Save Room – The Merchant from Fractal Projects and Ratalaika Games is a minimalist puzzle game where smart inventory management is the key to success. Learn more in our Save Room – The Merchant review!
Buy, sell, and acquire crucial items required for combat missions while interacting with the Save Room’s enigmatic weapons dealer.
Save Room – The Merchant from Fractal Projects and Ratalaika Games is a minimalist puzzle game where smart inventory management is the key to success. As a direct sequel to the 2022 title Save Room – for which EdEN got to do a Save Room review on PlayStation 5 – it stays true to its predecessor’s gameplay experience in every possible way.
Story
You play as Maynard, working under the supervision of Anna Gan. A crisis hits early: due to a kidnapping, you’re sent on a mission to save the victim. The setup is intentionally light and quirky, providing just enough context to get you sorting, rotating, and reorganizing gear once again as you aim to do whatever it takes to save the day.
Gameplay
If you played Save Room back in 2022, the gameplay here will instantly feel familiar. Your job is to fit every required item inside your carrying case, working with limited space that changes from one level to the next. The first stages ease you into the flow, reminding you of the basic logic behind the series’ spatial puzzles. The formula remains simple but fun, and figuring out how to make every piece fit is still satisfying.
While the core idea is solid, certain design choices and interface limitations get in the way. Navigating menus is fine, but most of them can’t be dismissed with the usual Circle button on the PlayStation 5 DualSense, which feels unnatural. Moving items inside the grid also lacks the finesse you’d expect from a game releasing in 2025. You can’t hold down a direction on the D-pad to move an item several squares at once, meaning you must tap for each cell. The left analog stick can also be used, but its precision isn’t ideal for fine repositioning, and you still can’t hold it.
A bigger change comes from how the merchant is integrated into each puzzle. This is a nod to the merchant first introduced in Resident Evil 4. You always start by placing every item in your case before you’re allowed to visit the merchant. Once there, you sell unneeded gear to earn enough credits to buy what’s required to complete the stage. Afterward, you reorganize everything again. This creates two separate puzzles per level: one before visiting the merchant, and one after, which increases the time spent solving each level. It makes sense conceptually, but it also adds repetition and occasionally interrupts the momentum. There’s also one frustrating technical issue. The options menu can open at random for no apparent reason, and closing it resets the entire level. It happened to me at least once every few levels.
Presentation
The visual style is extremely minimalistic, which is to be expected for a sequel to Save Room. It gets the job done, and it’s not here to impress or surprise. The interface is functional, the items are clear, and everything is readable. Audio follows the same philosophy: simple.
Trophies
True to Ratalaika Games’ tradition, you can expect a quick platinum trophy. The trophy list is split into 16 Bronze trophies, 18 Silver trophies, and 3 Gold trophies. Half of these trophies are obtained by completing all levels, and the rest will pop as you complete miscellaneous objectives. You won’t need more than a couple of hours to check everything off the list, especially if you follow this Save Room – The Merchant Trophy Guide.
Conclusion
Save Room – The Merchant delivers exactly what returning players expect: familiar, compact puzzles that reward careful organization. It’s fun and reliable, but also rigid and slightly outdated in its interface. If you enjoyed the original, you’ll feel right at home here. Save Room – The Merchant is available as a Cross-Buy title, so your $4.99 purchase will allow you to download the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 versions of the game at no extra cost, and each one will have a Platinum trophy for you to add to your collection.
Disclaimer
This Save Room – The Merchant review is based on a PlayStation 5 copy provided by Ratalaika Games.
