Blacksmith Master is a management simulator that puts players in charge of their own medieval forge. Read our review of its early-access build to see what it did well, what it didn't do well, and if it's worth buying.
Everything We Know About Blacksmith Master
Blacksmith Master Story Plot
In terms of story, there does not seem to be much of a plot going on. Players take on the role as the overseeing manager of a medieval forge in a busy town, starting off with a small, humble shop with only three blacksmiths to their name. Through efficient resource management across material resourcing, employees, and equipment upgrades, players can soon turn their small forge into the best one in town!
Blacksmith Master Gameplay
As players are in control of their own medieval forge, gameplay revolves around managing supplies, staff, production, and sale of the best metal and woodworks in town. From procuring materials like wood and ores, to hiring and upgrading employees, as well as organizing the shop’s storefront and inventory, it’s up to the player to make it as efficient and profitable as possible.
The shop can produce a number of different items, from combat weapons and shields to everyday household items like a chef’s knife. These items can then be upgraded to better quality tiers with the use of Design Points gathered from hiring Designers, which in turn makes them more expensive. Smithed products can then be sold either through fulfilling orders directly from the merchants, or selling them in the blacksmith shop as inventory. Profit gained from either of these channels can be used to hire more staff, purchase new equipment or expand or decorate the blacksmith shop.
There are several types of workers available for hire, with more specialists being introduced as the player progresses through the mastery tree. Employees range from the blacksmiths and the assistants in the shop to lumberjacks and miners that gather raw materials for the forge as well as a shopkeeper to facilitate in-house sales.
Blacksmith Master Release Date
Blacksmith Master will be launching on May 15, 2025.
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Blacksmith Master Review [Early Access]
Cozy Blacksmithing Done Well
Now, I’m not the best at resource management (admittedly both in game…and in real life), but the genre has always been quite fun and interesting to me. I’m not the best at min-maxing or creating the most efficient process ever with the most profitable system, but I find joy in unlocking every single thing there is to unlock or upgrade to, making sure I reach a hundred percent completion. It doesn’t matter if I don’t make millions every day, I’m just happy I can make something like platinum swords in legendary tier or something like that.
There’s this proud feeling of accomplishment, and Blacksmith Master scratches this itch perfectly. While it’s not the most perfect game at its current state, it’s a fun resource management-business simulator that’s sure to keep you entertained for hours, as long as you’re okay with its redundant gameplay loop, that is.
Smooth Initial Gameplay
Blacksmith Master doesn’t have next-generation jaw-dropping visuals, but instead employs a nostalgic cartoon-y vibe reminiscent of games in the early 2000s, which has its own charm. With that said, the game runs very smoothly with no stutters, presumably because of fewer polygons and textures to render— even as your core team in the blacksmith shop team grows exponentially in number, the game handles it well.
Besides the management aspect of it all, from tending to staff, upgrading equipment, and all that upkeep, it’s a very chill and smooth gameplay experience throughout— cozy, even. There’s nothing incredibly complex about any of the game’s mechanics— workers only have three to four stats (depending on their specialty) that you need to keep an eye on and they don’t have a happiness meter to keep afloat, item placement is a breeze with handy green and red gridlines to show if one is overlapping or not, and the menus are not incredibly difficult to handle, with everything indicating what it is or what not.
It doesn’t require you to be micromanaging your shop at all. In fact, I’m letting my game run for me as I write up this review, letting me get my profit in the background without much to tinker with. I appreciate that it doesn’t punish you at all if you’re not paying attention to it, making it kind of dip into idle game territory.
An In-Depth Mastery Tree To Unlock
The game’s Mastery Tree is quite long, and there’s a lot of content to unlock. For those who like achieving completion (or at least /almost/ completion before burnout) and finding joy in unlocking something new, then Blacksmith Master has got you covered. You can not only unlock new types of products to produce and sell, but also new floors for your shop (for a total of six floors including the basement!), perks to hire cheaper staff, opening up the forests for logging and the mines for mining— it can get pretty overwhelming quick, but it’s exciting to be able to work towards unlocking everything in the game.
Blacksmith 3rd Person Mode
One cool thing about Blacksmith Master is that you don’t have to just play as the omnipresent manager up in the sky with an isometric view—you can take control of any blacksmith and take part in the process! You’re considerably less productive than just letting the NPC take over because of the very simple QTE-like mini-games, but it’s still a welcome addition to the whole experience, adding a whole new perspective to everything. It really makes you feel like you’re part of the team!
