This September 15 came out almost discreetly Gas Station Simulator, a game, more than a simulation, with a simple concept: buy an abandoned service station to restore it. The title, developed by DRAGO entertainment, climbed into the top 3 Steam on the day of its release, which is to say that the demo version, published a few months before, had made a good impression.
Gas Station Simulator puts you on Route 66, where you come face to face with a dilapidated old gas station… which you decide to buy with the financial help of your uncle. Here, no question of any inheritance as is often the case in this kind of game. The atmosphere recreated by the developers is, from the launch of the game, remarkable, and the Unreal Engine is responsible for giving the touch final to a graphical environment already well worked. The player evolves in a few hundred square meters which are full of details of all kinds: old boards, caddies, trash cans, broken windows, mattresses… We find ourselves in a real recycling center and we will have to restore order.
The uncle leads the dance
From the start, your uncle, with whom you are connected thanks to the old telephone booth outside, immerses you in the scenario. It grants you a small sum to get you started, which will have to be repaid… which is simply impossible. His "bodyguards" will immediately show you what happens when you fall behind on debts. You will need to repair the damage. But the financial part is ultimately a trifle in all the possibilities offered by Gas Station Simulator.
Mini-games in the game
As you can imagine, once the station is open, work will have to begin while providing service to the pump. The start-up tutorial is very well done and you will learn the main functions: painting, cleaning the floors, tidying up and throwing the trash cans in the containers will keep you busy for your first hours of play. Then the difficulty will rise to crescendo, with goals set by the game.
Because the pump is not the only activity, and you will have to add the word "service" to your station by offering your customers the purchase of goods such as sandwiches, ice cream, car equipment, cigarettes, drinks. , in short, all the odds and ends that you can find on a modern motorway station. This is when the stress will start to mount. The gameplay makes you juggle between the pump, the body, refueling via a control system on your computer, ensure the reception of deliveries, order fuel when the tank is empty, repair punctures, do oil changes and other auto repairs, … We quickly pull our hair out, but as we progress, Gas Station Simulator offers you a few options to relieve your pain.
This is how you can be supported by one or more employees, to whom you will give simple instructions: clean the station, refuel, or manage the cash register. Phew! You will be able to breathe…. a few minutes at most. Because random events, which can be deactivated in the game options, will quickly remind you that you are not there to sleep, despite the day / night cycle. Let's start with Dennis ...
The devil's name is Dennis
This little kid, not yet a teenager, arrives in a totally random way to tag your walls or steal your merchandise if you accidentally left the warehouse open. Most of the time, when you spot him, it's already too late, and the resort walls are already repainted with penis-shaped designs and whatnot. You will have to roll over them again to erase them. The only way to scare Dennis away is to throw whatever comes to mind right at him. We love the neighborhood in Gas Station Simulator.
Dennis is a little devil, but there are also demons. When your station is large enough, the game will suggest setting up a bus stop there, in order to have mass tourists and generate a good turnover. Except… not all buses are touristy. From time to time a bus of revelers disguised as aliens will stop at your station. You will hear it quickly, since "boom boom boom" will vibrate the walls. Disembarked customers will wreak havoc on your station and loot your merchandise stocks. Which is a good thing in itself since the turnover will rise accordingly. But it will probably be necessary to close the station a few days to clean everything.
Finally, desert forces, storms will create sand dunes on the parking lots, forcing you to take out the mini-excavator to clear away, at the risk of no longer having customers.
We could go on and on about Gas Station Simulator for hours, as there is so much micro gameplay in the game. But let's be honest, you will still be spending 80% of your time cleaning the floor and filling the shelves. The final objective is to raise your station to level 5, which represents about twenty hours of play. This is well worth the fifteen euros requested on Steam for PC players. The console version will not be available until 2022.
On video
We have prepared a playlist on our Youtube channel. Sometimes a video is better than a long speech: