Beach Vacation Simulator Review (PC)

If you, like me, happen to live in a nocturnal city that doesn’t know dusk from dawn, as well as have that relentlessly overbearing feeling that a good vacation is mere fodder for the average optimist, then I have just the solution to share: Beach Vacation Simulator. And yes, it is a lot cheaper than an actual vacation. Hallelujah.

Of course, nothing will ever replicate the feeling of being alone, beneath the radiant warmth of a sinking sun and beside a blanket of oceanic ripples. But, for as little as a dollar, you can come awfully close to finding that sense of peace and tranquility. Well, to an extent. See, Beach Vacation Simulator doesn’t give you much to do, though it does produce the one thing that you expect it to give, and that is, in spite of its best efforts to onboard more than one incentive, a sunset. That, really, is all that this “simulator” is: a photorealistic vessel in which you, the tired traveler, are given the opportunity to take to the shoreline and soak up the ambience of the oceanic world. There isn’t much more to it than that, and so, if you are looking to take to a rougher tide, then you might as well cast your line someplace else.

If you’re still here, then great. Care to join us as we unpack Beach Vacation Simulator in further detail? Then let’s jump back in.

A Place to Rest Your Head

It’s no secret that video games can be exhausting even during the best of times. Yet, the one thing that most games tend to implement is a secluded “safe place”—a small nook or cranny where you can disassociate yourself from the hustle and bustle of the outside world and just unwind. In Resident Evil, you have a safe room; in Dark Souls, you have a bonfire; and in countless other games, you have just a small corridor of space, though only a slither of an opportunity to breathe. But in Beach Vacation Simulator, you don’t have the hourglass tipping against you; you have all the time in the world. And that, frankly, is all that this game wants to accomplish: to give you time to enjoy the peace and comfort that orbits the beach and its tidal waters.

As I said earlier, there isn’t a great deal for you to do in Beach Vacation Simulator, other than openly explore the shoreline at your own leisure and soak up the sights. With that, you might struggle to call this a game-game, and not an artistic form of imaginative storytelling. There are no plot points to unravel, nor are there any eccentric characters to meet. Heck, there aren’t even any endgame secrets that you need to unlock. No, Beach Vacation Simulator isn’t quite as dense as that; it’s primitive and open-ended, and it pours all of its heart and soul into a simple yet mesmerizingly beautiful setting. Granted, that won’t appeal to a huge audience, but for some, it ought to work wonders for the senses. I guess I’m just a small part of that target demographic.

Breathe It In

Given that Beach Vacation Simulator is, when all’s said and done, about as colorful and as bottomless as a petri dish, I’m oddly surprised by just how much care has gone into the fulfillment of this project. It’s a transparent experience, for sure, and it quite clearly wears its heart on its sleeve, similar to how an open book would reveal all of its material on the first page. But that isn’t to say that it’s a poor choice of material. It’s a lot like a dynamic desktop background, in ways; it doesn’t really involve you, but it makes you feel at ease with the environment for all the while it emits its cascading effects. The only difference here, of course, is that you can traipse the beach and take in the world at your own pace.

If Beach Vacation Simulator bore a steep price tag and made itself out to be something it wasn’t, then I’d probably have a lot of bad things to say about it. Yet, it isn’t a closed book; it’s a simple tool that tells you what it is, and then invites you to enjoy what it has to offer for a mere buck from your back pocket. It isn’t a good game; it’s an art exhibit with positive undertones and calming aesthetics. If that’s enough of a perk for you to shell out a few pennies, then you should, with any luck, be pleasantly impressed with the contents that this world has to offer on its small but soothing oceanic inflatable.

Verdict

Beach Vacation Simulator does exactly what it says on its tin: it generates an intoxicatingly photorealistic scene of panoramic formations and breath-taking sun-kissed shoreline vistas for weary travelers to soak in. It doesn’t lie about its existence, nor does it size itself up in an attempt to overcompensate for its lack of interactive storytelling or technical shortcomings. No, what it does is make a viable solution for tired eyes—a small but effective vessel for those who just want to take a breather from the bombastic world and all its rampant nonsense and enjoy the simple pleasures of idyllic dioramas.

Suffice it to say that, Beach Vacation Simulator isn’t so much of a game as it is a remedial tool for the wayward senses. It’s bottled therapy with an oceanic twist—a paper ship amongst overpowering man ‘o’ wars. Sure enough, it’s petite in size, and it lacks the complexity of a full-fledged game, but it’s also a neat and oh-so-comforting experience that checks all of the right boxes without forcing you to break the bank. It’ll never be a beach, and it’ll never fool you into believing that you’re pondering over the tide. But it will give you the peace that you so desperately crave — and for an incredibly low asking price, too.

With all of the above out in the open, I will say this: Beach Vacation Simulator probably won’t scratch that itch that yearns for complex storytelling and button-heavy gameplay mechanics. That said, if it’s a pinch of purified water that you want with your sea salt, then I highly recommend taking the time to pack your virtual bags and visit the tranquil beaches of this short but near-perfect diorama.