Published by Ultimate Games and developed by Departure Interactive, Bartender Hustle is a simulation game that puts players in the shoes of a bartender and working their way up in the industry. Bartender Hustle is now available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC.

In Story Mode, players take control of Amy, who’s starting her first shift as a bartender and has to learn on the go. Players will begin at a regular bar, making and serving customers a wide variety of drinks. If Amy does well, she can get promoted and be moved to bigger and more upper-class venues.

Players will play from a first-person perspective and begin the game in Amy’s apartment. Players can interact with the apartment by flicking on switches and taps, opening and closing doors and curtains, flushing the toilet and talking to her pet cat named Ninja. None of the things you can do in the apartment affect the game at all, so it’s just a fun novelty, but the laptop is where you can answer multiple-choice questions about drinks to get an extra $10 and customise the apartment.

Amy can also be customised with different outfits to purchase and wear to work, but there doesn’t seem to be any point to this. You can see Amy in the customisation menu, but you never see her for the rest of the game since you’re playing from a first-person perspective, other than her chest, arms and feet and all the mirrors are blurred out for whatever reason. Her outfits also don’t affect how a customer tips you, and no one even seems to notice if you’re working in just your underwear in an upper-class venue.

Despite all of those pointless features, the main reason to play this game is to get a feel of being a bartender. On your first shift, you’ll meet your boss, who will get you started and learn how more things work as you go. Overall, the controls are simple and easy to get the hang of, though it feels the game is more suited for PC, with most of the work done with a mouse. However, using a controller on a console isn’t too bad.

Different customers will order a wide variety of drinks, but making different drinks in the game is easier than it sounds, as there are a lot of features to assist you. When you get an order, you can pull up the instructions in the bottom right corner of the screen and just follow them. The ingredients are also highlighted in white, which helps a lot when trying to find all the different bottles, glass types, garnishes and more all around the bar, but occasionally, it can still be difficult when the item you’re looking for is also coloured white. The game does hold your hand a lot, but you can simply ignore the assist features when you feel confident in making the drinks from memory.

The more you play, the more you get into a routine, and time passes quickly. It’s fun to serve everyone as fast as possible, but there doesn’t seem to be a time limit or any penalties for taking too long, and the customers will just sit at the bar for however long it takes for you to make their drink. While it is nice not to have the pressure of making their drinks on time, the game is too forgiving and not all that challenging, so it doesn’t recreate that feeling of working behind a bar in a busy venue.

While serving drinks, you’ll also chat with customers with distinct personalities and unique stories to share. The conversations are all in text form, and the customers can be entertaining, sad, ranting, or just needing to calm down with a drink.

You can skip through all the conversations if you’re not interested since they also do not affect the game. Occasionally, for some strange reason, they’ll play Tic Tac Toe with you, which also does not affect the game, adding to the list of pointless features.

Aside from Story Mode, there are also three other modes to enjoy. Arcade Mode has you just serving drinks without the conversations for a certain amount of time, Endless Mode has you doing the same thing for an unlimited amount of time or until you get bored, and Sandbox Mode allows you to just make drinks and experiment with different ingredients without having to serve customers.

The overall style and presentation do a great job of recreating the feel of being in a bar where each venue is distinct. The bars in darker rooms are more aesthetically pleasing, creating a nice atmosphere, and the music complements the surroundings. Up close, the graphics look outdated, from the characters who look lifeless to everything on the bar bench looking polygonal. The animation is also underwhelming, mainly with the characters, because they don’t do much other than look at you with their lifeless faces while you make their drinks. The drinks themselves look tasty, though, especially while making them.

The game comes up short in many areas, but it’s fun and casual overall. The main gameplay feature of serving customers and making their drinks is enjoyable. However, the option for a more challenging game would be nice because this is way too forgiving, especially for a game with “Hustle” in its name. It doesn’t quite recreate the same pressure and stress of working in a real bar, but it has something that can be built upon if it were to receive a sequel. Bartender Hustle takes a shot and serves up a simple, fun, casual game to relax and unwind.

Written by: Sammy Hanson