It’s a brand new Modern Gamer column, so we must be talking about a new simulator, since we seem to be looking at them a lot these days. This time, we’re talking about Disco Simulator: Prologue, which is perhaps less of a simulator game and more in the tycoon style, but here we are.
Plot Ahoy!
Disco Simulator: Prologue places you in control of a nightclub, and it’s up to you to build the walls, choose amenities, decide on decor, hire employees, and generally keep the lights on. Bear in mind, that there are two versions of this game—the prologue, which is the free introduction to the full game, and then the complete title which goes on sale on Steam in just a couple of days. We mostly played with the prologue and found it to provide a really detailed picture of what the full version of Disco Simulator will offer when it releases next week.
Disco Simulator: Prologue is set in 2002, which means that if you aren’t a big fan of disco, then you’ll be spared. You open the game by selecting between Martha and Greg to be your managers, and each character brings their unique skills to the nightclub game in the form of long-term buffs. Martha’s contacts mean cheaper equipment, but Greg offers the opportunity to organize events at a 20% discount and also comes with a standard disco upgrade.
Then, you choose your club, and you start with two options: the smaller and less popular Los Palmos and the medium-sized club Fire. Your choice determines your game objective for the prologue. Los Palmos just requires you to host an event, but choosing Fire is more ambitious and requires that you gain 500 reputation.
After that choice, you’re pretty much off to the proverbial races.
Review Notes
For what amounts to a demo, Disco Simulator: Prologue offers you a pretty wide variety of options for your club. You get to choose, as I mentioned above, furniture, flooring, floor colors, etc. Then, you hire employees to staff the various positions in your club. You’ll need a bartender and a bouncer to start, and one of the things I like about this title is that in addition to building a dance floor, you’ll also need to construct a bathroom. You make your selections, and you move them around the grid-like floor of your club. The controls are fairly straightforward, and in case you forget, there’s a hint menu that gives you the keystroke commands you need to make your selections.
You hire personnel based on work efficiency, and I can certainly vouch that it isn’t for their appearance. In the selection menu, the graphics are a bit rustic. Before you can hire an employee, however, you’ll need to be sure that you’ve constructed a station at which they can work. Ergo, even if the title doesn’t prompt you to build a bar, you’re obviously going to need to do just that.
That’s basically how you’ll spend your downtime between shifts—constructing new amenities for your facility and making decisions as to how to decorate it. Once you’re done, you opt to jump to the club’s opening time of 6:00pm, and your tasks boil down to micromanaging the functioning of the club. By that I mean you’ll be trying to optimize the work speed of your bartenders and bouncers. Your patrons will also generate random needs that you’ll have to address in order to keep them happy. Their happiness is, of course, the big driver for the reputation mechanic, which you’ll find acts the same way it does in most tycoon/simulator-style games.
Disco Simulator: Prologue also does offer a minigame that seemingly procs randomly. In that game, you score extra points for selecting the correct ingredients for a randomly selected cocktail, and honestly, that’s more fun than it sounds.
In terms of graphics and music, Disco Simulator: Prologue isn’t going to blow you away, but it’s not bad, especially given that this is basically a demo version. I’d like to see a little more in the way of customization, but again, as this is a demo, we can’t say that the options will be as limited in the full version. The one major downside to the demo is that even though there’s a shocking amount of gameplay, there’s no save option, which is something I’d expect to see in the full version of Disco Simulator.
TLDR
Disco Simulator: Prologue is a pretty sizeable game demo for the full version of Disco Simulator that’s slated for release on Steam March 5, 2024. I hope to get a chance to play the full title in order to see what’s different between it and the demo. However, Disco Simulator: Prologue hints at some really fun options for fans of the simulator/tycoon genres.
Stray Thoughts From Behind the Keyboard
- Yes! BATHROOMS! No, I cannot explain why I was so pleased to see bathrooms as a requirement.
- I’m pro-Martha. DJ events are a really neat mechanic, but in the beginning, Martha’s discount on equipment was more appealing, though your mileage may vary.
- I really wanted to love the rainbow dance floor, but it really didn’t do it for me.