If you had a plastic toy till as a kid, you need to play Toy Shop Simulator

When I was little I had one of those toy tills, the ones where you could pretend to scan items through with a little scanner that would go 'beep' when you pressed the button. It had a little cash drawer that opened up with different compartments in it where you could put your fake money and get change out, which also locked with a key I lost so frequently my mum would repeatedly wedge it open for me (thanks mum!). Anyway, I spent so many hours pretending to have various businesses with that till, be it a vet service tending to tigers with bad paws to lining up my toys and pretending I was at Toys R Us. It was always one of my favourite toys, so when I found that Toy Shop Simulator's (still available!) Steam Next Fest demo gave off the same vibe as one of my childhood favourites, I knew I had to give it a try.

At first I was a bit lost. Should I start by ordering in stock, should I rearrange the shop or should I repaint the outside of the store? There was so much to do to prepare the empty store for customers that I was stuck deciding my first steps for a few minutes. Strangely, discovering that I could throw a mop took me to my first task: ordering toys from a wholesaler. I know, you're wondering how does lobbing a mop across a room bring you to that step? Well, it took me to the manager's office, which has a computer in it that acts as your base of operations for planning and running your store.

Here, you can order stock from wholesalers, obtain licences to sell different toy brands (such as 'WarmWheels', which is totally and completely legally distinct from those other, real-life tiny cars you might have heard of), keep an eye on bills that need to be paid, hire new workers to keep your store running smoothly as well as a bunch more in-depth details to help you manage and expand your business.

In the demo, I stock the shelves and worked the till myself, which proved one inescapable fact - I am not organised enough to run my own toy shop! Sure, it was fine as a kid when you could wander off and explore an imaginary jungle while your loyal customers (a line of stuffed bears) waited to pay for their plastic fruit. But in the Toy Shop simulator there's a silent pressure to serve customers as the line gets longer, and finding time to get to the till is just the beginning.

Once you're at the till, you need to run the customer's items through and take their payment, either by card or by cash (alas, contactless doesn't exist in this world). Neither is easier than the other. If they pay with a card, you need to take their card off them, put it in the machine, type in the amount for the transaction and make sure that the right colour card is selected before you press enter. If they pay with cash, there are other small details you need to get right under pressure - you need to open the till and give them the exact amount of change that's shown on the screen (though luckily, the screen will show you what you've taken out already so you get the correct final amount). Both methods are stressful in their own ways, but it's not an unsatisfying experience - when the line has been cleared and you've got your profits for the day there's a small sense of 'Yes, I did that'.

The till isn't the only thing you need to think about - after all, it takes a lot of different elements to run a business, and making sure there's something for the customer to buy is a big one! Now, I admit I had a moment where I was too enthusiastic - I waited and waited but couldn't understand why I had no customers, then I realised my shelves were empty! Big oops there.

So once the wholesale delivery I ordered arrived outside the shop, I brought it inside box by box - and this is the part I didn't think I'd enjoy so much. It's quite an involved process, but each item plops out in a satisfying line on its chosen shelves and the part of me that loves putting things in rows was extremely pleased. However, that still leaves the box they all came in. I must be truthful here, I was in a hurry to get customers in and out so I may have thrown every empty box into the manager’s office behind the sofa and shut the door. Thankfully, my growing pile of shame didn't really matter as long as no one could see it.

Throughout the demo, Toy Shop Simulator made me feel like a kid again - granted there were moments where I was somewhat flustered, but for the most part I didn't care about profit or achieving anything major with the store (though the options are there if you want a more serious playthrough). For me, it just felt like playing - eliciting a child-like feeling of joy that, as an adult, I've missed.