The store is a complete disaster zone. There’s stuff everywhere. All because last night the shop’s shelf-stacking robot – GPT-9000 – reached “a strangely philosophical conclusion” goes the premise of developer BunnyHop’s new PC game Supermarket Chaos (Steam).
Having decided “all positions are temporary, and all stocking is violence” the bot chucked every item – all 4,668 of them – on the floor. The player’s task is to pick them up (initially five at a time) and put them back on the shelves in the correct aisle in the hope of turning this internship into a full-time role.
It might sound like mundane labour, but these OCD-scratching, slow-paced so-called ‘organisational cosy games’ are proving a huge hit. Pioneered by Librarian: Tidy Up the Arcane Library!, the format makes perfect sense in a retail setting. A Supermarket Chaos rival – Let’s Tidy Up! Konbini – is set for a September release.
As the game progresses, players can purchase new skills with their earnings – like being able to carry more items at a time, having a longer reach to save on steps, and a “dunk shot” to fling items on to shelf.
The store itself is Backrooms-esque, and it’s a little creepy working the aisle completely alone. And the store still looks a bit of a tip until very close to the end – which this reviewer hasn’t reached because it can take four or more hours.
Some will find it mindful and meditative. Others – as one YouTube commenter put it – will wonder “if hell is just a room where you have to speedrun this game for all eternity”. Which aisle are you in?
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