Gas Station Simulator (2021)

I am a sucker for sim games like this. Anything, at all exploring some experience or novel premise, I feel obligated to take a look. When this was free from Epic or wherever, the other week, I took the bait.

Now, this game actually has a pretty interesting 'story' and (I'm tempted to watch a lets play of it to see where that story goes) I won't say anything more than that. so as to not spoil it for anyone who wants to undertake it upon themselves to suffer through this game.

(Hint: don't)

It's a shame this game isn't better because it actually does have a lot of things going for it in the right direction. The game has a fantastic tone and aesthetic in it's depiction of rustic American living (that was probably inspired from eastern euros watching a marathon of Antique Roadshow, Street Outlaws or other such shows from the Discovery Channel) which makes it fun regardless of who you are or where you are from. the music is great and all the classic cars are fun. It is unfortunate that the game is not more fun to play and has the problems it does. . let's dig into that now. You not only manage a gas station but also act as the mechanic of a garage, and simulates a cashier clerk that scans groceries...All in All it seems like there is quite a bit of things to do and I imagine there are more things that I didnt even uncover. Most of these activities offer some kinda little minigame (similar to the minigames from the Fishing Barent's Sea series) between these activities and minigames i felt the game was solid.

The game is also pretty amusing. And there are a lot of clever little jokes in it, and a few suprises here and there. Unfortunately It just goes downhill from here

Now, the basic thing you'll notice pretty quick is that the cash flow balance in this game is just terrible. You basically have to buy upgrades and its a sloooow path towards progress made worse by every little thing you can sell in your speedy mart being bought in bulk + having its own container (that costs extra)

It's also painful when most of your customers only buy less than 10 dollars worth of groceries, meaning you work pretty hard for every dollar you make.

So, the first issue is the cash flow balance is pretty angled against the player IMO. the second issue is that the game is pretty overwhelming and at any given moment there is going to be someone waiting on you for something. Granted, I dont think that 'customers' actually get impatient and ever choose to leave, but it would be nice if there as a bit more down time in the evening for you to do other things. This also translates into the gas station upgrading itself pretty fast and i'm unsure about the point or purpose of decorations, landmarks and stuff like that,(because that would only make the game MORE busier)

The painting and dust mechanics in this game are also totally unbalanced BS

So, the mechanics are all a big muddled mess... After a while, you get to the point that you can hire employees. and this was something i was really looking forward to and excited about because that would mean i would get a break and not have to work. I figure I could wade my way through the various dogshit mechanics to get to that point at least and it might be worth it. But this is where the game fell apart and i just called it quits..

behold my first useless clockwatcher

In this game, the ai or whatever is completely broken. My employee no matter how much i fiddled with it didnt seem to ever do anything. they just stand around idly and look at you, regardless of what tasks you assign them to. there are other ai issues as well where things will on occasion get 'stuck' and need to be reset (like once there was a car that would refuse to leave and would effectively block and future customers being able to come/park) I therefore can't recommend this game until that is fixed. (but since its currently four years old i'm thinking that's never going to happen!)

• Year played: 2023
• Platform: Steam deck/PC
• Playtime: 9 hours
• Completion level: probably about 70%
• Overall rating: 6.2 / 10

A fairly forgettable game - to be honest, I forgot I'd even played it til I scrolled through my steam library looking for things to review. If you've played other simulator games you know what to expect here. You have a variety of tools available to you for cleaning and remodeling your gas station, plus a bunch of duties you need to perform such as filling up cars and working the checkout line inside your shop. It's meant to be repetitive, and usually I find a lot of zen from playing these type of games, but this one fell short for me. I think my biggest problem was just that the controls were so clunky. It definitely plays better with a mouse + keyboard than a controller. Some actions didn't work at all with the controller (especially the car repairing) and I needed to put the steam deck in mouse mode to progress. At some point things get a little more automated, since you can hire workers to do the menial tasks for you, but by then the game had already overstayed its welcome for me and I just kinda stopped playing. It's an alright game and a decent way to kill some time. Not much more than that.

