Getting your kicks on route 66. Gas Station Simulator Review.

Welcome to the Dustbowl, this party never stops

The neon-sign out front sparks to life as I pull the power switch, we are open for business. After using my newfound favorite digging ride to remove all the sand from this place, tossing the trash and a little spit shine I soon hope to be a new spot of life in this hot , dry and dusty place. Of course, I could only muster up the basic necessities for now. Gasoline of course, and for the occupants of the vehicles coming through some drinks, a snack and perhaps a moment to answer natures call.  But I know that with a little bit of grit we can become more popular and attract more people to this place and who knows where we will go from here. But first things first, I better pay off this debt to my uncle as I like to keep all my limbs and digits in working order seeing I need them to keep building my new slice of the American dream.

What is it?

As the name suggests, “Gas Station Simulator” is a sim game. These past few years there have been a number of these style games and they have been garnering popularity with thousands of fans across the world. Games such as bus simulator, farm simulator and truck simulator were some of the first to create an accessible but endless deep experience for the masses. More recently we have seen new variety on the theme with games such as house flipper, lawnmowing sim and there is even power washer simulator. Often leaning on similar game engines and often art assets, it is easy to dismiss most of them as a quick cash on the genre whereas in some cases, despite the initial impression, you full find satisfying gameplay. Gas Station Simulator follows the later by offering a light theme with fun game play and even manages to offer some surprising depth in the area of resource management without overwhelming players that are not looking to micro manage each part of their game. The game does not aim for hyper realism but instead offers a stylish look at running a 40’s style gas station with some modern twists.  IT is no slouch for content either as at time of release it offers at 20+ hours for the  base story mode experience with multiple added challenges for almost limitless fun.

Gameplay

As you start your game you are talked through the challenge of running a gas station by your uncle. The man gives you the in and outs of what is needed and even helps you with some cashflow and supplies to get started. Things start simple. Drive around a little digger to remove excess sand, clean up all the trash, sweep the floors, paint the walls and turn on the power. Behind almost each mundane task is either a gameplay element of challenge that makes these chores more fun to perform. For instance, when you throw trash in the dumpster you can work on setting a high score for distance thrown. It quickly becomes a game of skill just to see what you can pull off.  Once you have your basics ready you can flip a switch and you are open for business. People need gas and the better your shop you reputation will rise, bringing more visitors. Work never stops at this place, even if you turn of that open sign, you probably will be busy doing maintenance and cleaning around the place, after all the dust never settles here and trash piles up quick so, keep on working to give your customers expect a clean and safe experience.

Soon you will get more to do such as ordering products to sell in your convenience store, when selecting them it is useful to check their prices as they tend to fluctuate. Buy low to sell for higher profits. Once the trucks arrives you need to unload them at the dock and stock your shelves. Soon customer will grab their favorites and you can scan items at the register to bag that sale. Do not leave out any of their merch though, or they will be leaving unsatisfied. We want happy customers that tip well and spread the word to come to the Dust Bowl Gas and Supplies.

Soon you get to expand and add a garage to do minor repair on vehicles. Progression will unlock new features, some of which will cost money to invest in such as added bathrooms, parking spaces, more gas pumps or even a
carwash. All these services are built to bring in revenue but do not come cheap, especially early on you might be a little low on cash. If you need a quick investment to get started you can of course borrow from your uncle, but best pay it all back in full with interest of he will send someone to take care of you and leave a warning in the form of someone’s boot on your face.

Even though once you start there is no real stopping and customers come all hours of the day, some might even be out of this world. There seems no real limit to the weirdness that can wonder into your establishment, but as long as they are paying, who cares?  But if want to take a little time for your self to relax from the hustle and bustle and perhaps take in the sights, play a little guitar or redesign your shop  just turn off that open sign, breath in the air and bask in the sun. Just keep in mind that if you close, so does the cashflow.

As you level up enough you can start hiring staff to help you out with your ever-growing customer base offering a bit of a break. Of course, hiring people cost money which will fluctuate based on their skills and everyone has different areas of expertise. Additionally for each hire you also need to provide a place to sleep overnight, usually a trailer outside which is an additional investment. At least they get to sleep after a days work.

But having them around still helps as you can now focus on tasks you enjoy more weather that is taking apart cars, or running the register. It might also allow you more time to keep an eye out for that pesky Dennis kid. Whenever he gets the chance, he sneaks out to draw graffiti on the walls, often of questionable nature. The last thing your place needs is a bunch of male member inspired art pieces on the wall. We are trying to keep this a family friendly establishment.

