Roadside Research

About

Roadside Research is a single player and multiplayer casual management game with comedy, economy and science fiction themes. It was developed by Cybernetic Walrus and was released on February 12, 2026. It received positive reviews from players.

Roadside Research is a 1 to 4 player co-op gas station simulator. Except you’re aliens. And undercover. Do very human things like restocking shelves while preparing for the invasion. Just don’t get caught.

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89%

Audience ScoreBased on 2,069 reviews

humor194 positive mentions

stability48 negative mentions

Extremely fun and hilarious especially when played with friends, providing many laughs and chaotic moments.
Unique twist on the gas station and supermarket simulator genre with aliens undercover research adding flavor and gameplay depth.
Regular and engaging updates from active developers making the gameplay smoother and adding automation features improving quality of life.

Single player experience is overwhelming and tedious due to the high multitasking requirement and lack of employees or effective automation.
Game suffers from bugs, glitches, and performance issues including crashes, item physics problems, and sometimes difficult controls.
Limited content and progression depth; the alien mechanics feel underdeveloped and the gameplay loop can become repetitive and grindy after a few hours.

humor
194 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game’s humor is widely praised for being hilarious, quirky, and full of silly, chaotic moments that shine especially in multiplayer with friends. Its blend of absurd alien antics, creative disguise customization, and goofy physics delivers consistent laughs and lighthearted fun, making routine simulator tasks entertaining rather than dull. While some find the humor repetitive over longer play sessions, it overall offers a uniquely funny and addictive experience that enhances the gas station simulator genre.
- “Roadside research takes the "gas station simulator" genre and injects it with a hilarious, surreal sci-fi twist that makes every shift feel like an episode of an absurd sitcom.”
- “This gem of a game has been the most hilarious shenanigans for 4 players that I have experienced in a long time.”
- “The humor lands. The alien disguises, often humorously imperfect, contrast with the mundane realism of the gas station environment.”
gameplay
161 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
34%
57%
9%
The gameplay of Roadside Research offers a solid, satisfying core loop combining store management, alien-themed mechanics, and cooperative multiplayer fun, making it addictive and enjoyable especially with friends. However, it currently lacks depth, variety, and polish, with some repetitive tasks, janky mechanics, and underwhelming integration of its alien and agent elements. Most reviewers appreciate the foundational gameplay and see strong potential for improvement through added features, refinements, and expanded mechanics in future updates.
- “Great fun to play with friends with a solid gameplay loop that would likely be fun in single player as well.”
- “The gameplay loop is super satisfying once you get going.”
- “The teamwork elements are well done, and the gameplay keeps things exciting without feeling overwhelming.”
- “As a sim, it lacks depth in the core gameplay.”
- “Game is the same as other supermarket simulators but worse currently, no employees to automate tasks, the mechanic of "not getting caught" is simply cleaning up after your character poops on the ground, the multiplayer can get pretty janky, the NPCs' animations look like they're in 5 fps.”
- “The gameplay quickly becomes repetitive, as it mainly cycles through the exact same actions every single day with little to no variation. You're rarely required to think ahead, manage risks, or adapt to unexpected situations, so after a short time, the gameplay starts to feel empty and predictable rather than engaging.”
stability
50 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
4%
96%
The game is notably buggy and unstable, with frequent glitches affecting item placement, multiplayer functionality, character movement, and overall gameplay, often leading to frustrating experiences and occasional softlocks. While some players find the bugs add charm or are manageable for casual play, many report that the issues significantly hinder long-term enjoyment and multiplayer sessions. Despite these problems, ongoing development and responsive developer support suggest potential improvement over time.
- “Runs great.”
- “The game is very fun, and it was pretty bug free for the duration of the time I played.”
- “Game is basically unplayable after 10 minutes; it glitches so badly it becomes infuriating.”
- “So bug-ridden that it's completely unplayable. I barely got ten minutes in before encountering a bug that completely locked me out of any gameplay interactions.”
- “Not to mention the amount of times we got stuck and were not able to move, forcing ourselves to use the 'I'm stuck' button, as if the developers knew in advance the buggy slop they had created.”
grinding
34 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
3%
97%
Grinding in the game is frequently described as tedious and repetitive, particularly in single-player mode where the manual tasks become monotonous. While some find the cooperative experience more enjoyable, many players feel the lack of automation and variety leads to a grind-heavy gameplay loop with little progression or engaging objectives beyond routine store management.
- “It's a tedious grind with no amount of fun to be had.”
- “Not having employees made it feel less fun and not worth grinding for late game; you're just going to do the same thing over and over and over.”
- “You have to tediously do everything from cash register, ordering items, cleaning (if you can), throwing stuff in garbage, and serving people at the pump.”
graphics
30 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
57%
10%
The graphics are generally colorful, stylized, and contribute to the game's comedic and immersive atmosphere, with smooth and pleasant visual design praised by many. However, some users report graphical glitches, bugs, and performance issues like lag and crashes, especially on lower-end hardware or during extended play. While the art style appeals to fans of quirky themes, a few find the graphics underwhelming or buggy, suggesting room for improvement in polish and optimization.
- “The graphics are vibrant, the UI is intuitive (the ordering system even shows your current stock levels — a feature I wish every sim had!), and the sound design—from the beep of impatient cars to the flush of the toilets—adds a lot of immersion.”
