In 2024, we witnessed a boom in retail simulator games, featuring titles like Supermarket Simulator, Supermarket Together, and TCG Card Shop Simulator. These games have captured the attention of players and content creators alike, offering a whimsical escape into the mundane aspects of retail work, free of its real-life horrors.

However, as I surveyed the top demos from this month’s Next Fest, I couldn’t help but notice a shift: there are now at least four convenience store simulators in development that aim to make the retail experience far more sinister.

These new games push boundaries, turning the convenience store setting into a landscape rife with otherworldly threats and macabre elements. First, we have Roadside Research, one of the most-played demos from the recent Next Fest. Here, players manage the gas station while masquerading as aliens, using it as a cover for a planned invasion.

Next is Hellmart, set in a desolate northern convenience store. Customers have unsettling features, and at night, the player must fend off horrors while boarding up the store. Although reviewers have noted that its promotional materials do not accurately reflect the gameplay experience.

Another fascinating title, The Walking Trade, combines conventional survival elements with a zombie apocalypse, enabling players to stock supplies while defending against hordes of the undead.

Lastly, Shift At Midnight invites you to examine customers’ identities at the gas station, navigating doppelgangers in a perilous scenario that could lead to chaotic shootouts.

These emerging titles prompt curiosity: Is this a response to contemporary anxieties about the retail industry and economic shifts, or an extreme expansion of an existing genre? With the trend anticipated to evolve further, it will be intriguing to see where it leads next.