upgrade but the way it plays is accessible and fun. The random events, auction for items, storage keeps it exciting and from feeling stale as the day progresses very quickly. If you enjoy references to pop culture and other indie games, this one is filled with those. If a casual tycoon/simulation game is what you seek, this is definitely one to try.
Hailing from a small Island. Huge football fan. Drinks too much tea.
Survival, Roguelikes, Turn-based or Indie games in general are my go to genres but I like to dabble in all kinds of genres. I tend to have a soft spot for Shmups and Hidden Object Games once in a while.
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