The Outlast Trials
The Outlast Trials
Game
Game2026
Roadside Research
Developer Cybernetic Walrus
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. From the Steam store page
363 reactions from 4 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Lemmy, Mastodon) · newest Nov 4, 2026 · last updated Nov 5, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
80
LovedLoved
230 positive · 57 negative
95% range 75–84%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 230 | 57 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 13 | 0 | 57 |
| Lemmy * | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Mastodon * | 0 | 0 | 2 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Very Positive
2,560 of 2,912 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
81% recommend · 213 yes, 51 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 264 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Very Positive (4,214 of 4,917 positive).
Players enjoy the fun co-op and unique alien premise, but many find it too difficult solo. [1][2][3] Several reviewers note the alien theme feels underutilized, with gameplay resembling a standard shop sim. [4][5][6] Many request automation features like hiring staff to reduce manual tasks. [7][8][9]
Liked
Representative posts
- [4]
Pretty well lost all its charm after I realized there are no stakes. When you really tick off the FBI agents they go into attack mode, which would be interesting if there was literally anything to do other than stunlock them or just watch the death animation. When your rating reaches zero literally nothing changes. Other than that it's a pretty basic gas station simulator, so good if you like that I suppose, I just …
- [16]
fun game with potential, but right now it feels less about the aliens and research then it does another gas station sim with very very little content. after about 2 hours i already forgot i was even an alien. I really hope to see the devs expand on being an alien outside of just getting a bit more research. and find some way to make the suspicion meter and research a little more interactive.
- [2]
I have mixed feelings, it's very fun with friends but very difficult single-player. Automation of some sort needs to be added, self-serve gas pumps and self checkout maybe? It also gets more difficult as the game goes on, adding more gas pumps just means more customers. Good time with 4 people but 2 players is a struggle and singleplayer is impossible
- [12]
Roadside research I have to say, I really like this game. It has a classic simulator gameplay loop where you manage a gas station, except you're an alien. The concept is fun, the humor works well, and I genuinely enjoyed playing it. However, I have one major criticism that I really hope gets addressed in a future update. The early game is great because there is a nice variety of tasks. You ring up customers, refuel …
- [1]
It took my wife and I 17.1 hours to complete it. We skipped 3 of the last alien point upgrades but completed everything else. We won't be playing again, but it was decently fun while it lasted. I explain below. NOT RECOMMENDED FOR SINGLE PLAYERS! BARELY RECOMMENDED FOR DUO PLAYERS! That said, I do not recommend this game for single players **at all**! It is the only sim game like this that doesn't allow you to hire …
Summarised from 34 of the 334 public posts collected about this game; every point cites the posts behind it ([n] opens the post) and the split is counted from the posts’ own ratings. Updated Oct 12, 2026. How summaries are made
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
Roadside Research sits at 80% positive across 287 opinionated reactions from 4 sources. Fresh or rotten — where do you land?
