Librarian - Tidy Up the Arcane Library
Overview
It’s not often that you find a game that is very simple in its concept and well executed, but it’s also humorous, and feels like a game made by gamers for gamers. “Librarian - Tidy Up the Arcane Library!” is a cozy little masterpiece that has you tidying up a magical library for Merlin after a mischievous fairy tears all the books off their shelves.
The game, when boiled down to its basic game mechanics, is a game about organzing. You pick up a book off the floor, cross reference where it goes in the library, and then find a shelf in that section. Some shelves hold 10 volumes of books, some hold 5, and some hold 3. If you place a book in the correct area, but wrong shelf it’ll flash red at you. Wrong area, white. Correct area and location, yellow. And that’s it. You can only hold 10 books in your hand at a time, and you can move them around in your hand to a degree. You get some magical abilities that can speed up the process, and there are 4 keys hidden throughout the library for some minor, but very helpful, abilities. And while that really doesn’t sound like a game, it’s the details that really set “Librarian” apart.
The titles of the books are great. Some are very cheeky, like a romance book series named “My Massive Golden Balls” or “Easy Math! Magical Representation Theory for a 3-Year Old”. The Book covers are also customized for their various areas. The math books “look” like a math book you’d see in a middle school. If you know, you know. The lighting and mood of the game also help really sell the chill and cozy vibes. You can even have the day/night cycle disabled and just have it day so there’s no pressure for timing. What I personally liked was that the Steam Achievements are rewarded based on the various types of playthroughs you do. So those who wanted to play as fast as possible will get rewarded. And those who want to just vibe and put the books up 1 by 1, you get an award potentially, too.
During your playtime, as you complete shelves you can level up your Major Magic. This includes 4 spells: A spell to have books that match the topmost book glow, a spell to have the bookshelf the topmost book goes on to glow, a spell to put away the topmost book in its correct spot if you’re at the correct bookshelf, and a spell to pull matching books to the topmost book to your hand. If you level up the spell that pulls the books to you, you can really move and put a lot of books away, but it does kill the cozy vibe. You also get the 4 minor magic abilities, but not through completing shelves. Instead, you get these through finding the 4 keys hidden throughout the library, and they include: a jump ability, carry 2 more extra books, carry 3 more extra books, and sprint.
I’ve only put a few tens of hours into the game, but my wife has put like 50 in to it. It’s her game to play in between work, or to just unwind. And I get it, it’s so nice. What’s wild, to me, is that the game is only $5.99 USD on Steam at the time of writing. Honestly, this could be $9.99 and still be an excellent value, but at $5.99 it’s a steal and you should absolutely pick it up.