Games should be interesting, right? Well, what If I told you that there was a whole game genre that is basically just boring jobs turned into slightly less boring games? From power washing someone’s driveway to driving a slow truck for hours, there really is a game for everyone. The stereotypical “boring” job is usually being an office worker, this is because you stay in a cubical for hours. Well, many games have turned something like this into surprisingly fun well-made games, one of which being Job Simulator. Job Simulator actually has multiple of these jobs, most of which are boring in real life. From being a store clerk to a gourmet chef, the game turns these into small experiences, and I used the word small for a reason. The game doesn’t offer much replay-ability because after you get robbed as a store clerk twice it just isn’t fun. The game does try to keep you playing by adding an endless mode cause infinite overtime, but it still doesn’t keep you playing for much longer.
So, are all of these “boring job” simulators actually boring? No, some are actually pretty fun games that can keep you playing for a long time. House Flipper being the first example. The name gives it away, House Flipper is all about flipping houses. Which seems boring at first but gets addicting after you learn how to play. The game has a pretty simple gameplay loop, you buy a cheap run-down house, you renovate it by cleaning all the weird stains and fix all the broken electronics, then you sell it to the bundle of buyers who all have their own unreachable standards, and then do the same again. This seems boring at first, but everyone’s house is (usually) completely different, with some being an underground bunker all the way to a haunted house with full-on jump scares. House Flipper offers an assortment of helpful tools, you can do the bare minimum and just clean up what you have to… or you can completely change the house. You can change nearly anything from the color of the walls to the material on the floors. Sadly, the game doesn’t let you move the front/back doors or any windows, but the game is still most definitely worth the price even if it’s not on sale.
What’s the next step after cleaning a house? The answer is cleaning the driveway and exterior walls. Powerwash Simulator is even simpler than the other games in this article because the main gameplay focus is holding your left mouse button and occasionally having to move a bit in-game. This doesn’t make the game less fun though, this game acts more like a casual game because of how simple and relaxing it is to play and have a movie or tv show running on your other monitor (if you have one). The game does have some depth at least, with you being able to use an assortment of different nozzles. You can also add attachments to your power washer as if you are modifying a gun. You’re able to add stuff like a longer nozzle to be able to shoot water further or you can add a spinner to your small nozzle to… well actually the spinner kind of sucks but if you have the money to waste, or don’t, it’s a fun little gimmick. There is also a spray bottle in your cleaning arsenal that without any external cleaning liquids kind of just removes the dust, but after adding a cleaning liquid this spray bottle is even faster than anything else. The spray bottles have a really short range but a huge spray that if you need to clean pavement or deck it’s easy to look down and remove half of the dirt. The spray bottle does get a little costly because you have to buy the cleaning liquids in liters which means you have to refill them, but usually you are just going to use it for a head start before you get into the cleaning. Powerwash Simulator has a huge amount of maps, some being as small as cleaning a bike while some being as big as cleaning a whole playground. The game overall is a wholesome masterpiece that is worth the price and is even on Xbox’s game pass.
Aside from cleaning games, there are still a whole lot of boring jobs, one of which being the owner of an internet café. Now it may not be as boring as some other jobs but being an internet café owner would definitely get boring considering how a big percentage of your job is monitoring your computers and allowing people onto them. Luckily there have actually been two internet café games, but we’re just going to talk about the second one. Internet Café 2 may not be as polished and can be a little rough looking at parts, but don’t let that discourage you because the jank just adds to the game. The game is simple at first considering all you have to do is wait for people to come into your internet café and allow them to clean. I suggest you buy games at first because it will help you get higher reviews earlier on. You get a whole range of “official” games that you can buy on the game’s version of steam. Internet Café 2 has a whole range of different faces that you’ll run into while playing it, you’ve got a blue Squid Game knockoff that comes into your store and blows it up (which doesn’t actually damage any of your electronics it just moves/unplugs them.) You’ve also got a thief who will take a random item in your café and run off with it, and you’ve also got xQc who… does nothing and kind of just acts like a random civilian. Throughout Internet Café 2 you slowly get better computers, better setups and more room. Now I would say that this game is worth the price, but it can be pretty tedious at parts so honestly, it’s probably better to wait for a sale.
There’s a whole load of these “boring job” simulators, I personally think they work so well because of the simplicity. Most of the jobs these games take inspiration from aren’t the worst of the worst, but the reason why they don’t recreate the worst ones is that those are way too complicated to be turned into a small fun game. Overall, I think this is a nice little trend and is definitely better than the simulation genre staying as its old self, which is just the same games rereleased every year with a different number on the end of the title, though there are still some of those games slipping through the tracks.