Acornia: Mirror Worlds, a shop management/action game developed by Splashteam and published by The Arcade Crew, follows the plucky squirrel, Alva, as she sets her sights on restoring the tree she calls home to its former glory. But to do that, she must fight monsters on a negative energy-fueled “mirror world” while also running a shop to raise funds to restore the once prosperous tree.
The time spent playing the early portion of this game was split evenly between managing my shop and exploring the mirror world. There is a good balancing act that makes the two sides of the game feel more deeply linked than other games in the genre, because of how you fight monsters.
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Everything Alva finds, or crafts in the game, is stored in her cheeks until she deposits it somewhere. Every raw material for building upgrades and structures, as well as items made for selling at the shop, can also be used by the plucky hero to shoot at her enemies. This creates an interesting give-and-take, as you need to manage what you are using to fight against what you need to build/sell to progress the story. The more expensive an item is, the better it functions as a weapon.
In Acornia: Mirror Worlds, players must choose between storing materials or shooting them at enemies.
While fighting off monsters, Alva will also scavenge for supplies, and what she can’t find, she can grow or purchase. Growing food in Acornia: Mirror Worlds is a multistep process requiring daily plant care to see the proper results.
This element, along with the in-game daily respawns of enemies and resources and townsfolk keeping regular schedules, crafts a fun gameplay loop. I quickly found myself waking up, checking my garden, buying supplies at the shop before it closed at six, running my shop, adventuring, then going to bed to start again.
Running your shop is simple. As your item list grows, you can craft different recipes of varying types and values. Customers all have their own preferences, so it’s important to offer a variety of items, since buying something they like will sometimes prompt them to leave a tip.
Running a shop is simple, and variety in goods is one way to up your selling game.
Acornia: Mirror Worlds shop work is wonderfully straightforward. Making the items to sell is a snap; customers will clean out your shelves quickly, and there is no busywork woven in to make manning the register and handling other tasks difficult. A chill experience that sees you rewarded for the fruits of your more dangerous labors.
The combat is the most time-intensive element of the game. Once Alva uses her mirror snow globe to pass between worlds, she must dodge enemies and launch projectiles to defeat them, all the while collecting the resources they drop.
Fighting enemies adds an extra level of intensity when you go collect resources.
The early game foes deliver a straightforward experience. Simple attacks can be easily dodged, making for a forgiving combat system. Only one time, when I found myself in a restrictive space, did the combat prove a proper challenge. But while the engagements I fought through were breezy enough, I can see more challenging fights ahead if the devs choose to go in that direction.
As Acornia: Mirror Worlds walks you through getting your shop going and surviving in the mirror world, it also lays down some interesting groundwork for the story. It hints at why your home has come to ruin and how it’s connected to the mirror one, but it doesn’t explain it clearly. This leaves a solid narrative hook for players who respond more to intrigue than to simply grinding to sell better items.
As you travel throughout the world of the game, the narrative slowly unfolds.
The art style brings shopkeeping, adventuring, and the daily life of the town’s residents to life in an incredibly charming way. The 2D animated characters look great as they move around their 3D landscape. Everything the game shows off has a silliness to it, often bringing smiles as goofy customers charge shelves, eager to pick up the player’s wares.
Even the enemies do a great job of fitting into the more comical vibe of the setting. Rather than trying to make them look imposing in any way, there is a more sickly or corrupted energy to their designs. Still fairly comical, but easily distinguishable from the rest of the game.
All in all, Acornia: Mirror Worlds left a strong first impression. A smooth gameplay loop held together by a well-concealed narrative and charming visuals gives a lot of hope that this could prove to be a standout in its genre.
Acornia: Mirror Worlds is currently scheduled to launch on PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch 2 in 2027.
