Buy an abandoned gas station and restore it to its full glory.
Gas Station Simulator is a business simulation game developed by DRAGO Entertainment and published by Movie Games, S.A. and Heartbeat Games. The game was released on Steam on September 15, 2021.In the game the player takes on the role on an entrepreneur who has just purchased an abandoned gas station right in the middle of a desert. The player must fix the gas station up and then open it and start serving customers. The player has to look at customer demands and change the business model of the gas station, such as what is sold and at what price, while also making sure the gas station can operate profitably.
Upon its release, DRAGO Entertainment has set about working on a couple of expansions which will interface with the gas station but do not require it to play:
- Road Diner Simulator:. The player character is now tasked with renovating and running a successful Greasy Spoon.
- Motel Simulator: This adds the Dusty Motel to the map, with all of the hard work that comes with it.
This game contains examples of the following tropes:
- Adam Smith Hates Your Guts: A mild aversion. The various goods you can purchase to resell have fluctuating market value, with the player encouraged to wait for them to lower down so that the profit margins will be greater from reselling them.
- Ambiguous Time Period: On the one hand, you read emails by checking your computer terminal, but on the other, even the people coming to the station seem as stuck in the past as the station itself, as they all have "classic" cars with the same old-timey circular rear-view mirrors to replace.
- An Entrepreneur Is You: The player must fix up the gas station and then run it in a way that satisfies customers while also making sure the station is running profitably.
- Bland-Name Product: All of the various foodstuffs you can sell are this. For instance, Toppi is a clear alternative to Pepsi.
- Bratty Half-Pint: The aptly named Dennis, a child who often runs amok around the station dropping stink bombs and spray-painting the walls. You can throw something at him to drive him off, and there's an option to turn him off entirely if you don't feel like coping with his mischief.
- Downloadable Content: DRAGO has steadily added more functionality to the base game, among them more patterns to decorate the buildings, a small amusement park neighboring the station, a Bad Guy Bar where you can make under-the-table deals and sell your own moonshine, and even an airstrip to fuel up planes.
- Excuse Plot: You just bought an abandoned gas station. Fix it up, and then open and run it. Things become more complicated when your Uncle gets involved.
- Family-Values Villain: Your Uncle, who emphasizes your family ties while asking you to pay off your loan and who seems genuinely upset when a miscommunication with his gang causes you to be beaten after mistakenly being given an impossible loan to pay off in such a small amount of time.
- The Greys: Every so often, a bus full of aliens will come dancing into the station, making a colossal mess but also spending a lot of money if you have the resources available for them.
- Loan Shark: Your uncle, simply known as The Uncle, whose father owned the land the station occupies, and he is insistent that your debts will be paid on time on pain of assault and battery.
- The Needless: The player character goes night and day without food or sleep. Averted with his hired employees, who have a fatigue meter and will leave the station as soon as it runs down.
- Old Save Bonus: Road Diner and Motel Simulator will both influence this game, and vice versa.
- Renovating the Player Headquarters: You're encouraged to make the station your own, able to decorate your living quarters and the surrounding space how you see fit, as well as purchase additional amenities such as a mechanic's garage and a car wash.
- Resources Management Gameplay: Right from the beginning, you have to constantly order resupplying of the station's fuel tank. As you add more and more features, there's also snacks, beverages, and various knick-knacks to stock and sell inside, a garage to replace car parts in, and so on. Above all, there's only one of you to start, so you constantly juggle the need to be present for all of these things (customers don't even pump their own gas) until you're able to hire employees to spread the workload out.
- Sewer Gator: A big one named Gustave lives under the station. He enjoys being fed garbage.
- Ungrateful Bastard: When on checkout duty, customers will complain when you accidentally drop items in their basket without scanning it first. One would think people would be ecstatic to get free shopping.
- Video Game Stealing: You eventually acquire a lockpick, and your uncle encourages you to use it to break into cars. You have two chances to succeed each time; fail both and the alarm goes off, bringing the customer running back. This can also be turned back on you if you leave your warehouse doors open; people might steal from your supplies.
- Where the Hell Is Springfield?: The gas station is located somewhere along Route 66, but it is not specifically mentioned where on the highway it is, and all the cars conspicuously lack license plates that could identify where they're from. The Arizona sticker on the payphone implies it's on that state's stretch of the route, which would be consistent with the desert environment, but that's still a pretty large area.
