As an enjoyer of shop sims and the odd wholesome game or two (or three?), I was more than excited about the cosy trinketeering & shop-keeping simulator Trash Goblin entering Early Access in November 2024 and fully releasing on Steam earlier this year. I even did an interview with Andrew Smith from Spilt Milk Studios, where we talked about the studio’s journey from early prototyping to the current release, as well as the plans for Early Access, which was a pretty great time!
Today’s review dives into the whimsy and magic that makes Trash Goblin such a great time for anyone looking for a wholesome shop-keeping experience.
Developer: Spilt Milk Studios Ltd
Publisher: Spilt Milk Studios Ltd
Genre: Indie, Cozy, Fantasy Shop-Sim
Release Date: May 28th, 2025
Reviewed on: PC
Available on: PC
Copy was purchased.
Trash Goblin takes place in a whimsical fantasy world inhabited by lizard people, sentient mushrooms, humans, spirits and other races. Set in the metropolis known as Silver City, perched upon a seemingly endless chasm, you step into the role of a tiny goblin who is tasked by your not-shady-at-all friend Aimon to run their trinketeering business.
Equipped with your trusty chisel and a simple sponge, you’ll chip away at the dirt covering the trinkets dug up by your auntie, cleaning off the dirt to then sell trinkets to your valued customers. Capitalism, Ho!
Note: I’m writing this while I’m visiting family, and since I forgot to upload the screenshots I took myself to the Steam Cloud, I’ll have to use some older screenshots from the presskit instead. Apologies for that, I’ll fix it once I get home next week!
The core gameplay loop consists mostly of repeating this process over and over again – and there are a fair few accessibility options, too, to aid you in the process if needed. Chip away at the dirt blocks in a Picross-like manner to reveal the trinkets, clean them (if you want more money), and then sell them to customers that stop by, asking for specific trinkets.
There are a wide variety of NPCs that pass by asking for different objects, ranging from tea cups, dolls and bedpans to swords, rings and eldritch idols. You may dismiss customers if you don’t wanna sell things to them or if you don’t have stuff on hand, but chances are high that the trinkets will show up sooner than later as you work away at the endless heaps of objects coming into your workshop corner.
But you can’t just do this endlessly, as each time you chip away at trinkets or clean them, you consume a timeslot. Once you run out of them, you’ll have to go to bed, ending the day.
Progress at first feels rather slow, particularly because of the unupgraded tools you’re rocking initially, but as you complete quests and orders, you can then spend your hard-earned cash on new tools like the upcycler as well as upgrades for your chisel and sponge. You can also upgrade your shop with a handy wash basin that cleans trinkets overnight, a coffee pot that gives you an extra time slot for the day, a display mat that brings in more money, and more.
Beyond stash, shop, and tool upgrades, you can also customise the shop a fair bit with a variety of shelves that you can then line with your unearthed, cleaned and combined objects or you customize the look and feel of your combined home and shop itself. Since we live here, separating work and life is a bit difficult, arguably…
Trash Goblin is designed to be satisfying in nature with a sort of repetitive gameplay loop of chipping, cleaning, combining, and selling. You build up a reputation with customers, but you can never lose it. You also can’t lose money as there is no upkeep or anything, contrary to other titles such as Recettear where you have to regularly pay off debt, meaning you can take your time playing this however you want. It’s also really fun to just combine swords with fists and various plushy part into all sorts of chimerae and the like.
This might sound less ideal to fans of deeper shop simulators, but Trash Goblin isn’t really about hard-earned coin and amassing riches. Instead, it’s actually a well-written game with a great many, rather unique and diverse named characters that show up, in need of some help.
It’s not about the money we make but about the friends we made along the way. And I dig that, pun very much intended.
Part of me would have loved to see an option for taxes or rent payments that add a bit more of a challenge aspect to the game, but the devs are very open to feedback and criticism and are frequently adding updates with more trinkets, NPCs, stories, fixes, and features, even now, way past the 1.0 release.
From the best lizard ever, Donoval, to the historian and storykeeper Akilah, to a speaking cat, there’s a lot of variety in the cast of characters, and I quite honestly love just how whimsical and comical the Trash Goblin gets at times with each character’s story lines, delivered through a variety of orders.
You may skip through all of these if you’re not the biggest reader but you’d also miss out on arguably the best part of the game. Anyone who’s been into DnD or any ol’ RPG might just fall in love with some of these story beats and characters. Tying into a lot of these characters’ quests, the “main storyline” has a dear friend’s soul at stake.
I was rather impressed with how the progress in this main quest tied into various upgrades you got, smoothing out the bits and pieces that would bother me at times or opening up a whole bunch of opportunities.
Trash Goblin has a lot to offer in terms of its setting, the story beats and gameplay, but once you’ve “beaten” the game, I find that it opens up a bit too much for my taste.
You’re able to go to the market every day, which made me just never want to go since I could always go the next day but then wouldn’t do it. Also, as much as I loved the story in its entire, I did find that a bit more of an “end” would have been pretty great, or perhaps more of an optional challenge in the post-game.
Once you’re rolling in money, maxed out your shop and tools, and seen all the stories to conclusion, it just feels like there’s no point in endlessly doing all of this beyond decorating your shop. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, though, as everything has to come to an end, eventually. Also, starting fresh is always an option, especially as it lets you experience the game again, including Donoval’s quest for love.
Trash Goblin is very much a “cozy” title at heart with a no-stress environment and an open end. You can just take your mind off things, which in a busy world like ours is very much something I appreciate. It is a shop sim but it’s focused around storytelling through the orders you take and the conversations you have.
The upbeat tunes, the welcoming atmosphere, the lovely art direction, and the phenomenally written characters frequently brought a smile to my face during some trying times this year, and I definitely do recommend it to anyone looking for exactly that - a welcome respite in an otherwise chaotic world.
This post was originally written by Dan Dicere from Indiecator.
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