No wonder it’s a Steam bestseller

When I first started Gas station simulator, a game that spent the last week tearing up the Steam charts, my first thought was “God damn this place is a dump!” At the start of the game, you inherit an abandoned gas station from your uncle, who I’m pretty sure is gang-affiliated. Your goal is simple: pay your uncle back, renovate the station, and serve the lost travelers until you operate the best gas station “somewhere on route 66”. Your life could depend on it.

Gas station simulatorr, developed by DRAGO Entertainment, released on Steam in September, although it is slated for release on Xbox and PlayStation in 2022. As a former trader, Gas station simulator both itch my muscle memory to be proficient under pressure while also reminding me of how pits customer service jobs are.

From the start, Gas station simulator waste no time familiarizing yourself with their throwing mechanism. By picking up any of the items littering your new gas station, you can play a mini-game where you throw garbage in a dumpster. The game also tracks the distance of your baskets. This mechanic becomes important for the maintenance of the gas station.

Throughout the game, you receive phone calls and emails filled with advice from your uncle on how to better run the gas station. The uncle doesn’t mince his words, often reminding you that he pays all my expenses out of the goodness of his heart. I better not slack off!

If you can’t make enough money in one day, like I did at one point, a muscular guy will put you right in the face. Soon you will wake up outside your gas station to be greeted by your uncle who calls the incident a misunderstanding. He then “encourages” you to make sure the gas station is generating a lot of revenue. Yeah, I’m pretty sure your uncle is Walter White of the gas station empire.

But like everything, practice makes perfect.

In Gas station simulator, your micromanagement skills must be up to par. You should consider your inventory and fuel levels and place replenishment orders that will not be delivered immediately. Whether it’s sweeping the floor for the fifth time in five minutes or picking up the trash your customers leave in the store, you’re in charge. Even when people just leave a fish lying around your station. Who do this ?

My fellow traders know the feeling of taking shipments during business hours. Gas station simulator effectively expresses the feeling of running like a chicken with its head cut off, while still trying to complete tasks. Panic is part of the experience. For example, at some point you might fill up customers’ gas tanks, but you too have a line of people waiting at the checkout while dealing with an impatient customer who needs something, and … you get the picture. Once you get into a pace of moving through the tasks, however, the repetition is somewhat relaxing. This too is a balance. If you move too fast, you could drop food off the counter or skimp on their gas.

My favorite activity in the game has to be customization and remodeling. You can paint the entire station and decide the orientation of its shelves. You can also choose which new equipment you add outside of your station. Of course, the developers realized this couldn’t be fun and called on Dennis to shake things up.

Dennis is a demonic child who sometimes shows up with a bunch of spray cans and graffiti to smear your newly painted walls. It also leaves stink bombs. The game encourages you to throw garbage on this boy to make him go away. At one point, I cleaned the place too well where I had nothing around me to throw at him.

I enjoyed my time to play Gas station simulator. It was very easy to lose track of time while playing because once you get into a beat you become a retail machine. I felt a lot like the only guy living in Buford, Wyoming, when it came to managing all aspects of gas station operations. There is a bit of jank here, like teleporting characters or buggy cars. But I found the bugs funnier than anything else. Pro tip: don’t close the garage door of your delivery truck too quickly!