When it comes to low-budget games like these; your Gas Station Simulators, Barn Finders, Lumberjack Dynasties, and Ranch Simulators, I can never tell if they are earnest games looking to fill niche, AA markets or if they are cheap, asset flips looking to make a quick buck. If it’s the latter, I really don’t feel good supporting them, but there always seems there’s just enough care & interest put into the game where it still functions, just not to a polished sheen.

For Gas Station Simulator, you can tell right away the lack of polish. The people who visit your store all look like stock NPCs with a randomizer put on their hair color. They have very light texture work and a few canned dialogue lines. The gas station you run is much more detailed and nicer, wooden buildings are not subjected to the uncanny valley. There’s also a lot to the property. You’re not just running a little corner store, but more of a tourist trap style filling station along Historic Route 66. There’s a junkyard out back for exploring, a warehouse you receive your goods in, a garage to do some light car maintenance, and car wash. You unlock these out buildings as you level up your station. They all start out as small, run down buildings, but you can upgrade and decorate them to become a kitschy, old school station. The music in this game is all diegetic & subtle, from a radio next to your computer. The songs are all dull techno or country instrumentals, which works for a background track.

There’s surprisingly a story to this game. Nothing too in-depth, but you buy this gas station with help from your uncle, who is a loan shark. As you run the station, you default on your loan and some goons rough you up. Your uncle also serves as your guide through phone calls, and his voice actor was much better than I’d expect from this caliber of game. You build up your station’s renown by doing the mundane things a gas station does. Luckily there’s a lot of variety. There’s mini-games for checking people’s snacks out at the cash register, fueling cars, replacing tires, washing cars, & unloading goods in the warehouse. The variety mixed with the hectic time management keeps this game fresh for a good while. Your station is a 24 hr operation, so you have to make sure you’re attending to customers while also keeping enough fuel and snacks in stock. It’s easy at first, but as you start getting more customers it becomes a juggling act. You can hire employees to do some of the jobs for you, which helps, but you have to factor their salary into your expenses. Starting out, I usually left my employee on break to save money, once I a gas empire under my name I used them more frequently.

It’s a budget game, so some jank is to be expected. I would occasionally have cars stuck at a fuel pump or garage, I learned later on there were sand piles I needed to clear out of the way, so that was intentional. What was unintentional was store customers or employees who would constantly walk into a display I set up because their path-finding couldn’t figure out a way around it. There’s also an annoying feature where if you accidentally pick up an item from one of your shelves, there’s no way to put it back on the shelf, least not that I’ve found, you just have to pitch it in the trash. That cuts into your bottom line. You can close the whole station if you need a break to redecorate or clean up. I learned the hard way, make sure you unload any trucks in your warehouse before closing, or you will lose the ability to unload the goods you paid for. From a simulator standpoint that feature makes no sense. The delivery trucks aren’t customers, and stores get deliveries after hours.

The garage is the first side business you unlock at level 2, I think it should’ve been left for a little further down the leveling up tree. The parts for the garage, like tires and dent remover, are the most expensive stock items in the game. A tire is $70, and most cars that come through need at least 2 new tires, so stocking the tire rack adds up. In the early game you’re still not making bank yet. Enough to keep afloat, afford fuel and concessions, but keeping the garage functioning would bankrupt you. You can take out a loan from your mobster uncle, but I try to avoid using loans, both in games and real life. I just ate the loss to my popularity every time someone didn’t get garage service. The car wash you unlock later, which should’ve been in the garage’s spot in the leveling tree, gives you an option to turn it off. It’s the only side business like that, and I wish the repair garage had that option as well.

Gas Station Simulator has a definite historic art style. As mentioned, you are running a classic Route 66 rest stop. The decorations you can buy all have that classic feel, like motor oil banners, taxidermied animals, and wrecked cars half-buried in the desert. Most of the cars that stop at your station all look like classic 50s-60s models. You communicate via payphone and your computer looks like a Mac from the 90s. The only thing that took my out of the vaguely historic setting is the customers, some have clothing that could pass for old, but there’s one NPC that wears a sweater with a Skyrim meme, and there’s a few others.

