Keeping gamers updated on the explosion of simulator announcements this week

For those craving a very specific dose of reality in their gaming, there have been a surge in simulator games over the years and this week alone has seen multiple announcements ranging from driving to repairing complex machinery.

Create your own bus timetables for endless entertainment

Bus Driver Simulator: Countryside from UIG Entertainment is a special version of the original game Bus Driver Simulator: Murom and gives gamers the opportunity to traverse the picturesque villages of Russia as well as the small town of Murom, whilst ferrying their passengers and keeping to a strict schedule.

The challenges of the countryside such as unpaved roads, traffic jams and long-distance night-time driving will test any budding bus driver and with the new ability to create your own timetables and customise your vehicles, the game – now available on Playstation 4 and Xbox One – should satisfy those desperate to get behind the big wheel.

Excalibur have said players can go hunting in the surrounding large open-world area

Ranch Simulator has been announced by Excalibur Games to hit the Epic Games Store next February in Early Access and will be an open world multiplayer – as the title suggests – ranch simulator.

Developed by Russian indie developer Toxic Dog, it promises a deep and rich ranching experience which will involve you (or with three friends in four-player co-op) to return your old grandfather’s pride and joy back into the most prosperous ranch in the region. Players will need to buy tools from the local hardware store, purchase vehicles, renovate and construct barns as well as look after livestock with regular feeding and watering.

No ranching experience is complete without the need to head out on the hunt and Excalibur have confirmed the large open-world environment outside your homestead will be teeming with wildlife for you and your trusty rifle. But, that comes with risk as you and fellow hunters may become the hunted, with hungry wolves and bears rejecting the notion of simply being tools to aid your off-grid dream.

The game will be available on the Epic Games Store on 10th February 2022 and is available for pre-purchase now.

Ever wanted to role-play as the mechanic of the Mars Rover and what it would be like to faithfully maintain it while solving technical problems? Well, you are in luck as Rover Mechanic Simulator launches on Playstation 4 today and will be coming to Nintendo Switch in 2022.

The game was developed by Polish studio Pyramid Games S.A and was previously released on PC and the Xbox family of consoles. It allows gamers to complete various assignments such as analysing problems, finding solutions, printing materials with 3D printing and there are several different Rover types included (each reproduced on the basis of NASA technical documentation). The progress in the game translates into character development and publisher Ultimate Games promise at least ‘several hours of fun’ with its relaxing and educational gameplay.

If role-playing in Mars isn’t enough for you, then perhaps Spaceflight Simulator will satiate any astro-mechanical desires.

Developed by Slovenian Stefo Mai Morojna and his team in Maribor, the game promises to use real-life physics where astronauts and engineers build their own rockets and explore the universe. Space enthusiasts that know their catalytic decomposition engines from their plasma ones will be right at home with the level of detail involved as players can build finely crafted rockets from essential parts to eventually reach the stars. Additionally you will be able to land on planets in a solar system realistically sized to simulate the grand scale of celestial objects, with accurate terrains, climates and gravity pulls for a true-to-life experience.

The game will be released on Steam in Early Access on 25th January and has already seen success on the App Store and Google Play with a combined 300 million rockets fired into space and an impressive 30,000 member Discord server to aid new players get their bearings. Included in the Steam Early Access launch is the previously released paid content for mobile users, Parts, Skins, Planets and Bundle DLC which allows gamers to survey Jupiter and its four moons right off the bat alongside new parts for rocket-building and exclusive ship skins for PC users. Morojna has already promised a Nintendo Switch version will be released in tandem with the 1.0 release on Steam later in 2022.

In the very niche and often ignored sci-fi body-horror market tycoon game genre, comes Strange Scaffold’s new release, the also brilliantly named Space Warlord Organ Trading Simulator. The Texas studio announced this week that the game will be available on the Xbox family of consoles, Gamepass for PC and Steam on December 7th.

The unique title will be an action-based economics game, challenging players to fulfil orders for clients, scour the market for the best deals and keep organs in cargo bays from killing each other. Strange Scaffold have stated that players “will also monitor market trends, sell organ stocks, investigate opposing organ traders and upgrade their cargo hold in preparation for another day in the intergalactic organ-trading rat race.”

The game promises complex cargo mechanics, a constantly shifting trade environment and a wide array of quests, events and items – it’s seemingly the sci-fi body horror market tycoon game you didn’t know you needed!