Retro Rewind: Video Store Simulator is one of the newer releases in the 'cozy simulator' genre, appealing to a certain type of Blockbuster nostalgia that baited me into the purchase. It currently has Overwhelmingly Positive reviews on Steam.

The game is simple: you own a rental store where you rent out VHS of varying genres.

This is my 3rd refund request in 16 years I have had Steam.

GAMEPLAY speaking, the game is as barebones as it can get: you own a store, it has the hours it's open on the front. You rent out VHS.

1. Buy VHS to rent out in varying genres.
2. Rent them out through your counter.
3. Retrieve rentals that have been handed over.
4. Improve your shop with more rooms.
5. Buy more VHS.

This gameplay loop is influenced only by a couple of things:

• Customers can damage a rental or turn it in late, prompting a fee next time they rent anything out of your shop.
• Some events on your calendars will prompt one genre being rented out more than the others.
• Customers will sometimes reserve movies you have in stock.
• On new releases, you will need to buy copies of it to rent out.
• Sometimes customers will ask for one of the few snacks you can offer them: popcorn, smoothies and cotton candy.

The game allows you to also decor your store with different types of decorations and your main purchases will be of snacks, VHS and stands to showcase your VHS by genre or release novelty.

This already has some issues, the most glaring being:

• NONE of the decor is functional.

The standees you get with a new release purchase (5 VHS to get a free standee) do not boost rentals of it in the shops neither are vital, you can simply forgo them. The same can be said about the posters and objects that can be used to theme a room but that, at the end, are just money sinks that aren't worth investing into.

• Customers can outright refuse to pay the late fee on a rental ($2.00) or a broken rental fee on a VHS they turned in ($20.00) for absolutely no reason and you have no recourse if they decide you're not worth their money.

In the latter case, you're left with a copy less of a movie (which can also be a rare edition if you haven't been attentive enough). In the case of New Releases, you can restock for as long as the game on sale is new (once you're past that, you're SOL) and in the case of Adult Movies, you have to remember or ask the community about the SKU code of the movie that was broken or luck out and find another copy through the bootlegger in the back of your store (on TUE & THU).

Most titles are randomly generated so it's my guess whether or not finding a SKU code is useful or not. Still, the $20.00 broken rental fee is paramount to you finding a new copy and replacing it since VHS, even the Adult ones, cost usually a few dollars less than the fee itself.

• Once a New Release is not considered 'new' anymore, you're left with up to 8 copies you might not need anymore.

The game does not allow you to resell VHS you might not have a use for anymore or you might have found in one of the mystery boxes you buy for $100 a pop off the marketplace. You also can't organize them neatly in the back of your store for future restocking.

The starter shop is extremely small and the game takes into account a large portion of NPC interaction spot, so the space you're using is limited to what you have.

• You cannot tweak any of your prices.

Prices come hard-coded into the game and do not allow you to raise or lower anything at all. It's standardized and while some people might find it good that there's no micromanaging involved, I'd prefer to have a firm grasp on what I am selling rather than seeing the little poster at the bottom of your counter and hoping it gets better.

• Shop upgrades cost $1,000+ but your general income is somewhere along the lines of $200/day.

Since you cannot tweak prices, you're looking at a rough $200/day net gross, with $100 of it possibly going out ever other day for a new bulk of movies (mystery boxes, the cheapest option for a decent quantity of tapes go from $100x10 VHS and going upwards, with a freebie of 10 VHS upon unlocking a new genre) - and this is with the base Slushie concession stand and the snacks being offered. It gets worse when you take into account that a broken tape is roughly up to $7 rental loss and if they refuse to pay the fee, that tallies up to $27 in losses for the day.

You can halt buying tapes when you reach a comfortable stock point but for the first few days, you're buying and dumping in hopes of getting the most turnover... which rarely happened in my occasion. The bonuses you get for filling out achievements in-game come very late for the boost they give.

• Employees are barebones useless.

You can do most of your job without spending $35/day on someone waiting for rentals to come back and putting them through the register with the same pace of a snail. The game is never too busy enough to justify employees becoming available before you can even purchase a second room in your establishment.

GRAPHICALLY speaking, the game is a close cousin of Schedule I. That's really about it.

Simulators are one of my favorite game genres and this just simply did not hit the mark if not only for the sheer nostalgia it gave me and that ended up making me purchase this, sadly, unfinished game.