Open-World Video Store Simulator “Rewind 99” version 1.0 Set To Release August 27th

Indie studio Gunmetal Games is set to release version 1.0 of Rewind 99, its open-world video store simulator. The 1.0 build launches August 27 at 8 AM PT and will be having a 30% launch week discount

Rewind 99 casts you as the operator of the last video rental store in Reshoot Springs, a low-poly town in 1999 that is slowly turning against the format that built it. Players stock shelves, hire staff, and manage the counter — and then, generally, stop doing that. The store is a front door. Behind it sits an open world of side hustles that includes running an underground fight club, producing films, and building out what the game describes without much irony as an empire.

Watch the trailer here

That structure is what has separated Rewind 99 from the wave of nostalgia shop sims it launched alongside. Where most of the genre stays behind the register, Rewind 99 is closer to a sandbox RPG wearing a management sim as a disguise — progression systems, NPCs with their own backstories, a walkable town, and a tonal willingness to get strange.

Version 1.0 focuses on the things players asked for most across Early Access:

  • Rebuilt employee behavior. Staff now restock, path, and prioritize like people who want to keep the job. Hiring is a strategy rather than a liability.
  • A major performance overhaul. A deep optimization pass across the entire game targeting the frame-rate degradation reported during long sessions in Early Access.
  • An expanded map. More of Reshoot Springs is open than at any point in Early Access, with new secret locations.
  • Lore fragments. Scattered documents and artifacts hidden throughout Reshoot Springs, for players inclined to ask what is actually going on in this town. Some of them answer that question.
  • Quality-of-life and balance work across stocking, pricing, customization, and progression.
  • Many new features like setting store hours, violent late fee collection, and much more.

“Our primary focus needed to be to properly serve the player who stuck it out with us through Early Access,” said Richard Heyne, Game Director at Gunmetal Games. “1.0 is giving us a dope opportunity to deliver on where Early Access fell short, namely performance, bugs, and employee behavior. In parallel, we’re building out all the content we’ve always wanted in our silly little store simulator. And there will be more to come even after 1.0 drops, we’re finalizing our future content roadmap as I write this.”

Co-op status at launch: Rewind 99 shipped Early Access with 4-player online co-op. That mode is disabled in the 1.0 build while the team resolves performance instability found in internal testing. Save files created in 1.0 are co-op compatible and will carry forward when the mode returns, which the studio has stated is its top post-launch priority. A timeline will be shared following further testing, and players interested in helping test can join the official Discord.

The studio has committed to a frequent patch cadence following 1.0, with additional content updates planned.

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ABOUT GUNMETAL GAMES

Gunmetal Games is an independent studio, making games about small operations that get out of hand. Rewind 99 is its first commercial release.