- “Runs amazing on my PC with the highest graphics setting on the game.”
- “Super smooth, clean and crispy graphics.”
- “Some bugs with multiplayer (second player crashed and was stuck in the game and forced me to save -> load game -> reinvite. (second player was on a Steam Deck OLED 1TB)) There are also some graphical glitches when playing for a long time; may be due to memory leaks.”
- “The price is a bit high in my opinion for what it is and the graphics are not the best.”
- “Input is bugged so you can't perform any of the actions and the graphics are bugged with a massive out-of-sync line in the middle of the display making it hard to see what you are doing.”
story
21 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
14%
72%
14%
The game's story centers on playing as an alien undercover at a gas station, balancing mundane tasks with a secret mission to collect human DNA, which adds humorous tension but has minimal impact on gameplay. Many users express a desire for a more developed storyline, varied missions, and progression systems to provide deeper objectives and a stronger sense of achievement. While some find the existing narrative charming and amusing, the overall story is currently limited and feels incomplete, with potential for significant improvement.
- “It turns mundane tasks into a high-stakes mission of global importance.”
- “You land on earth with one simple mission: gather data, prepare for invasion, and absolutely nail the art of being painfully normal.”
- “At its core, the game blends business management with covert alien espionage, tasking players with maintaining a functional human establishment while secretly gathering data for an off-world research mission.”
- “It need a story or objectives, and need AI workers.”
- “Maybe an actual storyline instead of challenges.”
- “Very fun and funny game, it has potential to go a bit further maybe with a storyline or something that requires you to progress through a leveling system with different locations on a map that have higher risks, more frequent agent investigations, and more customers making it more difficult as you progress, giving you an objective to feel like you're achieving something in the game because, at the moment it feels like once you unlock all alien tech, expand the gas station and have all produce unlocked, you're kinda just grinding for more money.”
optimization
20 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
65%
15%
The game generally runs smoothly and is well-optimized for mid-tier PCs, with reasonable system requirements and solid performance during early and mid-game. However, users report notable performance issues and slowdowns in late-game stages, along with some unoptimized features, highlighting the need for further optimization and improvements before full release.
- “Game runs smoothly and is optimized well.”
- “My PC isn't the best for gaming but it runs well with performance and ultra performance modes on!”
- “After 18 nearly consecutive hours of play and unlocking all products and 95% of the expansions/upgrades, I have no issues with performance.”
- “Stay away from this game till it's fully out and more optimized.”
- “But I feel the more you progress (i.e., expanding store, buying new products...), the game starts to run into some pretty intense performance issues, especially towards late game.”
- “The performance is equally tragic.”
music
11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
27%
46%
27%
Players find the in-game music repetitive and lacking variety, often describing it as grating or empty. Many suggest adding more energetic, customizable tracks or allowing users to upload their own music to enhance the atmosphere and engagement. Overall, greater diversity and better rhythmic cues would significantly improve the game's musical experience.
- “Just turn off the in-game music in settings and slap on your own playlist; this game becomes the chillest game there is.”
- “It would be really cool if you could upload your own music into the game, along with more customization options.”
- “If they could add more music, like those wonderful 70s grocery store tracks, to play in the store and outside, that would be great.”
- “I get that it's EA but it feels empty, and the looping 45-second song is absolutely grating.”
- “It really needs music or some kind of beat/rhythm cue to feel good, and without that it feels off.”
- “Does also really need a variety of more energetic music.”
monetization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The monetization is seen as a blatant cash grab with little originality, relying heavily on ads to attract players. While it may be entertaining, it feels like a low-risk attempt to profit rather than a well-crafted system.
- “It is a cash grab, throwing an idea at the wall with zero risk (other than whatever assets cost nowadays) and hoping it sticks.”
atmosphere
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Users praise the game's atmosphere for its distinctive "men in black" vibe, which creates a cool and unique environment that enhances the overall experience.
- “What I like most is the atmosphere.”
- “I also love the 'Men in Black' vibe—it adds a really cool and unique atmosphere to the whole game.”
replayability
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Users appreciate when the game offers strong replayability in single-player mode, as it helps maintain long-term engagement for solo players.
emotional
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's story is deeply moving and emotionally impactful, often bringing players to tears.
- “This game made me cry; its story is so good.”

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5h Median play time

8h Average play time

4-10h Spent by most gamers

*Based on 23 analyzed playthroughs

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Frequently Asked Questions

Roadside Research is a casual management game with comedy, economy and science fiction themes.

Roadside Research is available on Xbox Series X|S, PC, Windows and Xbox.

On average players spend around 8 hours playing Roadside Research.

Roadside Research was released on February 12, 2026.

Roadside Research was developed by Cybernetic Walrus.

Roadside Research has received positive reviews from players. Most players liked Roadside Research for its humor but disliked it for its stability.

Roadside Research is a single player game with multiplayer and local co-op support.

Similar games include Grocery Store Simulator, Supermarket Simulator, Gas Station Simulator, Waterpark Simulator, Gas Station Simulator: Prologue - Early Days and others.

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