If you found a ticket that let you fly all the way to Amsterdam just lying on the beach, what would you do with it? Would you turn it in or try to sell it at your own pop up trash shack on the beach? Hypothetically speaking, I’d sell it at my pop up trash shack on the beach. But you know what I wouldn’t do? Sell it to some stranger for only three gold.
In Treasure Beach’s demo, which is part of Steam’s Hidden Objects fest, you can rummage around in the sand looking for trinkets which you can then fix or polish up to then sell at your beach shop. It may be primarily a scavenging game, but I’ve found bartering with shoppers is actually a big part of it, especially if you want to earn more gold and get yourself some handy upgrades.
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During my treasure hunting on the beach I found everything from a pill box, which I’m pretty sure I shouldn’t sell, to luxury watches, top secret files, and boarding passes. I then took them back to my workshop where I got to work fixing them up.
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Some items which are wet, for instance, need to be hung out to dry for at least a day. Others such as electrical items need to have the sand cleaned off them, polished, and dried in an electronic dryer before you can take them to your beach shack to sell.
At one point I almost had a completely full store, with all the items I described above as well as some binoculars and a children’s fairytale book. I was waiting eagerly for any passersby who may be interested in my wares, and then they actually turned up.
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I started off strong, getting 32 gold for the luxury watch after I battered with the initial offer of just 27. Then some lady came up to me and said she was interested in the mystery bottle of pills. She was only offering a measly two gold for them, but as I was pretty sure I was doing something illegal I sold them to her, just to get them off the shop.
Then someone asked for the boarding pass to Amsterdam. I thought to myself that this was going to be a big sell—have you seen flight prices recently? There was no way I was going for anything under 25 gold. So you can imagine my shock when the guy only offered a measly five gold for it. I think the salty sea air may have gone to his head.
After a few minutes of bartering and both of us getting angry at one another the sale fell apart. I wasn’t giving in and neither was he. Time to wait for the next shopper.
Luckily, I didn’t have to wait too long until someone else came over asking to take a look at the boarding pass to London, but they only offered me two gold. Ok, sure, I wouldn’t buy a boarding pass to London for more than two gold, but I also only live an hour and a half away. This person, however, is clearly on a lovely tropical sunny island far away from the rainy, smog full—oh wait, yeah, I get it now. That was probably a fair price.
In the end I didn’t manage to sell either of the boarding passes. But I did shift the watch, pills, story book, and binoculars, so it wasn’t a complete loss. I ended up buying myself an incense holder for the store which would give the shoppers more patience when it came to bartering. Something that I’ll clearly need if I ever want to sell that Amsterdam boarding pass at a reasonable price.
Treasure Beach’s demo is only short, but it offers up an excellent snapshot. It’s fun, light, and just quirky enough to pique my interest. But if you’re not completely sold yet then you can also check out it’s demo on Steam during the Hidden Object fest—I’d say it’s well worth a look.
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