March 20, 2024 - Day 445 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 480

Game: Train Station Renovation

Platform: Steam
Released: Oct 1, 2020
Installed: Feb 2, 2024
Unplayed: 47d (1m18d)
Playtime: 69m

Train Station Renovation is a first-person work simulator.

I find work simulators quite hit-and-miss on two axes.

The first is whether I'm interested in the underlying work. A couple of years ago I stumbled across House Flipper, when I was deep in a depressive episode.

It was an incredibly chill way to find focus, and presented me with a to-do list, and a sense of satisfaction moving in creating order out of chaos.

The second is the UI for achieving those goals. It needs to be intuitive, and essentially disappear, allowing me to get on with my to-do list.

Train Station Renovation aims at the first one, in bringing order out of chaos, but somehow fails miserably on the second one.

I found myself constantly tripping over myself with the UI, which took me out of the zone repeatedly.

The sense of satisfaction in finishing the station and handing it over was good, but the frustration involved in getting to that point with Train Station Renovation left me feeling pretty:

2: Meh

#TrainStationRenovation #FirstPerson #WorkSimulator #Gaming #ProjectONG

February 29, 2024 - Day 425 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 461

Game: House Builder

Platform: Steam
Released: Jan 16, 2024
Installed: Jun 21, 2023
Unplayed: 27d
Playtime: 21m

House Builder is a first person building simulator. While being fundamentally the same theme as Builder Simulator that I reviewed last year, the thing that it manages to do is be more fun.

Developed by the same team that designed the Car Mechanic Simulator series (which I own, and enjoy), House Builder brings those dev skills to bear on building houses instead of fixing cars.

They acquit themselves reasonably well, for what it is. While it's not quite as boring & frustrating, Builder Simulator, at its core it's still a work simulator, just about building houses.

If you like building houses, maybe this will work for you. It's the kind of game I would absolutely need to be in the mood for, which shares mental space with Car Mechanic Simulator, Power Wash Simulator, or House Flipper, but all of them feel more rewarding.

Still, House Builder is:

3: OK

#HouseBuilder #FirstPerson #WorkSimulator #Gaming #ProjectONG

October 27, 2023 - Day 300 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 319

Game: Not Tonight

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Aug 17, 2018
Installation Date: Oct 21, 2023
Unplayed: 6d
Playtime: 36m

Not Tonight is a pixel-art work simulator based in a post-Brexit Britain, where a fascist government has taken over, and as a "Euro" with part European heritage and the right papers, you have to fight with an authoritarian bureaucracy in an attempt to remain in a country that wants you out.

To do this you work as a gig-economy bouncer at a pub.

I played for 36 minutes, doing the same job over and over, and if the gameplay loop extends beyond this, I don't feel like playing any longer to

Not Tonight is:

2: Meh

#NotTonight #PixelArt #WorkSimulator #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay