BOB LOGISTICS: Somebody Really Made Warehouse Work Into a Video Game
Disclosure: WINDUP reached out to share BOB LOGISTICS and provided announcement materials, including screenshots and the official trailer. I have not played the game yet, and this is not a review.
Someone looked at warehouse work and said:
"yeah...let's make that a video game."
and I am Interested.
The developers behind BOB LOGISTICS recently reached out to me because the Steam page just went live, and when I first read first-person warehouse simulation game, I had questions.
We already have farming simulators.
Cleaning simulators.
Power washing simulators
Supermarket simulators.
Lawn mowing simulators.
We have officially reached the point where we will clock out for our real jobs, come home, turn on our computers....
...and clock int a fake one.
And yes, I am exactly the target audience for this because I kept reading.
So What Are We actually Doing in BOB LOGISTICS?
Warehouse stuff. You're checking orders, walking around the warehouse finding the products you need, carrying everything back, packing shipments and working your way through the warehouse. Which sounds simple. I don't want to open a game after not playing for three days and have absolutely no idea what I was doing.
Give me a game where I:
Find box
Pick up box
Put box where box belongs.
My brain understand this.
We Don't Stay the New Guy Forever.
The progression is probably the part I'm most curious about. As you move forward, you start unlocking tools that make your fake warehouse job a little easier. There are carts. There's a backpack vacuum. And there are even drones helping with the heavier work.
Excuse me?
I start out doing everything myself and eventually figure out how to make technology do my job for me.
Now THAT is career progression.
Games where you slowly make a repetitive process faster and more efficient are dangerous for me. I tell myself:
"I'll just unlock this next upgrade."
And next thing I know it's 1:47 in the morning and I've become emotionally invested in the productivity of a warehouse that doesn't exist.
Watch the BOB LOGISTICS Trailer
I can explain the whole "fake warehouse job looks relaxing" all day, but you just need to watch it!
The trailer gives you a much better look at the warehouse, the order system, the equipment you can unlock, and how the whole gameplay loop is suppose to work.
Want to keep an eye on it? BOB LOGISTICS is live on Steam now if you want to Wishlist it.
THIS Is The Part That Really Got Me
There are no timers and no game overs.
Yasss THANK YOU!!!
the second the game told me:
ORDER NUMBER 427 MUST SHIP IN 30 SECONDS
we would of had a problem. I don't want someone screaming at me because the virtual toilet paper hasn't made it to shipping fast enough. I have enough things in real life that come with deadlines. If I'm spending my free time pretending to work in a warehouse, I at least want the privilege of being the slowest employee there.
And at BOB LOGISTICS you can work through everything at your own pace. That is the kind of simulator I can get behind. Give me little jobs and things to organize. Give me something repetitive to do while my brain turns off for awhile. Just don't put a giant countdown clock in the corner and suddenly make me responsible for the quarterly performance of Bob Company. Your girl did NOT apply for that position.
Why Do Fake Jobs Make Such Good Video Games?
This is something I want to study. I would absolutely complain if somebody asked me to spend three hours in real life walking around a warehouse finding boxes. Put the exact same task in a video game?
Oooooooh, organization. This happens to me constantly. Cleaning my actual house? I suddenly I have seventeen other things I could be doing. Cleaning somebody else's disgusting house in a video game? Nobody speak to me. I have WORK to do. Power washing my actual house? Yeah, no. Power washing an entire playground digitally? I will see you all tomorrow.
There's something about repetitive simulator games that can scratch a very specific part of my brain. Having one little task that you can finish and check off to move right on over to the next one and disappear for three hours.
That's what I'm hoping BOB LOGISTICS ends up doing.
I Haven't Played It Yet
This is where I'm going to stop before we start calling this my new favorite game. I haven't played it. I have only seen the announcement and looked at the concept. The developers reached out and I am very interested in it. That's it.
I'm not going to watch a trailer and then tell you:
OMG THIS GAME IS AMAZING YOU NEED IT!!!
No. We don't do that over here. I am intentional about the games I cover. A good trailer can make almost anything look fantastic. A cute concept can sound fantastic. A Steam page can make a game sound amazing. Then you actually play it and realize you've been staring at the same three gameplay mechanics for four hours wondering when the fun is suppose to start.
so right now, BOB LOGISTICS gets a:
You have my attention.
Not:
You have my recommendation.
Concept-Wise? I'm Curious
I can already see where I can turn my brain off for awhile. I like organizing things. I like completing small task. I like watching something slowly become more efficient. And I love performing fake jobs I would complain endlessly about doing in real life.
so that's promising. The thing I'll really want to know once I actually play it is if the gameplay stays satisfying. Repetition can go two ways. It can become:
Ooooooh, one more order.
or it can become:
Holy Moly, I have to pick up ANOTHER BOX?
The difference between a simulator eating three hours of my night and me uninstalling it thirty minutes later. And that is something you cannot figure out from a trailer.
Is BOB LOGISTICS Worth Playing?
Ask me again when I've actually played it. That's going to be the answer around here more often. I don't care if something looks adorable. I don't care how good the trailer is. I don't care how much hype something gets before release. Until I've actually sat down with the game, I'm not telling you to spend your money on it.
For now?
BOB LOGISTICS looks weirdly interesting.
The no-timer, no-game-over approach immediately caught my attention, and I want to see how satisfying the progression from carrying everything yourself to unlocking better equipment actually feels.
When I play the game.
Then we will really talk.
Was I entertained for twenty minutes?
Did I actually lose an entire evening?
Did I become Director of Bob Company?
Did I rage quit my fake warehouse career?
AND MOST IMPORTANLY: IS IT ACTUALLY WORTH PLAYING?
Until then, BOB LOGISTICS is going on my
"Keep an eye on this one" list. For I am really curious about a warehouse simulator.
Gaming is weird. And I love it here.
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