In the end though, no matter how much you grow your gas station, paint or expand, it will keep its unique rustic image and will not transform into a full-on modern gas station. Instead, the game focuses on keeping its unique esthetic.

The game will have some odd glitches here and there, such as when you are scanning groceries sometime you can bump into the next item making them fly all over the place, costing you an unsatisfied customer. Strange enough they also get angry when you do not charge them for a product by accident.  In other cases, they can get stuck in doors, their cars or other crazy things can happen and if things get a bit too hard to work around you can hit the big red button and aliens will take care of all of that for you and reset all the visitors. No more stuck delivery trucks in the warehouse doors. 

Presentation

Gas station simulator’s style is strongly inspired by the mystic of route 66 as well as an actual phenomenon called Dust Bowl, which also is the name of your gas station in the game. The Dust bowl was the name that was given to severe dust storm during a drought period in the 1930s that buried towns, crops, people and livestock across the southern plains of the United States. The old gas station feels reminiscent of a gone by golden era mish mashed with more contemporary items. Brought to life with a variety of art assets the overall look has you often wonder what time this is taking place in, from 40’s and 50’s style cars to modern police cars and from a phone booth to an internet connected PC. But one of those old ones with the yellowing plastic case and 60lbs CRT monitor.

Oddly enough this hotchpotch of styles works for the game as it clearly does not take itself too serious. For example, and one point I had a bus full of aliens and raptors visit and pretty much buy out all my stock while in a conga line. These are the kind of unexpected experiences that you will be hard pressed to find in other videogames.

Audio is sufficient for what it is and the music is very low key /non existent enough that I already muted all of it so play my music while playing. (Add some country rock /Americana for that added realism). There are some voiced lines in the game, mostly from the uncle as well as canned responses for the npc’s hat visit your store.

Parental View

Gas station offers fun entertainment that would be suitable for most ages. The only questionable issue you will encounter is the Dennis Character as he will draw graffiti of which some represent various create pictures of the male autonomy. You can turn Dennis off in the game settings, but I thought I remembered in the demo you could keep him but alter his portfolio to be more clean. I did not see this in the final game so if you do not want this you can turn the Dennis feature all the way off. Besides Dennis there is the dealings with the henchman send out by the uncle in case you do not pay your loan back in time. But there is not too much in the way of violence. Lastly you will be able to sell alcohol and tobacco products in the game. You can choose not to, but it is not an option you can turn off. In the end though the managing aspect, the mini games, tasks and designing your own version of the gas station provided a ton of light hearted entertainment. As always, where you draw the line is up to you. 

Final thoughts

Gas Station simulator pushed all the right buttons and I had a delightful time playing it. The wacky combination of styles, and at times bizarre theme of gas station simulator is what makes it so great. These things should not be able to go together but somehow, they do and create a wonderful flavor that makes you come back for more. With a good balance between frantic busy work and moments to to take in the sights there is plenty to keep you busy.

The fact the game has built-in reset button to fix any potential glitches or when you get overwhelmed is a testament to the awareness of the developers about their creation. There is so much that the game has to offer, and after a bit of a rough start you can quickly navigate your task, resource management and just enjoy running around your gas station and interact with its customers. If you love scanning groceries all day? Hire some people to do the rest and keep on scanning. Or would you rather clean? You can do that as well.  If you are looking for a deep simulator game that, gives you tons of stats and allows you to build up with your rural shack into the next Buc-ees and manage all tiny details then you might be disappointed. This is more the arcade version of a sim game, that can still surprise you with some deeper management options. 

If you are looking for a good time doing busy work then you definitely want to take a look at Gas Station Simulator.  With plans by  the studio to add other games in the same universe such as the recently announced diner simulator, DRAGO entertainment seems to be ready to go all in and delight us with more content for a while. I just wished I could have grown my little mom and pop to a 40 pump megaplex. Let’s see Dennis deal with that.

 

Game Information

Title: Gas station Simulator

Website: DRAGO entertainment

Developer: Drago Entertainment

Publisher: Movie Games

Release Date: September 15, 2021

Platforms: PC, Console release 2022

Review platform: PC (Steam)

Price at launch: $19.99

ESRB: Unrated at time of publication

About the writer: DadGeek (Rob) is the co-founder of GeeksVsGeeks. He is a product of the eighties and never let go of his geek interest and hobbies no matter how often someone told him to stop. His love for gaming and all things geeks has been part of his parenting style and permeates throughout the whole family. A family of Geeks vs Geeks