SuperMarket Simulator foregoes any grand narrative for a premise rooted in pure, cutthroat retail capitalism. The core objective is simple yet intensely addictive: take control of a small, barebones shop and turn it into a sprawling, efficient grocery empire.
The primary gameplay loop is a highly tactile, first person simulation demanding relentless micromanagement. Players must meticulously monitor market prices to ensure profit margins, place orders from the online market, and then manually unload and stock every single product.
This is a process that becomes incredibly tedious yet strangely therapeutic. The controls are responsive for basic movement, but the console experience, especially when dealing with the clunky computer interface or running the cash register, feels less polished than the PC counterpart.
Once the initial financial survival is secured (often through early loans), the game truly opens up with management mechanics. Hiring cashiers, shelf stockers, and security guards shifts the focus from manual labor to strategic oversight. However, this is where the Simulator label earns its jank: frequent bugs, such as the infamous storage room glitch or erratic, clipping customer AI, can temporarily break immersion, reminding the player that they are wrestling with an unpolished port, not just retail logistics.
Despite the game’s issues with glitching and having to navigate menus using a controller, the game still offers a solid experience for a simulation game. One of the best aspects of the game is the online multiplayer. You can play with up to four players online. This means that you and up to three people can help manage your store or grocery empire depending on how far into the game you are at the time they join you in your daily grind.
Playing with multiple people really helps to get things done much more efficiently. I mean yes you can hire workers but they are much slower than an actual human player is in their tasks. If you’re going to hire worker NPCs, your best bet is to wait until you can afford to hire the best you can so that they can do the best job.
Yes they will be more expensive to keep, but it will be a lot less of a headache for you in the grand scheme of things. Either that, or get some buddies together online and play the game together…unless you like punishing yourself. In that case, either hire the least experienced NPC or better yet, run the entire store yourself.
Visually, SuperMarket Simulator offers a clean, functional aesthetic that shines primarily on next gen consoles. Running at a smooth 4K/60FPS on the Xbox Series X, the store environment itself is brightly lit and performs flawlessly, ensuring no performance drop excuses a player’s failure to restock. Products are rendered clearly and vividly, which is critical for making the store look appealing as it expands.
However, the game’s presentation quality is wildly inconsistent. While the environment is customizable and crisp, the NPC animations are often primitive, robotic, and prone to clipping or getting stuck. Customers frequently glide or teleport slightly, lacking the polish seen in higher budget simulation titles. Despite these graphical deficiencies, the satisfying visual reward comes from seeing a fully stocked, customized store with colorful product shelves stretching out into newly purchased expansions; a genuine testament to the player’s managerial success.
Playing the game on the Xbox Series X is a much better experience than playing on the Xbox One or even on mobile (yes this game is available as a mobile game). Sure it has its graphical issues, but the performance being as good as it is, is worth the trade off.
The sound design in SuperMarket Simulator is minimal but effective, focusing on functional, satisfying auditory feedback rather than a sweeping score. The soundtrack consists of optional, low key ambient supermarket music which quickly fades into the background. The core soundscape is built on the rhythmic elements of retail work: the sharp, satisfying beep of the scanner as items are checked out, the metallic clink of cash and coins when making change, and the distinct noises that accompany placing different items on shelves.
This auditory reinforcement makes the repetitive tasks engaging, providing a subtle but constant stream of reward signals that drive the addictive gameplay loop forward. Any failure in the sound department is typically due to the silent, voiceless NPCs who move about without footsteps or dialogue, contributing to the game’s overall feeling of being slightly sterile.
The lack of sound from the NPC shoppers and even the workers make them feel more like mindless robots. I would have liked to have seen them try to spark up a conversation with you and have dialogue choices. This has been present in other simulation games and wish the developers would have made those elements a part of this game.
SuperMarket Simulator delivers exactly what fans of the simulation genre crave: a deep, engaging progression loop centered on building wealth and mastering logistics. The transition from a manual laborer struggling to fill three shelves to a CEO orchestrating a small army of employees (although much slower and prone to making mistakes in some instances) is incredibly satisfying and can easily consume dozens of hours.
While the technical compromises on Xbox, including noticeable UI clunkiness and frequent minor bugs, hold it back from true excellence, the core gameplay is simply too addictive to ignore. It demands patience and a high tolerance for early in-game grinding and technical jank. But for players seeking a methodical, challenging, and ultimately rewarding economic simulator, this title is a game that delivers on its simple, capitalist promise. As someone that has sunk a ton of hours into this game, even through the storage fiasco that plagued my store for days, this game is a wonderful experience and I highly recommend picking this up if you’re a fan of simulation games!
Disclaimer: A review key was provided
In addition to writing articles, Ryan Byers also creates content for his YouTube channel called "Obscure Games and Consoles", collects video games, and dabbles in video game development.