Reactions
60 of 363 · most liked firstHaving fun so far. Would be nice if AI aliens could be hired in single player to run the register or gas
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →TONIGHT AT 8:30PM ET! We're co-streaming with @atnathanyaffe.bsky.social for his birthday! We're going to be checking out ROADSIDE RESEARCH, a game where we are aliens trying to run a gas station without getting caught! twitch.tv/secretsleepoversociety twitch.tv/nathansothershow
neutral · AI labelView post →Pretty well lost all its charm after I realized there are no stakes. When you really tick off the FBI agents they go into attack mode, which would be interesting if there was literally anything to do other than stunlock them or just watch the death animation. When your rating reaches zero literally nothing changes. Other than that it's a pretty basic gas station simulator, so good if you like that I suppose, I just feel like the alien part is underbaked.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →fun game with potential, but right now it feels less about the aliens and research then it does another gas station sim with very very little content. after about 2 hours i already forgot i was even an alien. I really hope to see the devs expand on being an alien outside of just getting a bit more research. and find some way to make the suspicion meter and research a little more interactive.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It took my wife and I 17.1 hours to complete it. We skipped 3 of the last alien point upgrades but completed everything else. We won't be playing again, but it was decently fun while it lasted. I explain below. NOT RECOMMENDED FOR SINGLE PLAYERS! BARELY RECOMMENDED FOR DUO PLAYERS! That said, I do not recommend this game for single players **at all**! It is the only sim game like this that doesn't allow you to hire employees, and was specifically built around the idea of having multiple people…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Its just like all the other shop sims - but worse. The alien plot has almost no effect on gameplay. You just take photos of people so you can upgrade your alien gear and take more photos. Theres no employees to hire so its a lot of manual work and you goop at random times throughout the day. You have to handle customers inside the shop, outside the shop (gas station) and you have to clean up dirt and goop all the time. The Agents have 0 effect on your gameplay. If you get "killed" you just…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The whole gimmick of playing as aliens has basically no effect on the actual gameplay, which is just an alright shop sim. There's more upgrades for the shop than the alien stuff, and the alien stuff that *is* in the game is super underwhelming. You'd expect kidnapping and brain surgery and ♥♥♥♥ but the furthest they go is taking pictures and probing. In addition to that, I'm not particularly fond of having to clean up my big purple ♥♥♥ stain every 1-2 minutes. The Agents are lame, gameplay loop…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →We jumped into Roadside Research as a group of 3 for the alien mystery vibe , UFOs, conspiracies, late-night desert weirdness. Instead, we mostly got a pretty standard market management simulator. There are a few funny moments but more because of the friends you play with than the game play and the theme is charming, but the extraterrestrial premise rarely affects the gameplay. After a short while it turns into stocking shelves, setting prices, and repeating the loop. Not bad, just very…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Its a very good game but i have a improvement idea. The game would be 10x times better if u could buy staff and the staff would be aliens too that would make the game much better hope the developers see this and look forward to add this feature 👍 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I have mixed feelings, it's very fun with friends but very difficult single-player. Automation of some sort needs to be added, self-serve gas pumps and self checkout maybe? It also gets more difficult as the game goes on, adding more gas pumps just means more customers. Good time with 4 people but 2 players is a struggle and singleplayer is impossible
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Its like all the other shop sims. Its fun at first, but frustratingly buggy. The game seems to fall apart the longer you play it. Multiplayer gets really buggy as well. I get that its EA but it feels empty, and the looping 45ish second song is absolutely grating. Wish they did more with the alien aspect. They have something that could be fun but it feels like it is lacking alot.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I really like the concept of this game. My issue is that it's nearly IMPOSSIBLE to play co-op without major issues (non-stop stutters, visual lag, npc conflicts). I wanted to give this game a real chance and joined the discord server to report this issue. I saw many others with the exact same issue but every time the developer responded with "russia/government restriction" or "bad specs" being the cause. I'm in the US with a pretty good pc and much beefier games than this run smoother. When the…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →its pretty good but developer could add workers because its too much for 1-2 players
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Really fun game to play with your friends, a lot of ways to mess around. only thing this game needs is the ability to smoke a cigarette
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I wishlisted this when I first saw it. My 8yr old convinced me to go ahead and get it. He absolutely loves it. Thanks for creating a game I can play with my kiddo.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is not a game for single player. There is far too much to do and control and by myself it was just impossible to do without any NPC helpers to handle everything that is going on. If you have friends I feel this would be a far more enjoyable experience, but if you are a solo player I would avoid this game in its current state.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Coming to Game Pass: news.xbox.com/en-us/2026/0... Ultimate: -Madden NFL 26 (2/5) -Relooted (2/10) -BlazBlue Entropy Effect X (2/12) -Roadside Research (2/12) -Starsand Island (2/12) -High on Life 2 (2/13) -Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora (2/17) Premium: -Final Fantasy II (today) (more...)