All in all, there’s fun to be had in Gas Station Simulator. It adds just enough character & story to feel like a game with some vision vs. something more edutainment oriented. There’s a lot of jank you have to learn to play around with, but it’s a charming jank. Again, I can never tell if these games are some type of money laundering, asset flip that panders to what Eastern Europeans think Middle America likes, but I did have fun. I guess that means they are a little right.

I have this like, profound fascination with these simulator games that was started, initially, by House Flipper. I kind of love them. They are like... mundane and tedious in a satisfying way that also gives you space for some decoration or expression. It all started with settlements in Fallout 4. They were a personal zen garden. Just out here moving grans of sand to make these perfect little settlements.

Cozy Core.

Anyway, this game is dog shit. Wildly buggy. Kind of stressful. Maybe my patience is wearing thin. Maybe you can't go home again. I liked Barn Finders more than this and that's saying something because Barn Finders is very bad. Sometimes, bad is the point. Sometimes, bad is just bad.

This recent half year has led me down on a simulator game phase, what with there being new concepts brought to fruition. This is the first game where I get to play as a gas station worker, let alone manage it.

Typically, you start out with the basics, except that you get introduced to an abandoned dump of a gas station that requires of you to clean up and refurbish in the long run. With neither time pressure nor customers to look after in the beginning, it's a welcoming introduction where you get to do your progress to run the gas station of your dreams. And when it's ready for business, the opening hours can be decided at the player's leisure, so you can keep it closed or open at your whim.

I've experienced it before with similar sim games but there is something inspiring about hands-on chores like cleaning and painting, that makes me enjoy my house cleaning IRL. I think it's a sort of gamification factor... Besides that, the gas station features services beyond filling the customer's gas and handling the cash register. You can also do car service in the garage, and car wash has been added later since the game's release. Turning the work into mini-games, in favor of gameplay, immerson and simulation (of course) was a good decision, albeit with some flawed execution.

For instance, the cashier minigame is a simple roll, scan and drop the wares to the basket with your mouse, which is a decent hands-on gameplay but gets tedious in the long run (and tendonitis-inducing, at worst). The car service mini-games (one for each part) are varied and decently fun, too, but my main complaint is that some tasks are more re-occurring than others (changing tires, in particular, and ordering those are quite expensive). What relieves from the tedium is that you are able to hire workers later into the game to share the burden of your tasks, including the above-mentioned chores and services.

But as the chief of the station, there are other aspects requiring your attention, such as fuel maintenance, hauling away dust piles, keeping shelves well stocked and chasing away Dennis the menac- uh, prankster. The stockpile of goods and fuel will be demanded constantly and you'll have to order more by using the station computers. The micro-management is there but more often than not, I wished there was a sort of customizable preset or an autobuy button so that I won't have to spend additional minutes manually selecting the same goods I consider for my shop.

Your gas station rises in popularity with each satisfied customer and will go up in level, granting for a more frequent flow of customers. However, after about level 6, it turns into a grind, especially for players that are focused on growth and achievement. There may be more content coming up to incentivize me into putting further work to raise the level but I think that it drags on in general. It can be ignored if you're focused on the process and the fun of the game's other areas.

Outside the work, the overall location is explorable and have a good variety of things to discover. For now, besides the decorations you could buy to flourish the exterior, there are still potential that are untapped in certain areas, which I hope will come real in future updates.

On a technical side, the UI is rough around the edges and could have been optimized more to reduce the clunkiness. Sometimes, certain controls or choices don't respond unless you stand in the right position or point at the right part of the object. Not slick, but passable for now.

Although I have no further complaints, a number of other players in the community have reported crashes, long loading times and some graphical issues. Whether they are a vocal minority or not, you should approach this game as being in the early access stage and see if it's cut out for your PC. Try the demo out first and see if this is your cup of sim!