Game Review: Minami Lane
Minami Lane is a management/simulation video game developed by a pair of independent developers called Dorian "doot" Signargout and Doriane "blibloop" Randria. Its main concept revolves around building and managing your own Japanese street with the help of friendly Tanuki by the name of Ema. Built on Unity engine across a 6-month period, Minami Lane released on PC and Nintendo Switch in 2024 and subsequently on Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 in 2025. Upon release the game aggregated a moderate critical average of 80 on OpenCritic. I couldn’t really find anything online to reflect the sales numbers but there was an article noting how the game’s revenue generated over $750,000 for the developers, so I can only assume it was a noteworthy success in light of its small budget and high gross return. There isn’t really a story to Minami Lane, there’s some initial context given to you in the form of the friendly Tanuki Ema. It tasks the player...
