Campsite Hustle! – Management Simulator is exactly that, a cosy management game, listed on their page as “Build your own outdoor store and camping business in the heart of Red Shore Valley! Arrange your shelves, manage your stock, construct facilities on your campsite and take care of every guest”. Sounds fun, so let’s jump in and see how it plays from developer Red Shore Games.

​Loading in, your old Nokia phone from the 1990’s rings, and it’s Gloria, directing you to your new plot of land next to a windy river. Time to hop in your old pickup truck and head down to your land. Hitting me straight away is how beautiful the environment is, mountains, trees, traffic on the roads, it just feels so cosy, I think I am going to enjoy this one.

Arriving at your plot, like most simulators, you have to clear all the trees and stones on your lot before you can begin the journey of starting to build your own campsite shop. You are given a hammer, a chainsaw, and a jackhammer for the rocks. Once this is completed, you are then directed towards the build menu. Opening the build menu, you can start to see how in-depth this game really is, with over 130 different items you can build from camping sites, showers, decorations, trees, and the list goes on and on!

After choosing the basic store as directed, you have to buy everything you need for its construction. Wood, nails, tiles, and stone. This is where Campsite Hustle! – Management Simulator differs from a lot of simulators: you aren’t ordering the goods, and they appear at your door. You have to actually drive into town, purchase them from the hardware store, load them into the back of your pickup truck, then drive back, unload them into the building area, and finally complete building your humble little shop with your hammer. Every shop needs some shelves, a cash register, and a deep fridge for the perishable goods.

Once again, you don’t just order stock to fill your shelves; you have to go back to the main town to buy stock to fill the shelves. Initially, you only have a hardware store for items like batteries and water bottles, and a food shop for pineapple juice, sweets, and a few other items. The vast majority of goods are still locked until you level up and unlock them. There are different suppliers all over the map, and you can buy both dry goods and cold foods for your store as you progress through the levels, keeping it interesting.

As customers keep flocking into the shop, you have to scan all their goods and take their payment via cash or card. It was actually hard to keep goods on the shelf as they were selling like hotcakes. Thankfully, they are very patient and will wait to be served if you are off doing other duties. As the money and experience keep going up, you are directed to build a research table. This table helps you unlock various buildings, from firewood storage areas for your campsites to shower and toilet blocks. In all, there are 68 various unlocks on this table, from which the unlock points are gained from your experience of selling goods, keeping your store clean, and performing maintenance.​

Now it’s time to unlock and build a few campsites; this is another source of income for your bank balance. Initially, I am instructed to build two sites and a ticket booth for bookings. After a few short trips to town for supplies, my campsites are open. It really is a management game, as you have to try to balance your time between customers in the shop, maintaining the campsites, collecting rubbish, keeping the shop clean, and restocking the shelves. You even have to keep an eye out for freeloaders trying to camp without paying.

Luckily, the developers do give you the ability to hire staff, although they are relatively expensive when you are starting out, but with so many things to focus on at once, they are worth their weight in gold. You even have to keep the raccoons out of the bins, as they will get into them and make a mess. After sinking a few hours into running your small campsite, it was time to expand. Luckily, you have a number of plots next door, and you’ll need them. There are so many hours of unlocks and upgrades, and the ability to design and run your own park the way you want it is so rewarding.