There is something about running a nightclub that sounds so appealing, but it’s more than just flashing lights, loud music, and nights you might forget about. It’s about balance, timing and knowing exactly what the crowd wants. ‘Disco Simulator’ puts you in the role of a club owner, starting with nothing, and tasks you with building an empire from the ground up. Developed by Games Incubator and Frozen Cave Studio, this tycoon-style management game blends creative freedom with logistical decision-making. Do you have what it takes to run a nightclub, or will you fall short?

Disco Simulator starts by asking you to make some important choices that shape the entire experience: selecting a manager and then choosing your club location. You can pick between three managers who are Martha, Rosa and Alstair, each offering their own unique bonuses that influence different aspects of your operation. The managers can do things from boosting the staff efficiency levels, customer satisfaction levels and event organisation.

From there, you choose one of the three different club locations, which are Los Palmos, Drama or Club Electric, which is located in a different setting and different sizes, which give their own levels of challenges. I would recommend starting small and then building yourself up to doing a bigger club, but it does not take long to want to upgrade to the biggest.

If you have ever played a tycoon-style game before, you will feel right at home, as the main mission is running a successful nightclub. Every guest has their own individual tastes, whether it’s drinks, resting locations or dancing and being a successful business owner means you need to cater to all their needs. The reputation of your club grows when you make the customers happy, which means you will bring in bigger crowds and higher earnings.

As you earn money from your valued customers, you need to reinvest the money back into the club so you can unlock upgrades which will unlock new decorations, dance floors, lighting, sound systems and the ability to hire more staff members, which makes the club the best in town.

I found out quickly that you want as many staff as you can get, as the customers are grubs and leave rubbish everywhere, broken glass or fall asleep, and you need to extract them out with the security or use your cleaning staff. You can organise some cool events that bring major progression, which brings in those massive crowds, thus increasing the profit margin so that you can run the club for another night. The gameplay is not overly complicated if you have played Tycoons before, but if it’s your first one, it might be a little bit of a learning curve.

When it comes down to the controls, Disco Simulator feels clearly designed with keyboard and mouse in mind. The experience did not feel quite refined as the UI relies heavily on a cursor-based system, meaning you need to move a pointer around the screen like you would move your mouse, but on Xbox your using your joystick, which made it feel slow and clunky.

While it’s definitely not unplayable on console, the input feels cumbersome at times, especially during busy moments when quicker decisions are made, which made the game slow right down. The overall functionality is there, but it’s clear that the console version did not receive as much polish and love as the PC version of the game.

Visually, Disco Simulator embraces the full concept of cartoon-inspired art, and I’ll be perfectly honest, it fits the aesthetic of the game with the bright neon colours, exaggerated lighting effects, and playful character designs that give the game a lively, energetic feel without aiming for realism. The more you upgrade your club, the more you notice how much better the decorations get, so you can really build that space you’re hunting for. The character expressions are very simplistic, with them just moving around and some dance moves you would expect your dad to break out. It kept the game looking fun.

In terms of the sound design, Disco Simulator is one of the weaker aspects of the experience. There is no real variety in audio beyond the looping Techno and EMD-style background track and basic ambient club noise; there is actually NO real disco music per se. While the music fits the nightclub theme initially, it quickly becomes repetitive, with the same track cycling frequently to the point where, after around thirty minutes, you’ve likely heard every song multiple times. Because of this, the audio loses its impact and becomes more of a distraction than an atmospheric element.

Although the background music does complement the visuals at first, the lack of variety holds it back from fully selling the club atmosphere long-term. Additional options, such as themed music nights, genre-based music or even special events, would keep the experience fresh and engaging. In its current build, the sound design feels underdeveloped and doesn’t evolve alongside your club.

Disco Simulator delivers a fun and approachable take on nightclub management, offering satisfying progression, meaningful upgrade paths, and a clear sense of growth as your club evolves. While its tycoon foundations are solid and the cartoon visuals suit the theme well, shortcomings in audio variety and console optimisation hold it back from reaching its full potential. Overall, it’s an enjoyable experience for fans of management sims, especially on PC, but it does show some rough edges that stop it from truly standing out in the genre.

Written by: Hayden Nelson