Buddy Simulator 1984 – Review by Paul Tyre (Thistle’Do Gaming)

Written by Paul Tyre (Thistle’Do Gaming)

Introduction

What are games without friends? Well some of the time it is a relaxing moment to yourself, but for me, I always prefer to have someone join me on an adventure. Someone to share stories with, to fight the opposition, or to work towards a common goal. So on a day where my player 2 has to wash their hair and I have no-one to play with, maybe Buddy Simulator 1984 can meet my need for friendship. 

What is Buddy Simulator 1984?

Buddy Simulator 1984 is a nostalgic dream that becomes a nightmarish adventure. It starts as a Text Adventure before growing into a pixel RPG-like game. As you progress you begin to uncover the mass amounts of gameplay variety and when it comes to the diversity of this game, it is bursting out of the seams. You play as yourself as you make friends with an Ai Buddy that you give a name to (mine was called Thistle). This Ai will learn about you and make a world for you to adventure in, but prepare for dark turns and glitches in the system that will make you feel like you are in a horror within a supercomputer from the 80’s. 

Gameplay 

Remember earlier when I said this game had variety and diversity bursting out of the seams? Well, there is so much I could say here so I have done my best to break it down into key parts.

Part 1 – Text Adventure

Starting up the game you best prepare to type, I found this best played with a keyboard on my Xbox as typing via controller became tedious quite quickly. You will start with your new Ai Buddy asking you some questions before playing some classic games. These games are “Guess the Number”, “Hangman” and “Rock, Paper, Scissors”. On a side note, during my playthrough on Xbox I had to pick “Rock, Paper, Scissors” as my first choice because otherwise it would cause a game breaking glitch, which I will mention more of later on. 

Moving on from the mini-games, you then begin the Text Adventure. This begins once you have handed the reins over to your Ai Buddy, so they can develop a new world for you to explore. I didn’t grow up playing Text Adventure games, but I had a great time figuring out the puzzles set out and was reminded of the PC in the LOST television series where they had to input the infamous numbers in the hatch. If the heavy text part of the game sounds like it isn’t for you however, you best stick around because it is all going to change.

Part 2 – A 2D Adventure

After a journey through text, your Ai Buddy will then create a 2D pixel world for you to explore. You begin your adventure where you left off on your Text journey but now you make your way through RPG style quests. You become a little ghostly looking sprite and are even given a little companion which you can pet (mine was a dog). As you explore, be prepared for a very unusual experience as you begin to unearth the weirdness and darkness hiding under the surface of your Ai Buddy’s creation. 

Part 3 – 2D or not 2D?

As you progress through the 2D world you will eventually be brought into a more 3 dimensional space but continue with your more 2 dimensional sprite, I like to call it 2D+ or Paper 3D but I am sure there is a more legitimate word for it.

After moving into 2D+ you will be introduced to a new mechanic of turn-based fighting. This is a further development your Ai Buddy has made to your virtual world. In battles you will learn to fight enemies and block enemies incoming attacks to become victorious. The addition of these mechanics again causes unexpected growth in the title that makes it so diverse and unusual compared to other games currently on the market.  

And that’s not all, in classic RPG style, you will now be able to pick up some companions to join you on your journey. These companions are the villagers who you would have helped during the 2D part of the game, and they are all ready to fight by your side. You will utilise your companions in battle, each with unique move sets and abilities. 

Part 4 – Minecraft without the craft

Near the end of the game your Ai Buddy pushes the limitations to create an even more detailed environment for you and drops you into a 3D version of the virtual world. You will be given your sword to wield and you’ll hack through waves of enemies as you journey forward. With the addition of this graphical jump, once again you are given the sense that your Ai Buddy is making this world for you, giving you further immersion and feeling like you are truly part of this experience. 

What lurks in the shadows?

Buddy Simulator 1984 starts off with a wholesome vibe that slowly becomes ever more concerning as you progress. You meet many characters along your journey that will tell you some discomforting stories of strange deaths. Your Buddy becomes creepy and overbearing in its need for you to be happy and then glitches start to happen in the simulation exposing some of the dark secrets within the game. You will find yourself disappearing into different environments mid quest, slowly learning more about what is going on underneath it all. 

Quests

The quest line is that of an adventurer. You will take on the role to help the people of a small town and to take on the dangerous creature lurking throughout the game. The villager quests are entertaining, with humorous and bizarre requests, to simple fetch quests. All of these are bolstered by the oddities this game brings, whether it be from the environment, writing or simply the complete ignorance from everyone around you that something weird is going on. 

Conclusion

Buddy Simulator 1984 is a fantastic and unique game that is almost indescribable as an experience. The more I played, the more I wanted to talk about it with other players of the title because of the odd, yet brilliant journey that unfolds throughout the game. The gameplay grows and becomes more diverse throughout, making you feel immersed in this story as if you are not playing a game, but have actively chosen to have a virtual Ai Buddy that has gone corrupt whilst making a game for you. In a time where things like ChatGPT and Ai tools are so popular and ever growing, it leads me to question if this game could become a legitimate Ai experience before we know it. I just hope ChatGPT doesn’t get jealous of me petting my dog like my Buddy did… 

Buddy Simulator 1984 has the type of gameplay that would please anyone who enjoys an RPG or retro-style adventure game. With dark themes and horror undertones, the game leaves you feeling like something isn’t right, even during the most wholesome of moments. The closest experience I have had to this title was playing the fantastic Obra Dinn and although these games have a completely different gameplay style, they gave me a similar engrossing retro-style experience where I couldn’t put the controller down. I recommend that everyone who reads this, tries this game. It is a fantastic and unique gaming experience and is one of the best indie titles I have had the honour of playing this year so far. 

Something Worthing Noting

I had two issues overall. There was the one I mentioned at the top of this review, when selecting the mini-games at the start of the game. I experienced a legitimate glitch where the game would put me into the 2D pixel world after the second mini-game (if I completed them in order). This meant that I skipped the Text Adventure and was left without key items that I required to progress through the main game. I had to do this twice and was left very confused, meaning for the first hour of playing the title I was hindered by a game breaking glitch. Thankfully the resolve for this is simple and all you have to do is select the mini-games in a different order. My solution was to play “Rock, Paper, Scissors” first, followed by “Guess the Number” and finally “Hangman”. So if you do play this title on Xbox, I suggest keeping note of that. 

The second issue I had was when you visit the second village and you have to speak on a podium. This was an odd glitch and took me a while to realise that it was not part of the game. I was in perspective 2D+ but then transferred back to 2D perspective and placed outside of the map boundaries. I was able to wander about freely, but once I had noticed this was not part of the actual game and reset, I was returned back to the start of the 2D+ mission, causing me to lose around 30 minutes of progress. This was quite frustrating and although it will cause this game to drop a few points in my review, the game remains a fantastic experience. Hopefully we are a simple patch away from this game being great on Xbox. My honest recommendation is that you DO NOT USE QUICK RESUME on this game as I feel it may have been at fault for the progress glitches.