Pub Sim

About

Pub Sim is a single player casual simulation game. It was developed by 1st impact games and was released on March 31, 2025. It received mostly positive reviews from players.

"Pub Sim" is a game that simulates the experience of running your own tavern, where you must clean, expand, manage stocks, and carefully pour drinks to fully satisfy your customers. Improving the building, purchasing furniture, and setting prices all affect your reputation, efficiency, and overall aesthetic. You can even hire staff to help out, but be careful as they may not do everything perfectly.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

Skip User Reviews

80%

Audience ScoreBased on 99 reviews

gameplay4 positive mentions

music3 negative mentions

The game is fun and addictive, providing a relaxing experience for players who enjoy simulation games.
The developers are active and responsive, frequently releasing updates and addressing bugs, which shows promise for future improvements.
Customization options for the pub are enjoyable, allowing players to create a unique atmosphere and manage their establishment creatively.

The game suffers from numerous bugs and performance issues, including lag and graphical glitches that can disrupt gameplay.
Many players find the initial debt and daily payments to be unmanageable, making progression frustrating and difficult.
The game lacks depth and content, leading to a feeling of repetitiveness and limited goals once the initial objectives are completed.

gameplay
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
42%
25%
The gameplay is described as addictive and engaging, with intuitive mechanics and a slick furniture placement system that encourages players to upgrade and improve their spaces. While the core gameplay loop is enjoyable and challenging, particularly in managing finances, there are calls for more content and refinement in certain mechanics, such as cleaning. Overall, it offers a solid foundation for a management sim, though some players find the early game particularly difficult.
- “The gameplay felt intuitive and the furniture placement is slick (grid and no grid, I love you guys), which made me want to keep upgrading, adding, and improving.”
- “It's surprisingly engaging for how simple the gameplay is.”
- “The core gameplay loop is super fun and honestly pretty challenging; I'm having trouble getting out of debt still.”
- “The only thing it clearly needs is more content for future expansion of the gameplay (did not mean DLC).”
- “Standard gameplay loop for your typical management sim games; early game is very tricky with managing your loan repayments but is just about manageable.”
- “It would be nice if the 'clean' mechanic was a bit more developed; right now you either just press a button once or three times, depending upon what you're cleaning.”
graphics
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
38%
24%
38%
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with some players appreciating the cozy and gritty aesthetic typical of pub simulations, while others criticize the lack of detail, depth, and the presence of graphical glitches. Although the game features nice customization options and is considered visually appealing for an indie title, performance issues arise at higher settings, particularly with certain assets. Overall, while the graphics are not groundbreaking, they contribute positively to the gameplay experience.
- “The graphical design is pretty nice; there are many ways to customize your pub. For an EA game, it has a lot of nice features, with a few bugs, but nothing game-breaking as it's still in development.”
- “The game also has great graphics for an indie game.”
- “The graphics aren’t fancy, but they’ve got that gritty, almost cozy feel you’d expect in a real pub.”
- “The game lacks depth, it's not very detailed, and there are quite a few graphical glitches, but somehow it still managed to keep me playing for several hours – even after I stopped recording the video.”
- “While I have well above the recommended requirements, I feel the graphic assets in this game need improvement to make it more feasible.”
- “It is not without its fair share of bugs, and it runs terribly if graphics are set to high and you have one or more chandeliers.”
music
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
29%
28%
43%
The music aspect of the game is well-received, with players appreciating the ability to upload custom tracks to the jukebox, enhancing the pub simulation experience. While the current music selection may not always meet expectations, the option to personalize the soundtrack adds a layer of enjoyment, making it suitable for casual play alongside other media. Suggestions for future updates include expanding music features and incorporating live performances to further enrich the atmosphere.
- “There's already some nice design ideas with the ability to give your pub a custom name/sign and add custom music to the game via the jukebox.”
- “It was enjoyable to be able to upload custom art for frames and custom music for the jukebox when you can afford it; if this could be added to the beer logos in the future, it would add some additional novelty.”
- “Pub sim decently captures the spirit of running a British pub, minus the sticky floors and questionable music choice.”
- “I'd highly recommend it if you're looking for a game that you can play while listening to a podcast, YouTube video, or music.”
- “Could also add to this by expanding on features to include pub food and also to change the jukebox and TV screen to non-local files and allow random music and events.”
optimization
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
100%
Overall, the game's optimization is inconsistent; while the initial area runs smoothly, larger environments struggle with performance issues. Users report minor bugs that are quickly addressed, but the general consensus is that the game lacks proper optimization.
- “I've only experienced a few small bugs (and they are fixed quickly); otherwise, performance is great.”
- “The small bar you start in has no issues, but the bigger one seems reluctant to run smoothly.”
- “The game is totally not optimized.”
- “Performance issues make it hard to enjoy the gameplay.”
- “Frequent frame drops and long loading times ruin the experience.”
stability
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game exhibits several stability issues, including graphical glitches and bugs, which detract from the overall experience. Despite these problems, players find it engaging enough to continue playing for extended periods. Overall, while it shows potential, the game is currently marred by instability.
- “The game lacks depth, it's not very detailed, and there are quite a few graphical glitches, but somehow it still managed to keep me playing for several hours – even after I stopped recording the video.”
- “A bit buggy still, but mostly consistent.”
- “It's very buggy in its current state.”
story
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Users feel that the game lacks a compelling storyline, suggesting that its overall experience could be significantly enhanced with a more developed narrative.
- “The game would be even better if it had a storyline.”
- “The narrative feels disjointed and lacks depth.”
- “I found the plot to be predictable and uninspired.”
humor
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is noted for its blend of realism and absurdity, with players finding amusement in both the low frame rates and the comedic situations arising from managing inebriated characters.
- “The game's got a good mix of humor and realism, like managing people who’ve clearly had one too many.”
- “To get that low FPS is hilarious.”