No spring sale, no survival or shooter focus topic, no: At the moment everything on Steam revolves around simulations! And since the GameStar community is known to love this genre in particular, we didn’t hesitate for a minute to select some really exciting recommendations that you can currently dust off for less than ever before.
How long is the sale? The simulation festival runs from March 28 to April 14, 2022, at 7 p.m. Europe time.
Where’s the sale? If you have read our recommendations and feel like browsing through the offers with your own nose, you can use this link to go directly to the simulation festival:
To the Steam Simulation Festival
Motorsport Manager
developer: Playsport Games | Publisher: Sega | Release: 9. November 2016 | price: 3 Euro (85 percent reduced)
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Motorsport Manager – Test video: Here we manage our own racing team
Soren Diedrich: Wrrrrrruuuum. Did you just hear a Formula 1 car whizzing by in your head? If so, you are perfect for my simulation tip. In the Motorsport Manager you can fulfill your dream of having your own racing team!
Everyday work could hardly be more varied. You hire drivers, are responsible for the development of the racing car and of course have to do all sorts of things during the race decisions under time pressure meet. How do I time the pit stops? There was a crash, now what? The weather conditions are changing, put on rain tires!
Test
Motorsport Manager: attacking pole position
The most important facets of motorsport are covered here. Unfortunately, there is still some room for improvement, but it will probably not find its way into the game anymore. For example, there is no wind tunnel, no pre-season tests and no extensive tuning part. That’s a pity, but it doesn’t change the fact that the Motorsport Manager is still the best of his kind, even after almost six years.
Can the recently announced F1 Manager 2022 change that?
Cooking Simulator
developer: Big Cheese Studio | Publisher: PlayWay S.A. | Release: 6. June 2019 | price: 8 Euro (51 percent discount)
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Cooking Simulator – Wild cooking simulation test video
Florian Franck: At the age of 18, I mistook the safety spirit for the regular spirit and caused a jet of flame at least three meters high, which melted the coals on the grill – and also a part of my hair. The seventeenth anniversary of this story is approaching in 2022 and I still feel a little trauma when I have alcohol in my hand and a grill in front of me.
This is not the only reason why I hesitated for a long time to give the Cooking Simulator a chance. What at first glance looks like a simulation that is not meant to be taken seriously turns out to be one at second glance real challenge. You have a variety of cuisines, appliances, and recipes to choose from. As a chef, you refine the dishes according to your own preferences or create completely new masterpieces.
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Cooking Simulator: Das defekte Dinner
A special recommendation from the chef: The pizza DLC lets you strike up Italian tones and you can be a little more generous when topping the pizza. Don’t be afraid to just sprinkle more cheese on top. And yes, if you really want to do it: The pizza can also be topped with pineapple. After all, it’s a simulation and not real life, where such a faux pas would be unacceptable.
As mentioned at the beginning, the Cooking Simulator helped me to believe in my own cooking skills. Even if I never get five stars for my lasagna in real life. In addition to the base game, all DLCs are also discounted. Also the latest expansion »Shelter«, which has Fallout vibes.
Potion Craft: Alchemist Simulator
developer: niceplay games | Publisher: tinyBuild | Release: 21. September 2021 | price: 10 Euro (20 percent discount)
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Potion Craft: Alchemist Simulator trailer shows how to brew medieval potions
Steffi Schlottag: Alchemy fascinates me. At least the version we experience in classic, medieval-inspired fantasy games. I could never do anything with the real school chemistry. I want to brew invisibility potions and not count OH endings!
My love for the bubbling cauldron started back in Gothic 2. Of course I really wanted to be an apprentice with Zauselbart Ignaz, even if he really didn’t feel like me. Unfortunately, in most games, brewing potions is limited to collecting the right ingredients, putting them together in a menu and clicking “Create”. Luckily, Potion Craft: Alchemist Simulator fixes that!
The game looks like it came straight out of high medieval monastic writings, but this graphic style alone captures my heart right away. And then it’s all about collecting, dismembering, grinding, mixing, cooking as we run our own shop as an alchemist. There are always little role-playing interludes when we receive our customers. Our decisions have consequences, make us rich – or give us powerful enemies.
more on the subject
Alchemy simulation Potion Craft enthusiastic about the release
But the best thing is the soundtrack. It bubbles, splashes and clacks to the gentle sounds of a lute, the mortar scrapes, dried herbs rustle. I’m really not an ASMR devotee, but this massages even my insensitive ears and puts me in a deeply relaxed state. The game is still in Early Access, there is no final release date. But the Steam reviews are already enthusiastic. Me too.
And because the question comes up every time I rave about this subject: yes, “alchemy” is just as correct as “alchemy.” It comes from Greek or Arabic, so there are several ways of writing it in our alphabet. »Alchemy« supposedly also works – learned something again.
Project Hospital
developer: Oxymoron Games | Publisher: Oxymoron Games | Release: October 30, 2018 | price: 15 Euro (40 percent discount)
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Project Hospital – Gameplay trailer for the hospital sim
Peter Bathge: When I think of Project Hospital, I immediately think of red wine. And how much better the ER stay would be if I was in charge. Too long waiting times? More treatment rooms and doctors! No MRI? Zack, here comes the latest diagnostic device! No… oops, no money in the account? Damn it, my doctors wrote too few bills to the health insurance companies again. There is always something, in this respect building an economically successful hospital is very similar to managing a metropolis in Anno 1800.
What makes Project Hospital unique is the seriousness and detail with which it simulates everything from gauze bandages to MRI scans. Unfortunately, this also goes hand in hand with a certain quirkiness; the controls are not quite as polished as I would like, and getting started requires a lot of training. But in the end it’s worth it – for the cash register ringing… uh, for the laughter of the recovered children, of course!
Judgment: Apocalypse Survival Simulation
developer: Suncrash | Publisher: Suncrash | Release: 3. May 2018 | price: 10 Euro (50 percent discount)
link to YouTube content
Gloria H. Manderfeld: Admit it, on the subject Survival in the post-apocalypse
settings like Mad Max, Fallout or Wasteland come to mind. The genre is characterized by a lack of resources, a harsh struggle for survival, rickety vehicles and, with a bit of luck, reasonably cool gadgets – but doesn’t that get boring at some point?
Let’s change that!
That’s probably what the people in the Suncrash developer studio thought and simply added a mountain of demons to the familiar elements. Yes, you read that right, the nasty, bloodthirsty and misanthropic critters straight from hell!
In addition to the usual base tinkering, cluttering and tech tree tinkering, your survivors must explore the environment and learn all sorts of occult rituals in order to deal with the unholy spawn. If you don’t act tactically on the exploration maps, you’ll quickly get a clap from the AI, who doesn’t even act stupidly. In addition to weapons and armor, the standard equipment also includes crosses and voodoo dolls so that the demons don’t turn your settlers’ heads – and you use plenty of magic to counterattack.
Judgment: Apocalypse Survival Simulation doesn’t reinvent the genre, but it does give it a fresh twist. Unfortunately, the development team hasn’t released any updates since 2020, instead throwing themselves fully into their new project Dream Engines: Nomad Cities. But if you have a tenner left and want to get to know Apocalypse Survival in a different way, it’s definitely worth buying.
Which simulations from the Steam sale can you particularly recommend? Let us know your favorites, whether they are insider tips or sim hits, in the comments!
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