Superhero Simulator Review: A Glorious, Janky Mess of Unfulfilled Potential

I’ve always wanted a game that truly understands the grind behind the cape. Not just the punching and the flying, but the soul-crushing reality of trying to pay rent when you spent all night stopping an asteroid from leveling downtown. Superhero Simulator promises that fantasy: a game where you balance saving the world with flipping burgers. It’s a brilliant, wonderful idea.

It’s also an idea that is so far out of this Early Access game’s reach that it might as well be in another galaxy.

Let’s be clear: this game is oozing potential from every poorly textured pore. It has a fantastic core concept that AAA studios with hundred-million-dollar budgets have completely failed to grasp. But playing it right now feels like test-driving a supercar that only has two wheels and an engine held together with duct tape. You can see what it’s supposed to be, and that makes the current reality all the more frustrating.

Punching Clocks and Supervillains

The central loop is a constant, frantic balancing act. By day, you’re just some schmuck trying to make rent. You can drive a taxi, work as a cashier, or flip burgers in a series of simple minigames. By night (or, let's be honest, in the middle of your shift), you’re the city’s only hope, a flying powerhouse who has to deal with every problem, big or small.

This duality is where the game’s heart is, but it’s also where the first cracks appear. To make rent as a taxi driver, I had to drive with a level of sociopathic disregard for public safety that would make Trevor Philips blush. Mowing down pedestrians and plowing through traffic is the only way to make the fare in time. It creates a bizarre moral dissonance where I felt like a bigger menace to the city as a cabbie than as a superhero.

The Thankless Grind of Saving Everyone

When you finally do get to the heroics, the feeling of soaring through the comic-book-styled city is genuinely great. The flying is easily the best part of the game, capturing that pure, unadulterated sense of power and freedom. For a few brief moments, you really feel like Superman.

Then the dispatcher calls. And calls. And calls again. The city is in a constant state of apocalypse. You are bombarded with an impossible number of emergencies, from bank robberies to fires to someone losing their kid. You simply cannot get to them all, and every time you fail, a snarky radio announcer is there to mock you for letting another citizen die. The citizens you do save are often just as ungrateful, slinging sarcastic remarks at you. It transforms the power fantasy into an anxiety-inducing, thankless chore.

The actual missions are a collection of repetitive, often frustrating minigames. Combat boils down to spamming the attack button while occasionally remembering to block. Rescuing someone from a burning building involves a quick-time event where the meter moves so fast you’d need precognition to succeed. It’s shallow, it’s repetitive, and after the first hour, it’s just plain boring.

A Hero Off the Rack

My biggest gripe is with the progression and customization, or the profound lack thereof. You don’t get to build your hero. There are no power sets to choose from, no skill trees to explore. You are a flying brick with laser eyes, and you will unlock a linear, pre-determined list of upgrades as you grind out levels. I didn't feel like I was forging a legend; I felt like I was slowly unlocking a pre-made Homelander clone.

The character creator is similarly barebones. You can slap on a few different masks and capes, but the options are so limited that you’re essentially picking between a handful of uninspired templates. The promise of crafting a unique identity feels like a blatant case of false advertising right now.

The Soulless Voice of AI

Let's address the AI in the room, because it’s impossible to ignore. A huge portion of the game’s assets, from the billboard art to the voice acting, is clearly AI-generated. The voices are flat, lifeless, and utterly devoid of emotion. It sounds like a GPS navigation system having a nervous breakdown.

I get that AI can be a useful tool for a small indie team, but its implementation here is so pervasive and low-quality that it cheapens the entire experience. It contributes to a feeling that the game is less a passion project and more of a soulless asset flip, which is a damn shame given the brilliance of its core concept.

The Verdict

I wanted to love Superhero Simulator. I really did. The idea is a 10/10. The execution, in its current Early Access state, is a 4. It’s a game with a champagne concept being served in a dirty paper cup. There’s a fantastic game buried somewhere under the repetitive missions, the linear progression, the clunky combat, and the soulless AI-generated assets.

Buying this game now isn’t a purchase; it’s an investment. It’s a bet that the small, dedicated team will listen to the mountain of valid criticism and put in the hard work required to realize their incredible potential. For now, though, I can’t in good conscience recommend it. Your best bet is to wishlist it, check back in a year, and pray to whatever comic book gods you believe in that they’ve managed to save their own game.

Score: 5.2/10 Has all the powers of Superman, but all the excitement of filing his tax returns.

We at NLM received a key for this game for free, this however didn't impact our review in any way.