With the current state of the world being this confusing and demotivating hellscape, I understand why there’s such a demand for so-called “cozy” or “wholesome” games. Some people like to alleviate their stress by playing some big, loud, and cathartic, whilst others just want a reminder that everything is going to be alright and there’s still some peace and quiet in the world. My issue with a good chunk of these games is that they lack a reward, something to overcome, a meaningful reason for you to keep on playing them. A good example was the adorable, but eventually pointless, Flutter Away. You can’t ignore a game’s issues just because it’s meant to be cute and cozy. With that explanation out of the way, let’s start talking about Sticky Business, recently released on the Switch.

Sticky Business is a wholesome take on your average business development simulator, in which you have the task of developing your… sticker business. You design and sell stickers for people who really, really want to buy stickers for some reason. Earn money out of this endeavor in order to afford more shippings and unlock more sticker designs. Repeat until you’ve become the John D. Rockefeller of the paper and glue market.

There might be an objective of sorts, but Sticky Business is less of a game, and more of a (pseudo) creative tool. Its main appeal lies on the sticker creator, which allows you to mesh different images together, as well as change their sizes and parts of their color pallettes, and then sell these creations to clientes who send you requests. Being a creative tool by itself is a bit disappointing, but not egregious. It’s the shallowness of it all that’s the most frustrating, as well as the controls, which can only be described as horrible in this particular Switch port.

You would expect that a creative tool like Sticky Business, a game so clearly inspired by older creative tools like Mario Paint, would either feature a full mouse cursor option (this did start off as a game on Steam, after all), or some kind of touchscreen functionality. Dragging and dropping stickers with your finger should have been a no-brainer, but alas, this is not the kind of interface we have at our disposal. Sticky Business went for the absolute worst kind of interface, limiting the cursor to just the editing canvas, with every other function and icon needing to undergo confusing button presses in order to even be reached.

The game itself is already quite demotivating due to its premise, underwhelming-at-best presentation, oddly reduced sticker variety (also featuring a god damn capybara, because people love these animals for some reason) and complete lack of stakes, but the poor controls and atrocious interface are the nonviolent nail on this port’s coffin. If am I to play a cozy and relaxing experience, I shouldn’t feel frustrated dealing with its gameplay. That makes its happy go-lucky atmosphere feel almost cynical, even if that wasn’t the main intention.

The Switch version of Sticky Business is less of a game, and more of a very clunky and shallow creative tool with not a lot to entice players for long. The progression system is silly, the gameplay loop lacks any kind of excitemente, and the controls and interface are embarassingly bad, never taking advantage of the Switch’s touchscreen, or even giving us the bare minimum of a completely cursor-based interface. There’s just no sense of accomplishment while playing it. It’s just downright frustrating. If you really want to play Sticky Business, and come up with your sticker empire of sorts (hey, I’m not judging), just stick to the PC version.

Graphics: 5.0 It’s cute and colorful, but also very static. Visuals become increasingly tiresome after a while.	Gameplay: 2.5 The fact there is no mouse cursor option or touchscreen functionality in this creative tool makes it even less bearable to deal with. It’s already a boring hassle as is.
Sound: 4.0 The kind of soundtrack you’ll barely notice is there. Nothing egregiously bad, nothing good either. It goes in one ear and out the other.	Fun Factor: 2.5 Less of a game, and more of a very clunky and shallow creative tool. The progression system is silly, the controls are not fit for the Switch, and there’s no sense of reward and accomplishment while playing it.
Final Verdict: 3.5

Sticky Business is available now on PC and Switch.

Reviewed on Switch.

A copy of Sticky Business was provided by the publisher.