Lovely Music, Great Sound Design
The medieval-style audio partnered with the sound design is pleasant in its own right, perfectly complementing the game’s (supposed) chill vibe. You can easily spend hours tinkering around with managing your blacksmith shop to the strangely relaxing sounds of the flute and the hammering of metal against metal. It’s also a very nice detail that the sounds change depending on proximity and environment. If you’re zoomed out all the way like the omnipresent manager that you are, you won’t hear the hammers and the saws or the metal being cooled in the large water bucket. This also applies whether you’re on the right floor or not. It’s a minor detail, but a great addition for that little bit of immersion.
Short Runtime, Can Get Stale
As it is in Early Access, there might still be some content or DLC (paid or free) to come in the future, but as it stands, the whole game feels really short— unless you’re really gunning for creating the perfect balance of efficiency and profit. Currently, I am on Day 42-ish, and while I still have quite a bit of stuff to unlock on the tree and in terms of products, I feel like I’ve pretty much seen everything the game can offer, in essence.
The only thing that changes is the products you get, especially when you eventually unlock pottery and jewelry. Once you get the hang of things and unlock most of the mastery tree, there’s not much else to do at end-game. With the lack of a central plot as well, there’s not much motivation to keep on going after you’ve gotten your fix, and eventually the game starts losing its shine after hours of repetitive gameplay. Hopefully, there is stuff to be added in the works, so fingers crossed for that.
Could Use More Intricate or Intuitive Systems
One thing the game could have benefited from is more intuitive UI mechanics. For example, the auto-level-up per employee can only be set…you guessed it, individually. I’m at the point in the game where I have more employees than all my fingers and toes could count, and I keep forgetting to set their level-up strategy every time I hire a new person. Thus, setting up their strategy person by person across three to four different categories of work (e.g. the blacksmiths that create products for merchants vs. the blacksmiths assigned to produce weapons for shop inventory) on top of five different specialties (Blacksmith, Assistant, Cashier, Miner, Lumberjack). While it’s nice that you can check them all separately (if you’re into micromanaging), it’s just an insane hassle if all you wanted them to do was to upgrade the highest skill first at every level up.
Along that vein, a more intricate or specialized system for workspaces could be beneficial as well. At this point in the game, you are able to assign blacksmiths in particular to a certain crafting preference; for instance, a blacksmith with a high forging stat can be told to smith only metal products, while a blacksmith with a high carpentry skill can focus on woodworking— or they can work on the most complex items first that require a wood and a metal part to be created, etc. However, you can’t manually assign certain orders to be made by a particular group of blacksmiths. There is the high-priority function, yes, but having several groups focus on separate orders would help clear out the merchant order list a bit more, too.
This goes for creating shop inventory to sell as well— it would be great to have a tomahawk specialist, or have just one blacksmith focus on creating utensils for cooking. It would make the production process a little more streamlined than just having them choose whichever caters to their preference, since preferences aren’t super specific either.
A Few Bugs and Glitches
While there was nothing particularly game-breaking, it was a little frustrating when I encountered what seemed to be a weird bug. I had a merchant order that called for about 60 wooden scoops, and last time I checked it, it was already close to completion at 59/60. For some reason, all my workers—yes, even the ones assigned to woodworking only—completely ignored the last one to be made during the entire day. Even if I had the order on high priority, which should effectively cancel out all preferences and make the blacksmiths work only on that order, it still didn’t budge at all until I had to go in as a worker and manufacture it myself. Perhaps it’s an isolated case or a strange working in the code concerning the wooden scoops because it was the only instance it happened, but it might very well still be a bug.
Granted that the game is in Early Access, it’s to be expected. Hopefully, these discrepancies can be fixed upon its full, completed launch.
Overall Conclusion
Blacksmith Master doesn’t bring anything new to the table, but games don’t always have to be groundbreaking to be fun. The gameplay is fairly simple and easy to jump into, with systems that don’t punish you if you’re not paying attention or making optimal profit. It has some scuffs here and there regarding bugs and glitches and some frustrating systems, but overall, the game provides a solid and enjoyable experience that will surely keep you entertained for a few hours if you don’t outgrow the gameplay loop early.
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Blacksmith Master Product Information
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| Title | Blacksmith Master |
|---|---|
| Release Date | May 15, 2025 |
| Developer | Untitled Studio |
| Publisher | Hooded Horse |
| Supported Platforms | PC |
| Genre | Simulation, Strategy |
| Number of Players | 1 |
| ESRB Rating | RP |
| Official Website | Blacksmith Master Official Website |
