Management sims have become all the rage lately. The genre has quietly taken the gaming scene in subtle and unassuming ways. While the growth to a wide audience has not been as explosive as it could have been, Supermarket Simulator has somehow managed to break through those barriers, allowing other games to reach a larger audience.
Supermarket Simulator, as its name suggests, is a simulation game in which the player builds a small corner store into a full-fledged supermarket. This transformation doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a slow and methodical build-up over many in-game days to reach the lofty heights of market dominance. You’ll also need to wear quite a few hats over the course of your very, very long playthrough. Yet somehow, even after 80 hours of playing, I have never grown tired of the game’s busywork. I actually reveled in it.
A typical day starts with you taking stock of all your products and determining which ones need to be bought. At this point, you have two options: go online and order the products you need, or go to the various stores located around the area. The online route is more convenient, but you pay full price plus shipping cost. Buying straight from the source allows you to buy at half price, but it is more time-consuming. At this point, you don’t need to worry about time since the work day doesn’t officially start until you open your door to customers.
The rest of the day sees you attending to the various needs of your customers. Earlier on, that might mean doing things like manning the cashier station and cleaning up messes as they appear. As your store grows, you will be able to hire NPCs, essentially automating the process. You still need to order the products and determine how many boxes go to storage. So, you really can’t sit on your hands for long. During the day, customers will also ask for products to be delivered to a specified location. As of the writing of this review, no NPC is capable of delivering products to customers outside the store.
Just think of it as you promoting yourself from bag boy to store manager over time. That’s how I perceive the game’s progression. You can still do all the things you’ve done since the beginning. But bear in mind that once you expand your range of products, keeping up with all aspects of the shop becomes far more exhausting.
It’s been over a year since the game entered Early Access on February 20, 2024. Over the course of a year and more, the game has seen major improvements on almost every level of play. The game no longer threatens to fall apart when you have a lot of objects on screen. It has introduced features like grocery delivery and thieves. It has even introduced new products, such as produce and alcoholic beverages. Frankly speaking, the only things that looked familiar since the Early Access days are the base products that were there from the very start.
Supermarket Simulator has changed dramatically over the course of Early Access. This game used to be a single store on a long, desolate street. Later on, the game introduced NPC helpers to ease the burden of everyday tasks. PC performance was horrible during that time. Frame rates nosedived as more boxes were stored in the back. The restocker NPCs would glitch out for no reason. Thankfully, the number of glitchy incidents has greatly gone down since the full release.
January 2025 saw the introduction of thieves and the security NPC. It was an exciting time considering how much the change affected general gameplay. A month later, fruit and vegetables become a sellable product for the store. I admit, I was floored by the changes, especially when I now have to make a dedicated produce aisle. Soon after that, the game would introduce driving, and with it, an expanded map for all the other local stores that sell products at half price.
The game is unrecognizable from what it was during Early Access. And it continues to evolve even after going full release. If I’m hearing this right, the developers currently have a multiplayer mode in beta testing. Most likely, it will go on the main game later this year. Furthermore, the game is slated for a console release on both PlayStation and Xbox.
I have worn several hats during my dozens of hours in the game. Looking back, I can’t help but feel satisfied with my humble beginnings, trying to do everything for the store by myself, to delegating tasks to the NPCs. I worked the counters, carried boxes, and even cleaned the floors when need be. Now, I handle orders while the stockers put the contents of the boxes in the right places. The most action I see all day is when a customer orders a grocery delivery. If I’m lucky, I get an offer from a producer that’s too good to pass up.
More recently, the thing that excites me the most is when I have saved enough money to buy a new licence and have to expand the store and storage space. Sometimes, I feel like changing the entire arrangement based on a new product line. For some reason, every major shake-up to the store feels like I’ve accomplished something significant, like finally beating that one annoying boss in a Souls-like game. It’s more than likely that I will continue this loop until I reach level 100. At which point, I’ll probably put the game down until the next significant update.
The graphics have never been a focus for this title. The assets are generic products you’ve seen in dozens of other games. It’s how they are used within the gameplay loop that matters to me. Don’t get me wrong, the products do look great for what they are, but let’s not pretend that these are things you find in the asset store. The in-game music is heard after buying wall-mounted speakers. You get a mix of elevator and waiting room music. I don’t mind that so much. It even fits well with the setting.
I love Supermarket Simulator because it offers hours upon hours of doing tasks that amount to a lot of busywork. That’s really appealing for someone like me, who’s generally a busybody who likes to maintain a clean checklist of tasks. Unfortunately, that progress is a double-edged sword. Past level 63, you can feel the endgame stretch out for virtual weeks on end. Reaching level 100 requires the same amount of dedication as reaching max level in a JRPG. Some people are going to like that, while others won’t. But if you are planning to pick up this title, you probably should be warned well in advance.
Supermarket Simulator does what most simulator games hope to accomplish during their time in Early Access and beyond. The game has changed in ways I didn’t think possible when I first booted it more than a year ago. And look at it now, more dynamic than I could ever imagine. It may still lack in the customization department. But judging by the upcoming content updates, I say it’s only a matter of time before we get another feature that goes above and beyond our expectations. If you love storefront simulator games, you’ll find few games that stack up to this one. Now, if you excuse me, I have a store to expand.
Supermarket Simulator (PC)
Supermarket Simulator does what most simulator games hope to accomplish during their time in Early Access and beyond.
The Good
- Addicting gameplay loop
- Added so much since Early Access
- Performance greatly improved
The Bad
- Endgame is very much drawn out
- Minor bugs and glitches
- Limited customization options
