Drago Entertainment hasreleased a new trailerfor theMotel Simulator, one of the next games in the shared simulator universe they’re building aroundGas Station Simulator. On top of that,they’ve also providedsome screenshots ofRoad Diner Simulatorand reminded us that theJunkyard CarsDLC is still on the way forGas Station Simulator.
This teaser is one of the first looks into the game (not featuring actual gameplay) and is one of the few real announcements made about the game in over a year. It essentially pans across a shady highway motel before zooming out and replacing it with a more flashy and modern one in a sequence that reminds me ofThe Sims(the first one).
It tells us very little. I’m interested to know if the little meth lab trailer is actually a gameplay mechanic. Like, do you accommodate the meth lab, or are you supposed to evict them somehow? If we dig in, there’s maybe a shade ofGas Station Simulatorin the fact that there seems to be a little convenience store at the back of the parking lot. Maybe cleaning rooms (if that’s a feature) and handling customers doesn’t take up that much time, so they needed to add stocking shelves.
In a separate news post, the developer also talks aboutRoad Diner Simulator, which received itsown teaser last year. The three games are said to have crossover progress, with decisions made in one title affecting the others. However, this hasn’t really been clearly explained, perhaps because it’s a work-in-progress.
The news post forRoad Diner Simulatorlargely focuses around new screenshots without much solid detail. In fact, the opening paragraph suggests they’re going to discuss how the three games link together, but when it comes to that, they preface using the word “might” and then outline supply chain interactions before closing by saying that would probably be too ambitious.
I enjoyedGas Station Simulatorback in 2021, and then subsequentlydid not enjoyFood Truck Simulator. I’ve played some of the DLC forGas Station Simulator, and it seems to have difficulty iterating on the core concept. The recent Tidal Wave DLC, for example, was essentially the same game but in a different location with worse balancing.
If I speculate on what’s going on here, I feel like Drago Entertainment suffers from poor planning. Obviously, I’m not privy to all the challenges the team faces, but I’m basing this assumption on obvious signs of feature creep and half-baked additions. It seems to me that they will get an idea and then plow right into it without appropriate prototyping and pre-production to ensure everything comes together properly. The ambition is admirable, but the execution is where it counts.
However, I’m still ready to try outMotel SimulatorandRoad Diner Simulator. I have a fondness for janky representations of mundane work, so my expectations are set appropriately
NeitherMotel SimulatornorRoad Diner Simulatorhave a release date. PC is the only announced platform.
