Job Simulator review: mundanity infused with charm and levity

A virtual reality experience predicated on simulating workplace environments such as office cubicles and a car garage doesn’t sound like a hoot. But the delightful Job Simulator isn’t interested in lifelike recreations, presenting occupational worlds through a thick layer of satire. It’s set in an outer-space location where robots have constructed a “job museum,” containing simulations of jobs us (presumably extinct) humans once performed. Beginning in a foyer-like environment in a futuristic building, its walls adorned by posters displaying amusing messages such as “KEEP BUSY AND JOB MORE,” we’re required to select one of four cartridges that trigger experiences relating to either an office worker (based in an office setting), a store clerk (based in a convenience store), a mechanic (based in a garage) or a chef (based in a kitchen).

In the office worker simulation (my favourite of the bunch) we’re transported into an office cubicle, with various objects around us including a computer, telephone, filing cabinet and coffee machine. A robot sidles up and presents our first, rather modest objective: to make and drink a coffee.

“Workers will traditionally start their day with an addictive liquid stimulant,” the robot says, before a floating tray appears to our left, containing six donuts of different flavours. This situation is representative of the broader experience, presenting a storytelling structure that’s rigid in some senses—notably that we’re confined to this small sectioned off area—but open in others, in that we’re under no time pressure and can decide whether to embrace the task at hand or faff about doing other things. 

If you choose the latter, you might find yourself inserting a CD into a computer and playing Flappy Bird: a notoriously difficult, flat-out infuriating side-scrolling video game from 2014 that went viral. But given Job Simulator progresses via a task-based narrative, one duty leading to another, we naturally feel inclined to follow the expected trajectory, which involves activities such as logging into the computer and checking emails, purchasing snacks from a vending machine, selecting employees to hire and using a spreadsheet program to “cook the books.” None of which, again, sound entertaining, but the developers at Owlchemy Labs have imbued the experience with humour and wit.

“Load up the old spreadsheet program and fix these numbers,” the boss robot says, introducing a section in which you are required to delete expenditures that appear on screen, and make up your own profit numbers. This results in your superior (did I mention all the robots look like floating Macintosh computers from the 1980s?) congratulating you on your ability to “cook those books like a professional gourmet chef.” In the kitchen scenario, meanwhile, you’ll be advised to “simply take some of your inefficient salad foot and put it through the blender.” And in the convenience store scenario, told that “it was important for stores like this to maintain a constant stream of customers, so that cashiers wouldn’t have time to contemplate their rapidly approaching obsolescence.” 

These gags might not be belly-up material, but the comedy has an endearing daffiness and a well judged tempo; it’s never too long between jokes and the writing has a spritzy energy. Job Simulator was also one of the early productions (first released in March 2016) to really understand the importance of a clearly defined playing area connecting both the real and game worlds: an overlapping space, like a stage, where the action comes to you rather than requiring exploration. You wouldn’t want this in every VR experience, because it’s spatially limiting. But with this limitation comes added abilities for the developers to really drill into a single location and exploit its storytelling and situational potential. This is something Job Simulator does very well, infusing mundane scenarios with charm and levity.