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0 Gas Station Simulator: Prologue – Early Days is a casual simulation game currently in development by Drago Entertainment and Movie Games. This release is a little snippet of what we expect in the second quarter of this year when the game is released. This prologue – early days is a welcomed introduction. Gas Station Simulator: Prologue – Early Days story is around an inherited plot of land that comes with a gas station that has fallen to disrepair. Since you have inherited this land, it is now up to you to renovate it. The early day’s demo is available to download now, for free
GAS STATION SIMULATOR: PROLOGUE – EARLY DAYS, ANYONE GOT GAS?
Gameplay
I touched on the general storyline briefly in the intro. However, you soon get introduced to your Uncle, who lends you some money to get the place going. You will find yourself going back and forward, throwing trash, mattresses into the several skips around. What’s remarkable is that they have even made this fun with a scoring system for how far you get the trash into the skip.
Although the introduction to the game is a little bit tiresome, the game gets you earning money as soon as you flick the open switch from serving customers at the pumps, which turns into a mini-game where you get points for stopping the pump just as the gauge hits the target, to then customising the outside of your gas station with a lick of paint.
There is a lot to do in this game and a nice amount of variety to make sure your attention span isn’t dwindling, which I find the game does well. All the money you earn throughout the game is yours, and you can use this to invest in expansions and decorations.
The first expansion you get introduced to is purchasing additional car parking spaces. Which involves using a digger named “Rudy”. If you are not careful, you can quickly run out of fuel. Meaning you have to stop what you’re doing and refill your canister and bring it back, which can be a bit of a drag if you’re shifting your furthest away pile of sand. However, I guess this makes for a more realistic experience as doing this in real life would be the same.
You will start to be introduced to tools also. Remember me mentioning you can customise your gas station with a lick of paint. You acquire these tools via your computer/terminal in the gas station. The tools then get added to your inventory which you can find through the “tab key”.
These tools range from taking the trash out, painting your interior and exterior walls, sweeping up the pesky dunes of sand that cover your floorboards and a gas canister for filling up “Rudy”. If you have ever played House Flipper, then you will get this vibe, but a little bit more delightful.
I did spot that there were not many penalties in this game. Maybe it’s because it is a demo, or there is hardly any penalties. However, I never really encountered customers driving off if you didn’t fill up their vehicle or customers walking out of the shop in disappointment. However, they leave the shop if the place isn’t clean?
So you will find yourself endlessly cleaning your gas station and even the outside, but I was persistently on top of this! I did feel that when you build furnishings outside, the customers will use them and leave their rubbish everywhere, but you cannot pick this up? Maybe this is just a bug or part of their punishment system if your place is too clean. But I do feel as though Dennis is the real punishment. He is the most annoying little shhh going.
I did end up leaving him to crack on. But, if you walk too close to the payphone, then your game finishes with an abrupt end.
Graphics & Audio
I liked the overall look of the game, and sure, it isn’t massively detailed. However, it is a great looking game, especially running this on Nvidia GeForce GTX 2060. The soundtrack is nice and chilled. The environmental sound design is charming, with small details in the gas pumps.
Longevity
I played this game for a good 2.5/3 hours of in-game time, and I enjoyed it. Yes, there are some little bits here, which can get ironed out, but there is a sense of relaxedness. Get your favourite playlist going, and you can chill for a good few hours. Plus, there is even an RC racing track behind the gas station you can play on whilst waiting for tasks or buildings to complete and compete against other players best times.
Final Thoughts
Like I said before, there is a therapeutic element to this game that latched on to me, and I loved how chilled out I was. I could have just happily continued playing and developing my gas station. I initially didn’t think anything of Gas Station Simulator: Prologue – Early Days, but after reading the game on Steam and viewing the trailer, I loved it, and I will happily keep loving it.
Disclaimer: A code was received in order to write this review.
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