neutral · AI labelView post →I think the concept of the game is really cool. But it seems to be as fun for the first few moments, but not much changes in terms of tasks and difficulty. I'd really like the game to lean more into how it is an alien game. Kinda like... - Shop management in the day, wave survival against agents (or third party aliens?) - More experimental foods and missions that have customers dealing with bad or strange side effects of said product - Reporting to your Boss about your days findings and…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Very human game. Understands the importance of public tricks to hide very human character traits.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I've seen people playing it in groups and decided to try it solo (mostly because I have no friends that like the same kinds of games as me). It's a bit hectic, but manageable. I will say I don't intend to be upgrading the gas pumps for quite a while unless the devs add in staff to help out us solo players (hint, hint). I'm greatly enjoying it.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →fun game, hopefully they add more content or an upgrades to automatize things. Also be cool to hire employees. Me and the girlfriend play it together and have a lot of fun. Seems like developers have a good plan for the future of the game. Also the price point is pretty good for gameplay.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Roadside research I have to say, I really like this game. It has a classic simulator gameplay loop where you manage a gas station, except you're an alien. The concept is fun, the humor works well, and I genuinely enjoyed playing it. However, I have one major criticism that I really hope gets addressed in a future update. The early game is great because there is a nice variety of tasks. You ring up customers, refuel cars, clean the station, take photos of people, and do all kinds of different…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Just played the first 1.2 hours of early access release. and my excitement for this release was matched by what I have been experiencing. 10/10
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's fun until you realise that the game has zero difficulty or ramifications and gets very boring.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I played this game coop with my wife and we had a ton of fun and some good laughs. While I do recommend this game I will voice some things I think would really help this game: Automation: while this is mentioned in their notes of already public concerns already, I will still mention some ideas to pitch. * For gas, having a few upgrades to auto select gas type, auto stop at the line, and of course self pump to automate the process completely. * For register, auto dispense cash change, self…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →****BUYER BEWARE! THIS IS DEFINITELY A "EARLY ACCESS GAME" as of (2/17/26) AND LIKELY FOR ANOTHER COUPLE OF MONTHS**** I made sure to put the first part of this in caps as (at this time) this is the most important aspect of this review. Even as a "early access" game this is super early. The devs made it seem that they are on top of updates. But we have all seen an early access game go down hill. Anyways, i like this game but i am a big fan of the "... simulator" genre. I will be straight with…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Pretty exciting week for this type of thing. Overwatch also saw gains on PlayStation (11th, from 16th a week ago) and Xbox (14th from 17th a week ago). Roadside Research debuted at 18th on Xbox with Game Pass.
neutral · AI labelView post →Sorry but this Game isnt good at all. I MEAN YES, its funny, BUT its still just a supermarket simulator with a few agents that only triggers, when you are bad. We played through the whole game and only triggered 1 time the agents chasing us by accident. Other than that its just a supermarket simulator. Save your Money and wait for updates.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →so, I really love this game. but it feels like its made for Co-op only. doing some of the tasks like restocking yourself is a real drag. but the friend group I play with isnt really into store sim type games. however I really am, and most of them are very single player friendly. I like the option for Co-op obviously incase a friend does want to play with me. but it def needs some items to make it more single player friendly. nobody wants to spend their whole game restocking shelves, we…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Played 10hrs straight first play session and I've: Played over 30 in game days Been ran over at the pumps least 20 times Been killed by the Men In Black at least 3 times after failing to probe them Got locked in a stall with a customer while they committed war crimes in the stall (♥♥♥♥ their whole ass n left it with green aura with flies) Gooped directly in front of an MIB agent twice Gooped in the front door causing a customer to slip on it down the stairs Raised most gas prices to…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I never heard of this game and only found out by seeing the upcoming games on Steam's list. Playing the game for over an hour I found myself enjoying the craziness of operating a small gas station while trying to keep the humans from discovering your not one of them. I played by myself and enjoyed myself and it got better when I upgraded certain technologies that makes picking up trash much easier. Did I forget to mention how much trash the humans drop everywhere and you clean it up. I…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Game as-is is very basic and lacking in-depth mechanics. There are plenty of items to stock your stores with but no real incentive to diversify your store. Game is buggy currently, moving items doesnt work half the time even if highlighted as green. Movement sucks, crouching bugs your model above your head and jumping moves you an inch off the floor, making jumping on top of things impossible. Moving your camera wiggles your hand annoyingly. No custom mask feature to insert images, they only…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I saw an ad a few days ago for a game called Roadside Research. It's a gas station management sim where you play as an alien disguised as a human, running a gas station and "researching" humanity. It looks pretty fun.
