Pet Shop Simulator Prologue Review: Next Chapter, Please (PC)

Pet Shop Simulator is what you get when you combine Nintendo Pets with management simulator games, and although it has only debuted as a prologue so far, it’s pretty dang glorious. As much as I loved caring for pets back on my Nintendo DS, that kind of constant care can become monotonous after some time. Your objective as a new shop owner is to not only ensure the happiness and quality of life for the creatures in your care but to build up your shop to become the most successful on the block.

In Pet Shop Simulator’s Prologue, you get to build up your shop and arrange different rooms including a break room for your workers and a warehouse for your stock. Experience a variety of customers who will come looking for supplies for their pets at home or are looking to adopt a new pet of their own. This game combines different aspects around the store so you are never bored between arranging your shop, keeping items in stock, and even taking up the retail work yourself. Welcome to Petco Simulator.

Pet Shop Simulator is currently in early access and is completely free on Steam. The game only has three days where it showcases a tutorial on how you accomplish tasks around the store, but players can continue for longer if they like. If you’re excited about this game’s release, don’t forget to check out our other cozy, simulator games!

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Story – Experiencing the Prologue

Pet Shop Simulator is very much in its early stages, but it has unlocked a demo version for players to become familiar with what is to be expected in the full game. In the prologue, players are given their shop and walked through the tutorial of all the basics thus far. However, that means there isn’t a lot of story to get into. Much like how you would expect a story to unfold in a game like The Sims, the story unravels the longer you play it and right now, players only have three actual days of gameplay that gets them comfortable with the mechanics.

In later updates, game devs promise that there will be more types of customers who come up with more challenges and questions for the player. For right now though, players can just take their time to enjoy the simple management game as they become more familiar with the controls and the best business practices for their future pet shop.

“Starting from the Bottom.” Pet Shop Simulator

Gameplay – A Taste of What’s to Come

Pet Shop Simulator’s Prologue highlights some of the most important features players will be focusing on in the main game. These components involve customizing your store, managing the different wares and animals in your facility, and handling the retail side of the business by helping customers and keeping healthy animals for customers to take home.

The build mechanics as of the prologue are my least favorite experience throughout the game. You can only build when there are no customers or workers in the building, so the best time to build is at night when the store is closed. And while there are quite a few rooms and wares the player can experiment with, the controls are a bit hard to grasp. If the camera and rotation for examining the entirety of the building were more flexible, players would be able to zoom in, zoom out, rotate the landscape, and edit more efficiently like they would in a Sims game. So far, you aren’t able to do that which can make grabbing certain items that overlay with another furnishing in the game quite difficult.

“Assigning Rooms in Your Shop.” Pet Shop Simulator

Since there is only so much for the prologue to showcase, a lot of features are locked such as different rooms, expanding the building, and certain design choices. But the possibilities to customize the layout and the currently locked functions promise a more fledged-out shop that players can use to make their shops all the more unique.

Management is important when it comes to simulators, you need to make enough money to sell wares and afford upgrades so it’s always a tricky balance where you aim to make more than you’re spending. Pet Shop Simulator makes the ordering process quick and efficient by having the player make orders from a tablet on hand, and then proceed to gather the shipment once it’s delivered. The way the product hops into place automatically when shelving is very pleasing to watch and always kept organized so you don’t ever have to fix it manually. Just be sure to remember where you place products because customers will be asking to be guided toward certain items and animals.

The next part of the game revolves around the retail aspect where players can actually play the role of being on the floor; cleaning after customers, caring for the animals, maintaining clean cages, and even checking out customers at the cash register. It’s a bit janky, but not in a way that made the experience difficult or foreign. Players scan items that customers bring by, retrieve the money, exchange change if needed, and hand everything back with the customer’s receipt.

“Do You Have More in the Back?” Pet Shop Simulator

Occasionally, customers will also need help on the floor, because in such a large shop, it can get confusing where items are. So players can lead customers around, showing customers items and animals, only progressing the store’s reputation. But that’s certainly not all. I happened to notice some strange behavior in one of the NPCs around the store and was quite confused. They had handled some items and carried a shopping bag but a strange animation occurred and then the shopping bag was gone. After speaking with them, I discovered that I had caught them shoplifting! In order to make sure you’re not losing money in your business, it’s important to keep a vigilant eye out for those who would take advantage of the fact that theft detectors have not been unlocked in the game yet.

This is just some of what the game promises to offer once it’s out as a complete version. But even as a prologue, there’s still so much to experience within the three days given to you to get a sense of what the game will be like. Shortly after its release, the developers, GameIncubator, allowed players to continue to play the game without the three-day limit. While there will be items and upgrades that are still locked, you can continue to experience what the prologue offers in case you spent most of the game putzing around, trying to figure out what does what like me.

“Dealing with Thieves.” Pet Shop Simulator

Graphics & Sound – True to The Sims Without Simmish Language

“Insert Finding Nemo Reference Here.” Pet Shop Simulator

There is something incredible Sims and indie when it comes to the simple but pleasant graphics of Pet Shop Simulator. For the first ten minutes of my time playing the game, I was transfixed and following after the leaves outside the shop before actually talking to one of the characters who would lead me into the shop. The character design of the customers is hilarious and quite charming in its own right, taking me back even further to when I played The Sims on the Gameboy Advance. The animals follow in much the same way where they are simplistic but provide for very nostalgic graphics. Again, reminding me of Nintendo Pets in a lot of ways.

The sound design isn’t too involved, it’s got simple music in the back that’s catchy but quiet enough while the player is managing how much cat food they need to buy. The ping prompts to let you know when a cage is clean are very satisfying and let you know when your task is complete.

The game code for Pet Shop Simulator was generously provided by gameparic.com.