Gas Station Simulator

In today’s world where everything needs to have a simulation videogame, Gas Station Simulator fits right in. Despite some visual glitchiness here and a bug there, Gas Station Simulator remains fun for a period of time before the mundane tasks or overwhelming amount of management takes its toll on you.

Gas Station Simulator is a tough game to score. It’s deeply flawed, but it’s oh-so fun. The jankiness is part-and-parcel with the experience, but some progress-halting bugs will really sour you. Still, the act of manning your own gas station, getting stuck into the nitty-gritty and seeing your business flourish over time is incredibly satisfying.

Gas Station Simulator feels like a weird game to want to play, but you want to play it. Like most simulators, the tasks at hand are menial and repetitive, but it’s generally a fun game to keep progressing through. The upgrades and tools are well placed to keep you from feeling like you’re dealing with too much busy work, and the humor the game injects keeps things lighthearted. Although, if we could just get rid of Dennis, I wouldn’t complain.

Overall, Gas Station Simulator is vastly better than a lot of the simulator games that are available on Steam. It's a charming and occasionally buggy experience, but one that allows the player to find a little bit of peace in a daily grind.

Gas Station Simulator has bugs in the same way Skyrim has bugs: yeah, it’s a buggy game, but riding your horse vertically through the mountains became iconic, if not beloved. I feel like the same thing has happened here with Gas Station Simulator — there’s just so much personality that even the issues are charming. I don’t know why certain stock doesn’t move or why some cars pile up near the entrance or hover in midair, but I know the solution in both cases is calling aliens to save my business. If you want an insanely addicting core loop and don’t mind a little dust in the machinery, Gas Station Simulator will guzzle up an entire weekend before you know it.

Overall, it hits its niche. It lands on the edges of the sweet spot for modern simulators. It manages to be fun and atmospheric. It’s a hard day’s work, but someone has to do it.