Octopus Overlords

In my quest for increasingly bizarre simulation games, I grabbed GAS STATION SIMULATOR last night. Partly due to the positive reviews and the high Steam sales rank, partly out of morbid curiosity.

In the game you're tasked with fixing up an old Route 66 gas station. The place is a wreck - trash everywhere, no paint, nothing working. You'll spend your first hour or so just getting it into halfway working order so that you can get some customers. The game does a great job of hand-holding you through various objectives which teach you about the various gameplay mechanics.

And boy are there a lot of things you'll have to do. Sweep, bag trash, paint walls, take trash out to the dumpster. Remove sand piles with your excavator. Call for trash pickups, order stock, unload deliveries, stock shelves, pump gas, fix cars, scan and ring up purchases. Once you hit the game proper and have a functional station, this can start to feel a bit like juggling spinning plates - the customers are a constant stream, and you'll be trying to take care of their needs while grabbing a spare minute here and there between tasks to slap some paint on a wall or empty a trash can.

Fortunately you do have the power to open and close the station at will, so if you just need an evening to focus on upkeep you can turn the CLOSED sign on and catch a breather. The only real downside is you won't have money coming in, and money goes quick in this game. While the game isn't as deep as letting you set your own prices, you do have the opportunity to buy bargain products to stock your shelves. There is some risk involved with being a cheapskate though, as customers like a wide variety of products and your profits (and tips) will increase the happier they are.

The game is not without a few flaws. Painting requires a bit of an annoying mini-game, and there are some random events like this kid that sprays graffiti on your walls that are just plain irritating. (I believe there is a way to turn the random events off, though). And the two mini-game tasks for pumping gas and scanning groceries can get really repetitive.

However, what the game does have going for it is a really nice sense of progression. There is a lot of satisfaction in getting your place cleaned up, finally getting a handle on your stock, and watching your station make a profit. The station and its associated buildings can be upgraded after certain goals are met, so there's always a sense of working towards something. And because there is such a wide variety of things you can and will need to do, I haven't been bored for an instant.

The game's on sale for $17 through Sept. 22, and so far it's a pretty good time.

Sounds interesting but its still not what Im always hoping for. I want a game that lets me design and build my shop....gas station, store, mall whatever. I then want it more simplified than doing all the micro stuff. Then have competition in my area. Set up sales, run advertising, giveaways...whatever. Maybe get new items others dont have. Would prefer an overhead type view with zoom and see thru.

My real dream game is an arcade sim like that. Ive seen the couple out and its not what I want. One is closer than all others but then it turns into a simply clicker where Im constantly clicking machines to empty the money from them. NOT what I signed on for. I want a real arcade sim game where I can build my old Aladdin's Castle one from my mall's youth or maybe Flynn's from Tron. Pick the machines I want and place them...have food and drink.....all the stuff. Maybe have one in a mall that competes with another there......or have one on the same block or town as me to compete with.

I absolutely get the attraction, and have several of these types of games myself. But I can't wait until PC Simulator Simulator comes out (which simulates playing a simulator.)

Can I go there from my Lawn Mower simulator and get gas?

Blackhawk wrote: ↑Mon Sep 20, 2021 3:53 pm I absolutely get the attraction, and have several of these types of games myself. But I can't wait until PC Simulator Simulator comes out (which simulates playing a simulator.)

You could fire up Game Dev Sim and simulate designing a Game Simulator Simulator so you could have a Game Simulator Simulator Simulator.

I swear, if someone can find a way to hack them all together - Ship Simulator, Flight Simulator, Farming Simulator, Truck Simulator, Gas Station Simulator, Plane/Car/Tank Mechanic Simulator(s), Train Simulator, Bus Driver Simulator, etc - they'd have a hit.

Paging Derek Smart...

Fair warning - I ran into a wicked crash today that turned me off for a bit until they get some things ironed out. The devs seem very responsive and are putting out hotfixes constantly, but some of the frame rate drops and things I'm getting are entirely unnecessary for a game of this graphical caliber. Might be worth waiting for a major patch or two.

Lordy that was great. I came in here to ask how the business was going but Ill just back out now..slowly.

Haha business is not....great....

I like the idea of the game, and I had fun with the initial prologue, but it gets mighty repetitive having to grind out your next set of challenges. I found myself easily distracted away to play something else rather than paint another damn wall.

I think the game's biggest flaw for me right now is the incessant stream of customers. Even though you can turn them off by closing the station, you need the money they provide to pretty much do anything. So you either turn them off and have your leisure time to do...not much. Or you turn them on and you spend the whole time running from customer to customer trying to keep things going with barely any time to do anything else. It's quite stressful and that's not what I'm looking for in a game right now.

I imagine I will come back to it at some point, but with New World around the corner it may be awhile.

That video led me to another, focusing on the Satifactory game. I posted it in that thread.

For that video, I am making the laughing!

This is in the month's Humble Choice and I really enjoyed it. One of the better oddball simulator games I have played. The mini games are simple but mostly fun rather than simply repetitive. There is enough variation to keep it interesting until you can hire someone to do the stuff you don't want to do. I thought about the DLC, but I think I got my fill with the base game.