It’s another Saturday, so we must be discussing another simulator. This week, I’m taking a hard look at Painter Simulator, which promises to be, if nothing else, an interesting ride. Before taking on Modern Gamer, I never really played simulator-style titles, and I find myself playing more of them than I thought even existed. I am still constantly surprised not only at the sheer variety of simulator tasks but also how entertaining they are to play.
That said, there are definitely simulators that fall into the category of games that have a very niche audience, and I’d argue that Painter Simulator is probably one of these.
Plot Ahoy!
You paint things, and when you paint them, you earn triangles. You then use those triangles to upgrade your equipment, and believe me, you will need to upgrade your equipment if you want to avoid carpal tunnel. You start off with a paint gun that requires a single click of the mouse to shoot a single blotch, with no option to change unless and until you upgrade that tool. Just be aware.
Review Notes
If you ever enjoyed painting by numbers, then boy, let me tell you, this game is going to revolutionize how you felt about that activity. Painter Simulator has you wandering around various locales in which you’ll notice large swathes of white with little numbers affixed at seemingly random intervals. That’s where you need to apply color. To do so, you simply pull up a radial menu and select the color with the number that corresponds to the number you see in front of you, and you paint.
The game applies color in what seem to be triangular shapes of varying sizes, and that varying size point is important because you’ll often find yourself searching for a last, minuscule triangle that you somehow missed. It’s important to note that you’ll need to crouch, stand, jump, and even fly in order to apply paint everywhere the paint needs to go.
The more painting you do, the more special missions you unlock, and I have to say, I really wasn’t expecting to paint a car and then proceed to get involved in a car chase when I downloaded a paint-by-numbers sim. There’s also a castle-maze level, which was an interesting addition. What you paint will depend on the environment in which you find yourself, but don’t worry that you’re limited to applying paint to flat objects. No, no, you’ll be painting everything from beehives to a speed boat to a pirate ship. Those three dimensional poly models make it really, really easy to miss that last tiny triangle. Y’know, not that I’m bitter.
Visually, Painter Simulator has an intuitive interface with definite low-poly modeling. The music is the sort that fades nicely into the background, and the title does offer progression, which is interesting.
That said, the game really is all about painting by numbers. There’s no need to memorize anything because everything is right in front of you. You’ll need to keep your focus to remember what it is that you’re painting so you can avoid errors, but overall, it is mostly what you’d expect with some really interesting twists. If this sounds fun to you, I do recommend that you try the demo before you commit to the full version of Painter Simulator.
Painter Simulator is in Early Access and retails on Steam on special promotion for $7.99 through June 5th, after which it will return to its regular price of $10.99.
Stray Thoughts From Behind the Keyboard
- There’s a paint-bomb gun, which, frankly, is more entertaining than it should be.
- There’s also a level in which you paint pizza toppings. No, I’m not joking. Why do you ask?
- There are burgers, too, to round out the offerings.
- I liked the little details like the cat. I’m always excited for a cat.