Rat Simulator

About

Rat Simulator is a single player casual simulation game with a comedy theme. It was developed by Visualnoveler and was released on July 27, 2017. It received positive reviews from players.

A survival stealth role-playing simulator where you experience the life of a rat in a suburban neighborhood.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

Skip User Reviews

85%

Audience ScoreBased on 170 reviews

gameplay5 positive mentions

stability5 negative mentions

Unique and original premise allowing players to experience life as a mischievous rat causing mayhem in a suburban neighborhood.
Humorous and charming voice lines from humans add entertainment and dark comedy to gameplay.
Fun sandbox-style gameplay with a variety of objectives like infecting residents, rescuing rats, and boss fights, providing moments of emergent humor and creativity.

Game suffers from repetitive objectives, limited gameplay variety, and can become tedious over time.
Controls and camera are often problematic, with janky, unresponsive handling making stealth and movement frustrating.
Glitches and bugs affect gameplay, including boss fights not spawning properly and uneven AI behavior, leading to inconsistent difficulty and player annoyance.

gameplay
22 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
23%
63%
14%
The gameplay offers a unique blend of stealth, action, and simulation with a variety of objectives and mechanics that keep early stages engaging and experimental. However, it suffers from repetitive tasks, limited mechanical depth, lack of clarity in some mechanics, and diminished variety toward the end, which can make it feel frustrating or slog-like for some players. Overall, it provides an entertaining and distinctive experience, especially for those who appreciate sandbox-style mischief and rat-themed gameplay.
- “The variety of objectives—rescuing captured rats, infecting all residents, surviving extermination attempts, or achieving total infiltration—keeps each location feeling distinct even when the overall gameplay loop remains familiar.”
- “I mean, every aspect of this game, from the stealth mechanics, looting, action-packed fight scenes, and the insanely in-depth fighting mechanics, all blend together to make a style of gameplay so unique that you will genuinely never be able to play any other game and have fun again.”
- “Every mechanic in this game is fine tuned to the player's benefit and the world is expertly crafted to add atmosphere in ways you would never expect.”
- “The hiding gameplay and detection system makes the game an annoying slog to play through.”
- “While the nine houses you explore do differ in layout, many of the tasks and interactions feel similar, and the mechanical depth doesn’t expand significantly as you progress.”
- “The player is given far too little insight into how certain mechanics work, making some objectives a pain.”
humor
18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in Rat Simulator is quirky and largely revolves around absurdity, slapstick, and silly NPC dialogue, which many players find genuinely funny and entertaining, especially for short play sessions. While the voice acting and repeated lines can become overused, the game's offbeat and chaotic humor combined with humorous animations provides an enjoyable and lighthearted experience for fans of oddball sandbox games. However, the comedic appeal may not sustain long playtimes or resonate with everyone.
- “For players who enjoy oddball sandbox experiences, unusual power fantasies, or games that embrace dark humor, Rat Simulator delivers exactly what its title promises.”
- “Voice acting is really bad but in an oddly good way; it's very funny things NPCs say: "I got complimented on my driving today, I got a note on my car that said 'parking fine'", "People say I am odd but I have the heart of a small boy, it's sitting on my desk", "Have aliens from outer space brainwashed me?", "Are there ghosts in my house?" The pest control are three dudes with flame throwers; if they can't find the rat they often comment on how they plan to go get ice cream.”
- “Developed by Visualnoveler, this quirky game offers a unique blend of humor, chaos, and stealth, providing an entertaining escape from the ordinary.”
story
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
40%
30%
30%
The story is generally appreciated for its engaging and lifechanging moments, though it is relatively short and simple with limited mission variety. Players enjoy the stealth and tactical elements, but repetitive gameplay and bugs detract from the overall experience. Voice acting receives positive remarks, adding to the tense atmosphere despite some frustration with mission design and pacing.
- “Love it, great story.”
- “Life-changing story.”
- “The voice acting feels natural and the missions feel tense.”
- “The home layouts get reused, missions don't get much variety, and getting chased around starts to make the game feel like a chore, which was too bad.”
