There’s a lot of these first-person “simulator” games out there on PC, where you do menial tasks and sometimes managerial duties in the first person perspective, with some hefty, charming jank associated with it.
But here’s another one of those that doesn’t seem like another one of those. Roadside Research is an upcoming co-op simulator where you tend to a gas station. The first twist is that this can be played co-op, obviously. But the second? You’re all aliens, undercover.
Couldn’t you tell? They blend in so well with their disguises (literally a piece of paper on their face with drawn expressions), truly advanced beings, these aliens.
The goal in Roadside Research to gather intel on humans for an upcoming invasion, and you do so by tending to the roadside gas station as normally as you can. There’s a suspicion meter that you and your fellow not-aliens must keep track off, as acting too sus will get the attention from government officials. So play it cool, cook and clean the workplace, restock the shelves, serve customers and only then you can get the dirt on those pesky humans.
Like most of these first-person simulators, you can upgrade your business, but in Roadside Research, there’s two upgrade trees: one for the gas station, the other for alien research.
Co-op is optional, should you wish to experience Roadside Research solo.
The game is published by Oro Interactive and developed by Cybernetic Walrus, which debuted with an anti-gravity racing game called Antigraviator before pivoting to making first-person games with the horror game Order 13, released earlier this March.
Roadside Research will be out later this year on PC (Steam).