Storage Hunter Simulator Review (PC)

Storage Hunter Simulator sounds like a great idea on paper. In fact, it comes across as a simple way to burn off excess steam while being able to volley back and forth between lockups and pawn shops, auctions and junkyards. Heck, if you’re a fan to Storage Wars, then it almost sounds like a perfect job. And I’ll be honest, while the game does boast that same level of joy and anticipation with each passing auction, it does often struggle to justify its own price tag with its repetitive gameplay loop and frequent technical mishaps. That being said, it does contain a lot of great features—a decently-sized open world to explore, a solid variety of stores to visit, and a plethora of upgrades to unlock, for example. But, it seems that we’re jumping ahead a little here, so let’s dial it back.

The devil is in the details here, truly. Storage Hunter Simulator is, unsurprisingly, a digitalized replica of your modern storage war series. And if that doesn’t ring any bells for you, then just know this: it’s the act of visiting abandoned garages and lockups, bidding against other competitors for the items within, and then making an attempt to pawn them off to earn a profit. Here’s the catch: you cannot analyze the items within the storage unit, and you cannot value them until you win the bid. That, really, leaves you with one of the most important questions: Is it worth bidding on? Herein lies the problem that you, the keen curator of garbage, must find the solution to.

It begins with a simple auction, a pocketful of cash, and a poxy flatbed truck. From the moment you hit the road and engage in some surprisingly clean and, dare I say, buttery smooth driving, you find yourself at the foot of an old storage unit. A few moments later, you see a few old items, some broken, some dirty, and some with a seemingly expensive exterior. A couple of bids later, and you receive access to these items, at which point you analyze and value each piece, and then, after battling to cram everything into the truck, pawn it to a local dealer. From there, it becomes a rinse and repeat cycle. You bid, you value, and you pawn, right until you earn enough cash to invest in better upgrades, repair tools, and vehicles. In addition to all of these major improvements, you also have the task of building a network and earning a reputation—a task that involves tending to bigger auctions and managing your inventory in an efficient manner.

As I said, there’s a simple yet satisfying gameplay loop here that certainly feels rewarding even during the sixth, seventh, or even fifteenth auctioneering phase. Granted, it doesn’t provide much by way of endgame content, and it doesn’t go out of its way to fill your to-do list with anything particularly exciting outside of the generic A-to-B carousel system. That being said, with each passing unit that you acquire, the game does begin to feel more enjoyable—a new storefront to store your items, a bigger vehicle for transpiring items and furniture, and a decent variety of specialists and tools to branch out to, for example. Again, there isn’t much of a point to any of it, as it is more or less the case of scooting around town and bidding on lots. But then, Storage Hunter Simulator isn’t designed with depth and longevity in mind; it’s with the intention of keeping you mindlessly distracted whilst it spews out new auctions for you to juggle.

Although the driving, bidding, and general movement is clean and simple here, Storage Hunter Simulator does suffer from a lot of technical issues. For example, objects have a nasty habit of glitching through walls; vehicles tend to vanish into thin air; and items have no interactive effects whatsoever, thus making a lot of the in-game “incentives” feel pointless and without a place in its world. To add, the multiplayer mode falls short of a seamless experience, given that the game just doesn’t feel like it was built with the schematic to accommodate more than one player. For instance, vehicles rarely accommodate multiple players, and prompts often force both players to carry out the same task, like exiting a vehicle, for example. The point is, there are, sadly, a lot of rough patches that could do with a little extra time in the oven here.

To add to the above comment regarding endgame content, Storage Hunter Simulator doesn’t boast a lot of features in its core customization system. Case in point, while you can purchase a pawn shop and even your own house, at no point does owning either grant you the opportunity to explore new features, much less items that you can interact with. In other words, you can acquire things, but doing so just doesn’t add anything to the overall experience. And that’s a shame, because while the actual process of bidding and flipping items can feel rewarding, the fact that you can’t do much with your wages besides unlock new auction opportunities and the occasional tool does make it so that you often feel like you’re stuck in an endless cycle with no silver lining.

Don’t get me wrong, there is a fun experience here. However, given that the price of admission is a lot higher than your average business simulator, it does beg the question of whether or not there’s enough here to justify the price tag. It’s an enjoyable romp with a lot of heart, but with the technical issues and lack of endgame content marring its positives, it does make it rather difficult to recommend, especially to those who might be looking for a game that’s as equally rewarding as it is intricate.

Verdict

Storage Hunter Simulator finds comfort in the arms of its tongue-in-cheek fixation on late-night auction war shows, yet fails to deliver an experience that feels both satisfying and evergreen, mainly due to its lack of endgame content and customizable components, and not to mention its pool of technical flaws and online multiplayer conundrums. That isn’t to say that it’s a bad game, mind you, as it does bring a lot of fantastic features to the garage—a clean open-world setting, buttery smooth driving mechanics, and a solid catalog of upgrades and items to bid on, to list just a few. That said, for the steep asking price, I can’t quite bring myself to say that it’s worth the investment. In time, perhaps it’ll be worth a cheeky bid, but I’d personally hold out for a better offer before putting your hand in your pocket, to be honest.