Gaming doesn’t have to always be serious business. We’re all cool folks. We like to laugh and have fun with ourselves. We understand the charm of a well-timed fart joke. Seven dirty world diatribes are great. But we’re in the middle of a calamity, perhaps even a catastrophe. Or, should I say cat-astrophe, since Catlateral Damage is among the many games that might make you realize the whole simulator shtick has gone too far.
It was cool when it was just Surgeon Simulator , and even Goat Simulator wasn’t that bad. These were among the first of the whole “wouldn’t it be crazy if we went into a madcap physics sandbox as an odd character” genre. They were good, too. Surgeon Simulator had actual points to it, where some could eventually develop skills that would allow them to be the best Dr. Nick Riviera they could be. Goat Simulator had enough hidden objectives to make playing around fun.
But now, we’ve reached a point where the games are getting a little too pointless. These simulators are existing just for the purpose of saying, “Hey! You liked Goat Simulator! Now be a cat! Or a bear! Or a weird version of Gabe Newell!” I’m not kidding about that last one, by the way. It’s a real, $3 game that’s about as good as you’d expect it to be (I’ve played it. It’s not very).
The joke simulators have taken over, and not in a good way. Look on Steam, iTunes, or Google Play. You’ll be inundated by entries that all offer a firsthand experience or strange adventures. And some of them have their merits. The developer of Bear Simulator really tried his best. Even Catlateral Damage has its moments. But then we also get games like Ampu-Tea , Cat Simulator , or Grass Simulator and it feels like the joke’s on us.
Creativity is a wonderful thing, and it isn’t a bad thing that these games exist. But we shouldn’t be seeing so many of them. They’re clogging up our favorite digital distributors. Instead of making positive progress toward new things, we’re getting caught up in a fad because people want to see how outrageous and silly they can be.
We get it. Ha ha. It was funny for a while. And yes, we did get some gems out of it. Games like Goat Simulator, Surgeon Simulator , and I am Bread are pretty great. But it’s time we move forward. Better, greater things await us, if we’re willing to collectively agree the joke simulator genre isn’t funny anymore.
Image Credit: Morgane Delcourt