Roadside Research is a 1 to 4 player co-op game where you and your friends assume the role of aliens gathering information on humanity under the guise of gas station workers, all the while working as an advanced element for an impending invasion. It sounds like the plot of a 90s sitcom, and in many ways, it basically is, except our “faces” have been carefully selected to reflect what we believe passes as trustworthy members of society.
As a contributing member of human society, your job is to keep shelves stocked with “product”, man cashiers to “serve” our fellow humans, and refuel our customers’ primitive combustion engine vehicles. But more importantly, you must observe human behavior and probe deep into everything that makes them human.
In this current version of Roadside Research, your objective is to observe and eventually perform limited experiments on humans. The best way to do this is to maintain your cover and investing what money you saved after rendering service to restock and expand your operations. While you are working on expanding your business, you are given opportunities to collect information on the humans. This research can be processed and exchanged for better tools to get more out of the humans.
Your covert operation starts as soon as you get past the character creation screen. In typical management sim fashion, the game’s tutorials are straightforward. The game tells you how to set up the store, how to get the gas pump going, and how best to keep the gas station clean to get the approval of your patrons. Additionally, the instructions are clear enough that even if you are not well-versed in simulator games, you can quickly get a handle on what you must do.
Things only get complicated after you start gathering research material in earnest. After introducing the first set of instruments, you are essentially cut loose to do as you please. Instructions become sparse, and you don’t have a clear idea of what the next milestone is. All you know is that you need to get the next research instrument. This method of progression may be good for some gamers, but for others, it can be a point of contention.
As much as we like to think that we are superior to humans, we have to keep in mind that this is still a covert operation. Conducting research activities out in the open increases the Suspicion Meter. If the meter gets too high, government agents will pay a visit to your lovely establishment. The most intense part of the game is when you have to properly do gas station work while the agents are snooping around. It’s times like these that one must keep a low profile and not do anything to arouse even more suspicion.
Of course, there will be times when someone slips up, nearly blowing everyone’s cover. When that happens, the agents will demand that the worker perform very “human” movements. If they can’t prove that they are humans, they, along with the rest of the team, will be hunted down and liquified. Don’t worry, however. Being a superior race that’s practically immortal, clones will be sent down to continue the work as if nothing had happened.
The current set of customization options is serviceable at this point in development. We have yet to receive any crazy costumes, but what we do have fits with the setting. If you like polo shirts and tank tops, you will be ok. Future updates promise to add more options. In fact, we got a set of Easter-themed cosmetics not too long ago.
True personal expression in this game lies in the state-of-the-art disguise that’s meant to fool humans. You are able to draw the very picture of a normal human being. Or you can choose not to. Apparently, humans do not care what their servers look like, only that they are served.
The current tool and product offerings have been ok so far, albeit a bit basic for anyone seriously considering playing this game long term. By my estimation, you can get through all current content offerings in less than 20 hours if you are efficient in what you do. I’d say that’s not bad for this stage in Early Access. This allows you to put the game down after doing everything you want and then pick it up again after all the new content has been added once the game exits Early Access.
My biggest concern for the game is how limited our options are when it comes to research point acquisition and our product lineup in general. This is a problem best fixed with content drops, giving players more options and varied ways of conducting research. In the meantime, players will have to be ok with doing the same tasks for longer stretches of time as you progress through the tech tree. The same problem also applies to the product line. It is similar to the issues I faced playing Supermarket Simulator, with having to take down and reconfigure shelves when new line-ups appear constantly. But in this case, the products are a means to an end, so it’s as severe. But still, if you are in a group that doesn’t appreciate efficient store layouts, there will be some issues.
Another issue I have right now is how irrelevant the agents are in the grand scheme of things. Agents are scary, and their whole point is to create tense moments to break up moments of monotony. The problem is that even if the agents blow your cover, there are no real consequences for dying as a result of them. At best, you lose half a day’s potential income and have to pay a small resurrection fee. That’s more an inconvenience than anything else. You have defensive options like arming yourself with stun laser guns. But the lasers are there to knock the agents’ sunglasses off so you can Neuralyze them to forget what they were doing.
At this point, I am not comfortable recommending this game as a single-player experience. Not unless you are the kind of player that thrives in high-pressure situations where you are ok with your attention being split in multiple directions. Even with the Automation update, a single operative is still expected to stock up, man the cashier, and man the gas pump while not getting run over by oncoming vehicles. We will eventually get NPC help, but right now, we have to be responsible for output. Unless you’re in multiplayer and have that one player who wants to do alien things like probing humans, but the rest of the team is focused on building up the gas station to work towards the fun toys eventually. They will whine and complain and be deadweight and make up any excuse to do anything but help the team. (Sorry about the rant.)
Roadside Research is still in the early days inside Early Access. It has recently received its first big content, which introduced automation, a highly demanded feature that the community was begging for from the start. It’s still got a long way to go, but what we have is somewhat polished. The game runs perfectly on my mid-range PC. The graphics and animations do look good for a “friend slop” game. If the final product manages to incorporate more of the alien theme, instead of the alien bit being window dressing, the game might have more staying power. For instance, adding teleportation technology instead of relying on an archaic method of delivery.
Development is said to last until Q4 of 2026 and beyond. So, there’s plenty of time still to incorporate player feedback on top of the planned content expansions that are supposed to round out the experience. Regardless, the game is off to a good start, and only time will tell if the following content updates fundamentally change things in better and unexpected ways. I really hope that they do.
