'Grass Simulator 2014' Is A Thing And It's A Generic FPS?

Game Rant

By Rob Keyes

Published Jul 2, 2014

First, 'Rock Simulator' and now 'Grass Simulator' - a genre is quickly going downhill.

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The Simulator genre is officially out of control, and what's gone from weird and obscure to hilariously funny (and fun), is quickly turning into annoying and "missing the point." Sometimes Sim games truly set out to offer a realistic simulation experience, whether they be of flying a jet plane or completing mundane vehicular tasks (i.e. Street Cleaning Simulator and Farming Simulator) while others take something broken and/or ridiculous and focus on the fun factor like Surgeon Simulator and more recently, Goat Simulator. And then came Rock Simulator.

Rock Simulator made headlines last week when it surfaced and is going to offer what its title indicates to its credit. Players will simulate a rock and therefore it doesn't move. You can watch the rock be a rock in different environments and the game - which only targeted $500 in its crowdfunding campaign - is free. Next on the bandwagon is Grass Simulator 2014, another "sim" that just hit Steam Greenlight.

Grass Simulator's description lacks detail on what it will let players do, but says it will feature dynamic grass graphics and "realistic weather" in a "wonderful environment" and that it'll feature cows. From the weird trailer up top and screenshots below, there doesn't appear to be any simulating of the grass experience. Instead it seems to be some generic FPS title where the user points down at the ground. Pointing Gun At Ground Simulator 2014?

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The comments on the Steam page say it best and while a lot of them seem to be approving the title for it being essentially a parody of a parody, a few correctly callout this title as another in an overcrowded list of things taking attention away from actual indie developers who have legitimately creative ideas. This is a time where by the month of May, Steam had already released more new games than in all of 2013 and getting into the indie spotlight is more challenging than ever, especially with the growing popularity of controversial early access games that Steam supports without requiring that developers finish the games even after payment.

But despite all that, the worst part is that Grass Simulator game doesn't really involve simulating grass. Rock Simulator wins.

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