The game is fun for what it is, but has tons of flaws.
The flaws themselves won't prevent you from having a decent time though. If the developers work on refining the core gameplay loop, I could highly recommend this, but for now I'd say be cautious because the game looks great on the store page, though it has quite a few foundational holes that can easily be resolved later.

I straight up despise not being able to close the back door of the Tavern, as well as not being able to name the tavern and making it feel more personal.

In general, tons of QoL functionality is missing from this title, When customers make an order, there should be a wait time meter, wherein if you take too long, customers might get more frustrated or angry/ leave if you miss their service window. There is a service time in your status, but not a visible one on orders. Food can never spoil if left on counters, which I think is an odd choice and makes the gameplay weird but doesn't break the game in any sense( but could be a toggle option later on for players who want added difficulty).

Another big one is receiving the quest for planting and cultivating crops, but being unable to purchase a hoe, until hours later due to how leveling works. The quest is there too early, or the hoe is locked behind too high of a level.

The next main issue is inventory management needs basic functionalities you'd expect from a game like this, such as holding SHIFT and left clicking to auto sort stacks, or auto add stacks to recipes, etc. This game comes very close to scratching the management/ simulation itch that most of us have, and just needs a bit more love over time from the developers. This game will likely be a must buy restaurant/ management sim in the future

So we 100% this in one sitting, mostly accidentally. I made a guide for it (one achievement is bugged rn but its otherwise finished) and now I've slept on it.

I like this game, and I think that more than anything else this is a case of a game that happened to fit into a niche with a ravenous appetite for something half decent, from a team that is very much new to all of this.

With that in mind, keep expectations in check, this is not the best Tavern management sim ever, the individual elements are actually all a bit lacking, but it does a lot of things *decently*.

The cooking and brewing + serving aspect of the game is competent. It's not amazing, its not awful, but it is competent. I think that the game opened fairly strong, and we felt like it was going to scale up to a ridiculous degree but it never quite got there. There was a relatively alright upgrade path for what you can make and how you go about serving but some things never had options. You can't upgrade, add or move the 20 spots you have to stock up on drinks and meals being ready to serve. The chests eventually upgraded to large chests and by the end of the game we were running out of space to put them. The upstairs never unlocks, even as extra storage space. The way customers act at the start of the game holds true through the end of the game. Its all competent, but it doesn't blow away.

All tools degrade fast and have no permanent or upgraded versions so you end up running out front to buy new tools all the time. This got annoying about an hour in. The gardening, which is a main resource resupply method... it uh, it sucks lol

It takes 2 slow hits with the hoe to clear one of the 15 plots you have. You cant speed this up, you cant buy more garden plots, and watering+fertilizing doesn't make more or better quality plants, it just makes things go faster. Animal breeding is there, but its kinda a big guessing game as to how it works for a bit (have troughs full and wait, cull the herd to let them keep making more).

The combat is similarly kinda underbaked. You can reliably walk in a circle around any enemy and not get hit. Durability comes into play again, even for guns in the endgame. You can repair things eventually, with a rare alchemy brewing item that you only get towards the very very end of the game. The opportunity for a sharpening stone or something and a minigame for that is a big miss here. The final boss shows a glimpse of fun, but that is the only real challenge we found, and even then when we brought our whole party of 4, even with its health scaled up we clapped it and then the game was over (you can keep playing but thats where the credits are).

The quests are where people claimed AI was used, I don't think it was. I used to be a reader that would pass along short stories and the like for a few lit journals and I got pretty wise to AI use. This reads less like AI and more like an amateur writer's first big attempt at writing fiction to be read by a bunch of gamers. The voice acting also doesn't sound like AI at all, I don't know where the few reviews that claimed that got that, it might sound weird because the dialogue is iffy but it's definitely decent VA.

You might be wondering why so much of this has been negative so far if this review is a thumbs up, and thats because we still had fun. This game has VERY obvious points it could improve. Add a shift click to inventory swapping, make gardening suck less, add plots to be bought and expand the tavern beyond the few times it opens up already, add more permanent (or really expensive, permanent) tools.

But all that being said, yeah we still had a lot of fun. The base here is solid, and while some of the design choices are questionable at times, I think this is a really solid first outing for this group as a team that can easily be a few bigger patches away from being something fantastic. Also, I hope that "create all potions" achievement bug gets fixed lol, I want my 100%

Thanks for reading. I have a guide up for the 100% on my profile if you're interested (my first guide) and I review all kinds of indies on this Steam curator page if you're into it, I'd appreciate a follow and a thumbs up on this review.

I played Ale & Tale Tavern in co-op with a friend, and after 5 hours of gameplay, I'm genuinely impressed. The game delivers an enjoyable and fun "tavern-running" experience, especially in multiplayer. Here are some of my thoughts so far:

What I loved:

Co-op Fun: Playing with a friend really enhances the experience. Managing the tavern together brings a lot of chaotic fun, and the coordination required makes it feel rewarding when things go smoothly.

Content Variety: For a pre-release, I was pleasantly surprised by how much there is to do. There are plenty of mechanics, from serving patrons, hunting, to managing supplies and a lot more, which kept us engaged throughout our session.

Smooth Performance: The game runs well with no noticeable performance issues, which is always a relief in early access titles. The controls are responsive, and the interface is intuitive.

Looking Ahead: While the current state of the game is good, I’m excited to see what updates will bring in terms of additional features, new challenges.. I'd love to see more, it's a fun coop title!

Overall, Ale & Tale Tavern offers a solid foundation for a fun and unique co-op experience. I’ll definitely be sinking more hours into it and look forward to seeing how it evolves over time.