Supermarket Simulator

Overall, I found Cart by Cart: Supermarket Simulator to be okay. I didn’t love it, but I didn’t hate it. It was an amusing way to pass an evening, but I don’t think I would pick it up again. It wasn’t buggy or poorly made, it just didn’t feel as fun to play as others in the genre.

Grocery retail may seem like an odd subject for a sim game, but Supermarket Simulator absolutely pulls it off. It's seriously satisfying to see your store go from strength to strength, though it's a tad frustrating you can't delegate ordering.

Supermarket Simulator is incredibly addictive, and I spent a lot more time with this one than I was anticipating. After seeing various streams earlier in the year for this one and the plethora of very positive reviews on Steam, I am not surprised this one is faring very well. This is possibly one of the deepest simulators I’ve played in some time. The game isn’t just about buying stock and stacking shelves; it’s about growing your business and managing the logistics of driving your profit margins. It’s a fun time, whether playing solo or co-op with up to four players. For £16.74 on Xbox Series X|S, it is well worth the money for the amount of potential hours of gameplay. At the moment, though, it is a no-brainer to at least give it a go if you have an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription.

All in all, what do we think? The game sure has a lot of content, but the pacing can be a bit slow if you are impatient like me. The gameplay itself is fun and doesn’t feel too repetitive or grindy, at least not for me, even though you basically do the same thing every day. Some of the customers can be a little stupid, but let’s be real: that only makes it more realistic. Now, this is not to say that the game has no flaws. There are some controversies around this game related to its art, which has (allegedly) got a very strong AI feel to it. A lot of people seem to be bothered by this, especially since the use of AI would need to be disclosed on the Steam page. However, this has not really been confirmed and is still a bit up in the air. Another big issue is the fact that there is no key remapping, so unless you change your keyboard language, the game is near impossible to play on certain keyboards. This is also quite an accessibility flaw, as some people prefer to remap keys for comfort or convenience. For me, this game doesn’t stick out all too much among the countless other simulation games that dropped in the past year, but it’s definitely up there with the better ones. It delivers what it promises, has a fun gameplay loop and gives you a good chunk of content. That being said, today I am giving Supermarket Simulator the Thumb Culture Gold Award.