You pull on the dolphin mask, line up a row of seashells on the shelf, and a cheerful fish wanders toward the register while a whale idles outside waiting for a wash. Shark Mart puts you behind that counter as a shark in disguise, and every friendly smile you fake is part of the plan. The shop on the ocean floor is a convenience store by day and a trap by night, and the game never lets you forget which job pays the bills and which one fills the secret kitchen.
| Genre | Casual management simulation |
| Perspective | First-person |
| Modes | Single-player and co-op with friends |
| Setting | An undersea shop run by sharks in dolphin disguises |
| Core loop | Stock, serve, scrub whales, hide the evidence |
The daytime job is ordinary retail work. Shelves need stocking with seashells and fresh seaweed, the locals need serving at the register, and the floor has to stay spotless. Prices are yours to set, and you can weigh your markup against what each product cost you and what shoppers usually pay on the market. Early in the game this is the whole job, and it teaches the rhythm that everything else leans on.
Trust is the real currency here. Every fish who leaves happy strengthens your cover as a harmless dolphin, and that cover is what makes the shadier work possible later.
Cozy shop-sim fans will feel at home during the first stretch of a shift, because stocking, pricing, and ringing up customers follows the familiar convenience-store pattern. The twist is that the shop is only one of four systems, and they all feed each other:
Neglect one of these and the others start to wobble. A spotless shop with a messy basement still ends in trouble, and a busy kitchen with an empty shelf makes the dolphin act look thin.
The whale-scrubbing station works like a car wash for ocean giants. When a whale arrives you buff its belly and fins until it sparkles, either by operating the washing gear or by scrubbing it directly. Whale loyalty is the ticket to winning over the smaller fish, so this is not a side activity but the reputation engine of the whole business.
Cleaning a whale is also a rare calm moment between customers. It rewards patience more than speed.
Management fans who enjoy juggling queues will spot the tension quickly: a whale wants attention at the same moment the register has a line, and the shop is only as good as whoever is free. This is where a second shark makes a real difference. One partner on the brush and another at the checkout keeps both customers satisfied, and it keeps the dolphin masks firmly in place.
Beneath the shop sits a hidden basement kitchen. When a customer gets snatched, that fish ends up cooked into a gourmet delicacy, which makes the shop above the bait and the locals the main course. The humor is dark but cartoonish, and the game plays it as slapstick sneaking rather than horror.
Players who enjoy dark comedy will get the most out of this loop, because the fun comes from the contrast. You are polite and helpful at the register, then a few seconds later you are quietly dragging a customer toward the basement and hoping nobody noticed. Timing matters because every snatch leaves traces that need scrubbing, and the smell of the kitchen is something the Fish Police can pick up on.
Once the first customer ends up in the secret kitchen, the mood of a shift changes. The cleanup chores appear, the pressure to hide what is cooking grows, and every ordinary shopper starts to look like a potential witness.
The Fish Police are underwater cops who patrol the seas, and they are the pressure valve that keeps the sharks honest. Their job is to expose your toothy secret, and yours is to make sure there is nothing to find. That means scrubbing the crime scene, lying through your teeth during interrogations, and keeping the smell of the secret kitchen far away from their noses.
Beginners usually stumble by treating the cleanup as optional. A stain left on the floor looks small in the moment, but it is exactly the kind of evidence the Fish Police are looking for, and a sloppy basement makes interrogations much harder to survive.
A sensible habit is to scrub before you cook and to keep the shop looking friendly while the Fish Police are nearby. By the time they start asking questions, the best defense is a cover story that already looks convincing from the shop floor.
The game supports both single-player and co-op with friends, and the co-op side is the natural home for the chaos. Groups who love coordinated panic will enjoy splitting roles: one shark keeps the dolphin act alive at the register, another scrubs whales, and a third quietly handles the basement. Shouting about who left the evidence on the floor is part of the appeal.
Solo play asks you to juggle all four systems yourself, and that can feel frantic. It is the most honest criticism you can level at the setup, since a single shark running the shop, the whale station, the kitchen, and the cover story at once leaves little room for error. The premise of cooking your own customers will also not suit every player, even with the cartoon tone.
The game is still in development and a demo is available, so balance and pacing details may shift as it grows. Treat the early impressions as a snapshot rather than a final verdict.
Yes, single-player is fully supported, so you can run the shop, scrub whales, and manage the secret kitchen entirely on your own. Co-op with friends is also available, and splitting jobs between sharks makes the multitasking noticeably easier.
Scrub away any evidence left at the crime scene, answer interrogations with convincing lies, and keep the smell of the secret kitchen from reaching them. Keeping the shop tidy and your dolphin cover believable matters as much as the cleanup itself.
Whales visit the whale-scrubbing station, where you buff their bellies and fins until they sparkle. Their loyalty is what helps you win over the smaller fish, so keeping them happy supports the rest of your business.
Shark Mart works best when the cheerful dolphin act and the secret kitchen pull against each other. Every polished whale buys you a little more cover with the locals, and every careless snatch gives the Fish Police a reason to come knocking. Treat the shop as bait, keep the basement quiet, and the game rewards the sharks who stay calm under questioning.
