The Palace on the Hill Review: Enchanting Tea Shop Sim

I fell in love with this game, not because it does anything over the top or presents a fantasy narrative, but because it is grounded in reality and shows how life can turn around in just a few moments.

The Palace on the Hill was released on Steam on 8th June 2024, published and developed by – Niku Games. The amazing cosy adventure is also supported on the steam deck, which feels like the best place to play this with a nice view.

Here’s Gameffine’s official review of The Palace on the Hill.

A Summer Vacation of a Lifetime

Do you remember your times of summer vacations? The long trips, the ignored holiday homework, and a break from the daily hustle and bustle? Well of course you do. Those cherished memories have become memorable parts of life that impact you as a human.

But what if, it wasn’t all dilly-dally? This is the story of Vir, a village boy who is an extremely talented painter and aspires to join the top art college in India. But his fate had major challenges already lined up. Vir lost his mother at a young age and soon financial challenges struck at his home. Vir’s father is a farmer and alarms his son that the crops have taken a hit this season and things are not looking good.+

As a young son of the home, you share the responsibility of supporting the house. Vir’s father teaches him the basics of farming, so that he can have a headstart, and with the help of a few good samaritans in the village Vir is also employed at a Tea stall, along with helping for an event at the village school.

Making ends meet with the help of all the villagers, Vir soon finds himself standing on his own feet and bringing stability to his household. The task of helping the village school with event preparation is now directly linked with his talents and interests. He is tasked with making various paintings to decorate the school hall. He was making it Vir’s little art gallery.

The game is guaranteed to steal your heart with its talented design, captivating music and heartfelt story.

Coincidentally, Vir’s childhood friend Savi, returns to the village for the vacation who had earlier moved out to the city. This allowed Vir to combine his goal of finding the right inspirations for his painting, and also help Savi explore the village’s ancient story.

This is where Vir’s journey begins. From farming various staples to making business and helping at home, and finally closing the day by serving various Indian food at the tea stall. This is Vir’s vacation of balancing everything together, regardless of the challenges.

Most Authentic Tea Stall Manager

At its core, the game is a little bit of farming and more of a tea stall management sim. To our surprise, we thought, selling tea would be all about making a batch of 6 tea cups and distributing it across the villagers at mach speed often dividing into ‘cutting’ styles. But perhaps, the game had something else in mind.

But apart from selling four varieties of tea, Vir has stood up to the job of making it the village’s most successful gourmet restaurant. Vir now also sells chicken curry, fish fry, fish curry, parantha with mango pickle, samosa, aam panna, tomato soup and much more. And hey, he begs for the mangos from a local grandma and then makes the pickle himself.

I feel Vir to be the most successful entrepreneur as his revenue is backed with almost no expense. His masala and other major items are almost all harvested from the village, and he grows his crops. Vir has his cow for milk and a chicken herd for egg supply. Therefore, except for the cost of seeds and a lot of manpower, Vir is raking in the big bucks.

Vir also does a lot of things apart from business. He purchased his boat to travel over the village river, visit the district collector, go fishing and explore a romantic cave. Oh, wait, romance? Vir’s black-and-white life finally had a stroke of colour with Savi’s arrival. She entrusted Vir and helped her explore every ancient ruin and palace present in the village. All the while sharing their own little moments. But what happens to their little spark of love is for you to discover in the game.

A Village Like No Other

The game is beautifully designed with a watercolour style palette and designs. It almost seems as if Vir’s canvas is exactly how the game is portrayed as well. The level design compliments what an Indian village looks like. The authenticity of it being an Indian game perfectly shines as much as it can.

The character icons, animations, and tea stall UI bring out a sense of calmness and are made with brilliant design theoryJ. Everything together perfectly makes this game a cosy adventure.

The cherry on the top is exactly what the soundtrack does for the game. The day cycles have their OSTs and all of them will make you feel attached to the game. The single tone of tabla whenever you pick an item and the SFX of watering your crops simply grow on you as you dive deeper into the game. Overall, the music has done a brilliant job, something that is expected in games of this scale.

Final Word

The Palace on the Hill is an extremely down-to-earth cosy adventure where your protagonist struggles between saving his roof and building his career. In his constant struggle, he often escapes to what can be called a spark of romance from time to time. This cosy adventure is also a tea stall management at heart and has more to show than what the game looks like. If Indie games are your thing, We recommend you go for this at all costs!