Disco Simulator PS5 Review 7.5/10 "Can people please stop spewing on the dance floor?" 🕺🪩💃 @GamesIncubator #IndieGame #GameDev

As someone who has a partner that grew up on The Sims games, I quite fancied the idea of settling down of an evening and spending a few sessions with Disco Simulator, a game in which you run your own nightclub (I do really feel that this should have been called Nightclub Simulator, by the way, but it looks like that name was already taken). 

The game begins with a brisk tutorial that lays out the setting, you begin each scenario with certain goals in mind – reaching a certain amount of cash, hitting certain metrics etc. – and from there, you pretty much get free reign of how to run your club, from naming it through to shaking cocktails, unclogging toilets, checking tickets for entry, and ensuring that the power stays on – or will you delegate all this nonsense to your ever-growing team of staff?

As you should expect from a simple isometric game, Disco Simulator runs incredibly smoothly on the PS5 at 60fps, the music – whilst nothing trailblazing – is suited to the setup and can be skipped or laid up as you see fit, meaning you can have some banging tunes pumping out, or maybe dial it back so it’s more of a backdrop to the on-screen nightclub action as opposed to front and centre. 

As with a lot of isometric games that feel like they would be far more practical with keyboard and mouse control, the UI accessibility is vital here , and Disco Simulator handles it very well in keeping the level of choice pretty deep with regard to what you can do and the level of control that you have whilst also keeping it relatively accessible and easy to navigate. 

From selecting the correct environmental items, sofas, bars, dancefloor layout etc. through to partitioning off where the toilets are and the order in which people queue for facilities – the game gives you a level of control that ensures that your club feels personalised to you without being overwhelming or feeling too micro-managed. This does mean that there’s a layer of breeziness that could see some players wishing they had a deeper level of customisation over more minute aspects, but as a laymen to this genre, the balance felt right for me.

The game is effectively split over two sessions, the day – in which you spend cash on staff and facilities, laying everything out to your tastes etc. - and the evenings which will see various shenanigans going on at your budding business. People will try to get in with fake tickets, equipment will break down, folks will clog toilets, spew, and leave litter everywhere – all of which either require your staff to be delegated to said circumstance, or for you to complete a little mini-game / hold down a button to resolve. 

I have to say, checking tickets is quite a fun affair, and selecting the right cocktail ingredients for various drinks nets you a tidy bonus sum, so it is worth handling these personally, especially if you are after a bump in cash. That said, you could stay ‘hands off’ and instead ramp up your drink and ticket costs to get the moolah rolling in…but at the risk of driving away customers.

SUMMARY
Disco Simulator is very neat little game that runs extremely well with without flashiness. 

It doesn’t bog you down in the more tedious aspects of managing a night club, but for some – that balance may swing the wrong way. 

If you are a personal that likes to get your head in micromanaging individual spreadsheet breakdown in forensic detail Disco Simulator won’t be for you, but if you want an approachable simulator with fun – instead of a calculator – at its heart, then dive in and get jiving!

7.5/10

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(also available on Xbox, Windows)

Developer – Games Incubator

Publisher – Ultimate Games S.A  Rating