I enjoy a good simulator game, that's no secret around here. I'd also been looking for a good game about being a bartender. Those are surprisingly hard to find on Steam, but I came across Saloon Simulator, which offered bartending and more with a Western coat of paint. Luckily, I was able to pick it up on sale.

This is another one of those simulators imported from Eastern Europe. That means the graphics are average with much of the world being made up of what I always assume are pre-made assets bought from a store. The town itself is fine. It for the most part nails the look of an Old West town, the buildings all have small, cramped interiors, but that's not entirely off base for the Old West. The one glaring deviation is that fact one of the characters lives in a 'trailer'. It's a train caboose, so it is at least Old West themed, but people didn't really live in trailers like that back then. The townsfolk range from 18th century denizens to Old West cosplayers. Like one of the main NPCs, simply named W, looks like he'd be more at home in a modern day honky tonk themed bar in Texas than the actual Old West, & Jack the merchant looks like he's from the 1970s. Some of the furniture for your saloon has that same issue, it looks less like Victorian era furniture and more like modern “farmhouse rustic” furniture. It did break the immersion for me a bit on occasions.

The gameplay of this simulator is a bit scatter dash. You do the normal things you'd expect to do in a game called Saloon Simulator, mix up drinks, cook & serve food, clean the place, but there's also a lot of random tasks that come up. Things like prospecting for gold, breaking down Conestoga wagons, and unloading freight trains. They are at least Old West themed, but they do dip more into that tedious busy work rut simulators can fall into and feel like a distraction from the saloon game vs a break from it.

The drink mixing is the biggest aspect of this game and seems to be what's gotten the most attention from the developers. At first I thought the game just made up some fake cocktails because they weren't ones I'd heard of before, like the Stone Fence or Peach Radler, but they are actual old American cocktails. Making the drinks does have an element of skill. You can control how fast you pour a bottle, so as you get better at nailing the correct amount of ounces, you can pour faster, then you add your mixings and stir or shake it up. The cooking mini-game is a bit simpler, you add the ingredients into a pot and then do a quick time event to maximize your cooking power, which adds special effects to the food. You have to do that while also serving guests and keeping tables clean. During a rush, it can be hectic to balance all these duties & it led me to have to ignore some people to serve others. It does seem like the game expects that because there's more people than you can be feasible expected to serve. You do get the chance to hire staff towards the end of the game, so you can have waiters or cooks to take over some of those tasks.

This game does have a somewhat involved story, which is a rarity in simulator games. It does the thing that seems weirdly consistent among simulators where you are hired by a shady business man who tasks you with making a successful business, or else. So, you're a saloon owner in the town of Blueberry, and have to report to W, the henchman of this crime boss, Mr. Locke. W starts off adversarial, but he does warm up to you after a while. Then you meet the other locals in town, including the kooky prospector, the undertaker who has a cynical outlook, the hopeful town doctor, the bumbling sheriff, and sleazy wholesale merchant. They're all voice acted, surprisingly. It's not the greatest voice acting, but it's more than expected. I don't think it's AI voices either, or they picked voices that weren't the usual ones you always hear. The story mostly serves to explain all the gameplay mechanics, but it does work in the feeling of becoming a member of this ragtag community, even ending with the town rallying together to stop a bandit gang. It feels like a game where you play in a town where the typical hero of a game hasn't shown up to yet.

One downside about Saloon Simulator that I didn't realize until after I bought it, this game is still considered in Early Access. That mostly rears it's head with the fact that most of the drink ingredients, furniture, and saloon customization options are locked behind 'coming soon' banners. There's also an upgrade system, like “make drinks faster” or “clean larger areas”. The first level of all two skills are available, but everything else is locked. So, it really makes Saloon Simulator feel like a kneecapped game, and having played the other simulators I've played, most of this stuff is usually available day one.

All in all, given the rarity of bartending simulators on Steam, Saloon Simulator scratches that itch. The limited supply of anything because it's still in early access is a bit annoying, but the fact this game tries to have a more involved story than most simulators deserves some mention. Overall, it's a fun little game to play just when you want something simple, even if the dinner rush can be a bit overwhelming. I'd say if you can get this on a sale and like mixing drinks, pick it up, otherwise, wait & see if they move out of early access ever.