- “The pest control will spawn in the houses and there will be about 3-5 chasing you down most of the time. They are really buggy and annoying to get off your back. You can't run out of the house or your missions will reset, you can't really run because they catch up with you easily and their fire spray will hit no matter what. You can only hide under certain tables. 90% of the time, hiding under a bed will be your best bet. Even then, you have to wait a good minute for the percentage to start going down and then another 30 seconds for the pest guys to despawn. Having this happen very often made my enjoyment decline very quickly.”
- “Only 30.3% even bothered finishing the first mission.”
graphics
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
44%
23%
33%
The graphics receive mixed feedback, ranging from praise for their suitability to the game's comedic or thematic tone to criticisms about lack of polish and occasional glitches. While some find the visuals charming and fitting, others consider them subpar or outdated, with technical issues detracting from the experience. Overall, the graphics are acceptable for an indie title but may not impress all players.
- “The graphics are stunning, the voice acting is extremely well done, the controls were well planned and very smooth, and the characters were so real.”
- “The graphics are perfect and I wouldn't change a thing.”
- “The game's graphics, while not cutting-edge, suit its comedic tone perfectly.”
- “Visuals and animations, though serviceable for an indie game, lack polish and occasionally highlight the rougher edges of the engine.”
- “The graphics are not the greatest, definitely not worth it.”
- “This game is utter garbage: glitchy, bad graphics, and even more problems. What bugs me is that they charge 8 euros for this when I could buy a highly popular game on discount.”
stability
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game experiences occasional bugs and glitches, particularly with quest objectives and enemy behavior, which can disrupt gameplay and lead to frustration. However, most issues have workarounds, and despite these stability problems, players still find the game enjoyable overall.
- “The game is a bit buggy which is to be expected; most bugs have easy fixes, but having to redo all objectives because a key is bugged and you have to restart the quest can be prevented if you check whether it works first.”
- “The pest control enemies spawn in houses in groups of 3-5 and are very buggy and annoying to get rid of. You can't run out of the house or your missions reset, they catch up easily, and their fire spray always hits. You can only hide under certain tables, usually a bed, and have to wait over a minute for them to despawn. This frequent issue severely reduced my enjoyment.”
- “Some players may find the objectives repetitive after extended play, and occasional glitches can disrupt the immersion.”
music
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
33%
The game's soundtrack is highly praised for its incredible music that intensifies the battle atmosphere, effectively immersing players in the experience. However, some sound effects, like the pestman's flamethrower, can be overly loud even at low volume settings.
- “Nobody compares to the composer of this game's soundtrack.”
- “The incredible music that amplifies the heated battle between man and rodent is amazing and made me feel like a rat.”
- “Despite having all the music and sound effects turned way down in the options, the Pestman's flamethrower noise was deafening.”
replayability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game offers good replayability primarily through its sandbox-style gameplay, allowing for endless opportunities to experiment and create mischief, keeping the experience fresh and enjoyable.
- “I do think this game can be enjoyable and the replayability is good.”
- “While Rat Simulator excels in providing endless opportunities for mischief, its replay value lies in its sandbox-style gameplay.”
monetization
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The monetization is criticized for being exploitative, with accusations of plagiarism and lack of proper credit to original artists and developers, resulting in a perception of the game as a cash grab shovelware.
grinding
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Grinding is widely criticized for being monotonous and repetitive, with similar objectives across locations, and is further hampered by an ineffective stealth system.
- “It's so monotonously repetitive and tedious, as every house has more or less the same goals, not being helped by the stealth system—if you can even call that.”
emotional
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The emotional aspect is highlighted by the incredible music, which effectively enhances the intense conflict between man and rodent, immersing players and making them feel connected to the rat's perspective.
atmosphere
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's atmosphere is praised for its expertly crafted world that enhances immersion, with finely tuned mechanics designed to benefit the player and contribute to a unique and engaging environment.
- “Every mechanic in this game is fine-tuned to the player's benefit, and the world is expertly crafted to add atmosphere in ways you would never expect.”