positive · AI labelView post →Roadside Research It's a fun 1-4 player game that provides with many laughs during the days and nights you're running around in the petrol station. The wacky physics and creative gameplay is a major part of the fun which the game provides. As is the case with these games, it's more fun playing with friends, but it's still enjoyable playing on your own. If you've played any kind of management simulator game before, the mechanics should be familiar to you. The game has come a long way from its…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I’ve played about 4 hours of Roadside Research so far. A bit solo, but mostly in co-op with friends. The game has a genuinely fun and unique premise, and there’s something really charming about how it executes on it. It doesn’t take itself too seriously, which works in its favor. PROS -Very charming overall vibe -The face drawing mechanic is a really fun addition -Funny premise that leads to some great moments -Co-op works well and feels smooth -The shop and gas station gameplay loop…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Absolutely no reason for this game to be as fun as it is, especially for someone that is gas station manager irl. +super small file size +downloaded in like a minute +fun as hell +runs great - doesn't have trailer trash clothing, pls add.. also a flasher trench coat (:
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I wouldn't recommend it right now, especially for solo players. It's too much "Gogogo" and not enough chill.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Not what I expected. It's very much a supermarket simulator with a twist. But skewed much more toward the supermarket side of things than everything else which would make it fun. I like the idea, but it hasn't been executed as well as I hoped :(
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I expected this game to be somewhat similar to Supermarket Simulator, which I genuinely enjoy, and I can definitely see a few shared qualities between the two. The general structure of running a store, completing routine tasks, and managing purchases feels familiar and initially made me hopeful. However, I wouldn’t say I actually enjoyed Roadside Research. Overall, the game just isn’t very entertaining. The gameplay quickly becomes repetitive, as it mainly cycles through the exact same actions…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I didn't notice any aliens, gas station employees are a bit suspicious though,
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I dont want to be negative here at all. Because the game is still very much in early access. But it honestly does get slightly repetitive, even with so much to do. The upgrade trees for the store and alien tech are great. But, its kinda quick. And most of it is just food items. There are 2 seperate tech trees. One tree is for the store itself. And the other tree is for alien tech. The store tech tree really just unlocks new food items, and some upgrades to your store. Such as an extra gas pump.…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →the game was fun but the update killed it. too many stupid repetitive tasks. its just boring.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is really satisfying if you're the type of person that enjoys simulators like "supermarket simulator". Not only does this game offer the satisfying feeling of a clean, complete store, but it also offers co-op oppurtunites, which makes it so much greater if you have friends that also like this type of game. You, as a player get the chance to stock shelves, clean the store, toilets, and pump gas, which is pretty fun to me because it provides realism. The only thing I am a bit…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →New update just came out 14/08/26... The batteries for the alien equipment is the most regressive update ever, will not continue to play or recommend this game after this update.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fun, stupid, little game. The beginning has lots to offer. As things go on, you unlock a ton immediately. After about 8 hours of playing we're through with almost every thing except decorations. I wish there were more things to do as this could be super fun to explore more. Maybe even have a different area to go to, quests, there's lots of possibilities.