Tavern Keeper is the management sim of my dreams, and the best thing I've played in early access in 2025
Where everybody knows your name.
(Image credit: Greenheart Games)
Personal Pick
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In addition to our main Game of the Year Awards 2025, each member of the PC Gamer team is shining a spotlight on a game they loved this year. We'll post new personal picks each day throughout the rest of the month. You can find them all here.
Nothing I have ever done has filled me with as much pride as The Half Pint, my hobbity pub serving patrons all across the idyllic Shire, which I built and manage from within early access sim Tavern Keeper.
But this isn't why I'm so proud of my little business. Tavern Keeper is a fantastic management sim, undoubtedly, boasting a great deal of flexibility and ways to keep the lights on while still providing plenty of wrinkles that keep you on your toes, from magical pyromaniacs to grumpy staff to huge parties demanding all of your attention.
It's the interior decorating that's left me obsessed, though.
(Image credit: Greenheart Games)
Every object you plonk down can be vigorously edited—you can change the scale and the colour to start with, but then you can add other objects and components to completely transform it. In my first tavern, a dingy swamp pub full of ne'er do wells, I stuck a sword into the bar, then popped a raven on top of it, and then transformed it into a light source. Anything can be a lamp!
The Half Pint's cosy vibe means no weapons, however, but we do have a lovely big poker table that I rustled up in just a few minutes. Customers can also pay homage to The Half Pint's celebrity patron—Sir Porkly of Baconshire, a statue I absolutely had to create when I realised you could stick a top hat on a carved wooden pig.
Through the campaign you'll unlock more objects, either via story moments or as gifts from pleased patrons, but there's also a workshop mode that displays every item in the game, letting you get stuck into some crafting without the business side of things distracting you.
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(Image credit: Greenheart Games)
Creative players have made some properly ingenious stuff, like a tabletop gaming zone that even includes . PCG's Chris even made a copy of the PC Gamer mag, just in case some elves and hobbits fancy arguing about review scores.
