The Returns Desk: A Cozy Library

Put 864 books back where they belong in a Victorian rotunda library, by hand, in VR. Every cover tells you its wing, its row and its slot, and nothing sorts itself. Finished rows open new wings and bring back the weather and the hours of the day. No timers, no fail state.

The library has been closed for years, and the returns desk is full. You are the librarian. Pick up a book, read its cover, carry it to its shelf and slide it into its slot, by hand. 864 books, eight wings, one Victorian rotunda.

Book Cover

Every book tells you where it goes

Nothing lights up the answer and nothing sorts itself. The cover has all you need:

The emblem and color point to one of the eight wings, and the shade narrows it down further.
The title is the row. Every shelf is labeled.
The volume number is the slot, one to nine.

At first you follow the colors. Soon you walk straight to the numbers.

Some books come back damaged. Rub them clean before they go on the shelf.

Open the library, one wing at a time

Every row you finish earns a point. Spend points at the rewards lectern to open another wing: its lanterns light up and its banner takes its color. You choose which wing opens first.

Points also buy help with the carrying, never with the searching:

A book basket that holds four books
Bigger deliveries of 30, 40 and 50 books at the desk
A repair brush for damaged books
Summon, to pull a book or the basket into your hand from across the room
Quick Hands, to clean a damaged book the moment you pick it up

Rain on the glass, at the hour you like

Earn the weather back: rain on the dome, snow, wind, and a storm with thunder. Earn the time of day too, five hours from dawn to night, or set an hour of your own. Pick them at the lectern, choose how heavy the rain falls, or let the weather change on its own.

The reading room

Off the rotunda is a quieter room to open for yourself.

A fire to poke with the irons until it flares
A gramophone with four records: put one on, wind the crank and listen
Display cases and a trophy shelf that fill as you work: a volume for every row you finish, a trophy for every wing, and a faint outline where the ones still to come will stand

Made for your hands

Your hands close around what you hold: a book by its edge or its corner, the basket by its handle, a record by its rim, a fire iron by its shaft.

No hurry

No timers, no score, no fail state, and nobody else in the library. The game saves as you go, so you can take the headset off mid-shelf and pick up where you left off.