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Imagine you're an alien who landed on earth via port-a-potty and your only job is to not get caught! Do you enjoy stocking a store, running to the pump to figure out which kind of fuel the needy humans want without leaving gloop behind? If the answer is yes; then this is the game for you! Be careful not to be suspicious otherwise America's best detectives will arrest you! Pick up and clean up human waste to unlock even more chaos; to what end? who knows! but the hilarity will have you coming…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It’s good so far since we’re really enjoying it. However, it feels a bit too easy. Compared to Supermarket Together, where earning money was more challenging, everything here feels very fast-paced and forgiving. I wish there were more difficulty or challenges. For example, getting shot by the investigator doesn’t feel very punishing since you just go back to normal. I also wish they would add more products but the gas station part is definitely the best! It would be great if we could hire…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Been having loads of fun, Lots to do in single player. If possible to hire NPC aliens would be good. Also being able to increase the size of store room along with the shop front would be really helpful.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →May 19: that's when the next Roadside Research update goes live! 🚀 Are you excited about how far the game has come and about what's up next? 👉 Check out this reworked roadmap! #RoadsideResearch #Gaming #Indiegames #Gamedev
neutral · AI labelView post →great gameee love the twist in a world full of triple A game titles you dont need big budget just developers who cares of what they created and imagined tho recently i have been nauseas when playing the game please fix the pov or add guidelines for it i play fps and dont get motion sickness but here i get it frequently also please fix the placing of stuff in the shop its quite irritating
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →You can tell its early access, but still very enjoyable. Would like to see more audio queues and some achievements added. I'm sure these are already in the works along with plenty of other features but i'm excited to see the development of this game
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →'Roadside Research' launches early 2026 on Xbox Series and PC. Also Game Pass Day One. youtu.be/TswaddwpVeE?...
neutral · AI labelView post →Its got good bones. Still a little buggy here and there but in all a great concept, I'm sure with more time this will be a great supermarket sim game. I just really hope they expand on the alien aspect it.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →To preface, I have played this in a party of 2 and a party of 4. I really enjoy this game. It definitely has the standard simulator mechanics - restock the store, pump gas, clean messes - with a twist of extra alien stuff. The biggest downside to me is sometimes it's hard to understand why my suspicion or customer satisfaction is going down. Could be a skill issue. Playing in a group of 2 seemed very fast pace, while playing in a group of 4 seemed very slow until later on when the gas…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Still needs quite a lot more automation for it to be worth playing, first few hours are ok but once you realize most of the time youre repeating tasks all over again, and barely actually playing the game it becomes really tiring. maybe if youre playing co-op it shouldnt be a big problem, but im sure it will get repetitive for some
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Gas station/supermarket simulator, but it's a base of operations for aliens. Aliens that are tasked with researching humans and their behaviors while staying undercover. I like that idea and what's already there, it just needs some more features and time in the oven (and as far as I could see, developers are working on it. So as long as it's not going to be abandoned, a pretty nice game with it's own unique twist on the gentre can come out of it). Dear Developers, After playing it for few…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game has so far been hilariously fun to play. I played the Demo and it made me watch when this would release and pick it up immediately. I know many people feel as if it is alot for a Single Player and recommend it only as a group. I would say this is true, for now. The Devs have a Roadmap on the Store Page and the first update is a automation update that sounds like it may end up alleviating these concerns. For now i recommend this game, but if the automation update doesnt help reign in…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →first 3 days in game my friend gave $30000 to a costumer and put us into debt so we had to start a new world. ruined my friendship. 10/10 recommend.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →its a fun game but its slow and the fun dies fast but for a few hours with some bros its a good purchase.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →An amazing roadside simulator. Very thought out and expressive . I am not an alien writing this right now but if i was i would still give this game a 10 outta 10.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
Posts are quoted from public profiles with links to the original. Want yours removed? Contact us.
