At the moment plenty of us are locked up at home, social distancing, and working remotely. The COVID-19 virus had an impact on day-to-day life, from the serious concerns over health and safety through to the economic damage. What better way is there for gamers to spend their leisure time than with a facsimile of that very experience via Coronavirus Quarantine Simulator?
Developed by Fancy + Punk, Coronavirus Quarantine Simulator follows in the footsteps of many other outlandish simulator games that have sprouted up in the indie scene over the last few years. The game comes complete with physics-based chaos and an irreverent feel, trying to bring the style of play seen in titles like Cooking Simulator into our contemporary climate. Unfortunately the game does not hold up in comparison to the best that the simulator genre has to offer.
Coronavirus Quarantine Simulator follows a rather strict gameplay loop. The player needs to look after their Sims-esque personal needs such as social interaction, hunger, energy, and mental health, with refilling the hunger meter in particular relying upon the completion of a couple of mini games. All of this has to be done while abiding safety measures for COVID-19, such as social distancing and washing hands.
Predominantly the player's needs are met with simple button presses while stationary inside their apartment hub. Clicking on the plants on a shelf will give a boost to mental health, while clicking on the guitar or on the bookshelf will increase the sense of self improvement. It's extremely basic, and can barely be considered gameplay, but each button press reduces the players restfulness and hunger bar - and this is where Coronavirus Quarantine Simulator offers up its real gameplay.
The player needs to cook food to sate their hunger but their kitchen is empty, and so they must traipse off to the local supermarket to get what they need. Coronavirus Quarantine Simulator comes with a variety of recipes, and the player must pick up the appropriate ingredients to make their chicken curry or fish and chips. Within the supermarket, this then becomes a vague stealth game with a hyped-up physics engine as they try to dance around the other shoppers and throw their items into the cart.
This can be mildly entertaining in small doses, grabbing meat and vegetables and tentatively moving their shopping cart around to avoid items flying out in defiance of gravity. However it's rather basic and a far cry from the beautiful nonsense that games like Untitled Goose Game are able to create, with only a couple of other shoppers walking in random routes to contend with. Awkwardly enough, it feels extremely tame in comparison to the pressures of trying to shop and social distance in reality.
Upon completion of a successful shopping trip, the player then needs to remember to wash their hands. This part feels like a very simplistic take on Surgeon Simulator, and although not exactly fun at least acts as a light joke that sees the player dropping points if they forget to do it. When the hand washing is done, it's a matter of rinse and repeat for the rest of the gameplay elements until the player slips up and gets a Game Over.
Overall Coronavirus Quarantine Simulator feels quite milquetoast, particularly when compared to other simulator games. Given the subject matter there's a lot more that could be done here, such as the potential for ingredients to run out at the supermarket, or maybe the inclusion of much more aggressive shoppers who refuse to socially distance akin to acclaimed indie horror game Night of the Consumers.
Because of this, Coronavirus Quarantine Simulator feels like a surprising missed opportunity. There was potential for this to be an enjoyable satire of our current situation, and to bring some laughs and camaraderie to what is a difficult place for many. Unfortunately the end result is mainly dull and bland, and although its shopping gameplay has some merit, it's not enough to warrant spending time with the game, regardless of how much extra free time potential players may have.
Coronavirus Quarantine Simulator is out now for PC. Screen Rant was provided with a PC download code for the purposes of this review.