Welcome to Primrose Lake from developer GameHouse is a described as a mixture of Northern Exposure and Twin Peaks, two American drama TV series, and we’ve found that it has quite a bit of the Netflix series Ozark in it too.
Without giving away too many details, the story revolves around 2 women who happen to look exactly like one another and even share the same last name, despite the fact that they are not related: Jenny and Jessica Carlyle. Jenny was a bride who was running away from her own wedding, and Jessica was on her way back to her old hometown of Primrose Lake after a long time away. After their fateful encounter on the road, Jessica decided to take Jenny to Primrose Lake with her, and inevitably, this caused a lot of confusion.
Right off the bat, you are introduced to a backdrop of rural isolation and creepy hillbilly weirdness that’s the perfect setting for a story full of awkward scenarios and shocking revelations. As you progress, you will see things from several perspectives, but for the most part, you will be following the footsteps of Jenny as she discovers the secrets behind the Carlyle family, which apparently has a very long history in this neighborhood.
But what about the gameplay? In short, Welcome to Primrose Hill is a casual time-management game kind of similar to Dinner DASH and the like, in which you manage a store of some kind. Customers will come in, order something, and your task is to deliver what they ask as fast as you can, get paid for it, and then clean up after them if needed.
Some orders such as a bottle of water or a donut are straightforward: You simply have to tap on the object and then on the customer, and that’s it. Others are trickier, though. You might be asked to make a sandwich or fry an egg, for example. Sometimes there are even raccoons messing up your place, requiring you to catch them.
The game will span across a variety of different businesses, from a cafeteria to a clothing store, which means you’re required not only to serve food, but also to perform many other tasks as well. That said, the flow always remains the same, and that’s totally fine as Welcome to Primrose Lake is a very solid time-management experience with well-oriented graphics and a frantic yet manageable pace.
Clearing a stage grants you diamonds, which can then be spent on renovating the place while learning more about the history of the Carlyles. And it must have been quite an intriguing history too, because apparently the townfolks are not particularly happy about the return of a member of that family, and they are not shy to show it.
Despite its ‘casual’ vibe and bright theme, the story of Welcome to Primrose Lake is actually surprisingly compelling and dark. We don’t want to spoil things too much, but it will involve a major character getting abducted by some creepy hillfolk. It’s clear that the developer has invested plenty of effort into the narrative, delivering a captivating story full of well-written characters with unique personalities and perspectives.
All in all, while the gameplay of Welcome to Primrose Lake is not exactly what you’d call a groundbreaking time-management experience, its intriguing story more than make up for it and push the whole thing to a higher level compared to the rest of the pack.
This well-wrought narrative does come at quite a high price, though: You’ll need to spend £8.99 (Rs 780) if you want to unlock the full game or £1.49 (Rs 130) for the first 24 levels. That said, we think it is a fair price. Yes, it’s more expensive than your average casual game, but only because it ISN’T your average casual game, and it’s well worth checking out.