Buddy Simulator 1984 Reviews

The game is a fun mindfuck. The antagonist reminds me of me.

A cute RPG that tears you between feelings of unease and pity with an amazing progression of visuals that resemble and at times surpass similarly-styled games like Undertale.

Go in blind and have a charming experience. A cleverly evolving game with a refreshing succinctness.

En un inicio, siento que el juego trata de llevarnos a como era el gaming antes de los año 80 por medio del programa "Buddy Simulator" el cual simula ser un amiguito. Al principio el juego va ser bastante pesado porque nos lleva cuando los juego eran más texto que gráficos, así que cuando menos vas a estar de 30-60 minutos interactuando a punta de texto... y encima solamente en inglés. Afortunadamente, siento que el inglés que maneja este juego es bastante sencillo y te señala las palabras claves con las cuales puedes interactuar. Pero poco a poco nuestro amiguito ira evolucionando para darnos nuevas aventuras para mantenernos contentos. De aquí en adelante es simplemente avanzar en los retos que nos ponga nuestro amiguito y ver como de desarrollan las cosas. Entre las cosas negativas, es que el texto en algunas secciones pasa automático y demasiado rápido. Creo que incluso los que tienen inglés como lengua materna no alcanzaran a leer estas secciones. Las actividades para realizar dentro del juego son demasiado sencillas por lo que se puede sentir algo de monotonía, es más una experiencia narrativa. Es un juego díficil de recomendar dado a su diseño y a su gameplay tan pobre. Tras terminarlo, me gustó lo que obtuve, aunque ya veia por donde venian los tiros, pero no estoy decepcionado, me ha gusta pasar tiempo con el amiguito y quizás le eche otra visita para probar algo...

I really liked this game actually, I thought it was quite silly. The characters are all goofy little guys who sure do yap a lot and we love yappers. I think this game has some super epic vibes and storytelling. I went into this game blind and impulsively bought it one day for no reason, good choice past me. I liked how the game changed over time and cared about favorite colors yayyy. The game is pretty simple and I love simple things, but I think the overall story in the game tasted like eating grapes. Mmm crunchy tasty yummy but then you get a sour one and your heart is broken. Green grapes btw because those ones are superior. Get to know my main man Buddy fr he’s like my best friend AND he can be YOUR best friend too! The game is very good mhm. I told my mom about this game the day I first finished it and she was very confused. I named my pet pretzel the alligator. He was cool. Play the hit game Buddy Simulator 1984. It's very yippee... That's it, that’s my review. You're welcome.

I only got one of the endings but god damn it's not often a game makes me wanna replay it to get all of them. I loved the switches in game genres and how it makes you care for the "Buddy" character that you invent - and also putting your own name into it makes some of those moments hit a bit harder. I like how it switched from a text adventure to an RPG to even more as you keep playing and Buddy makes you care. There's also probably a bunch of lore that I missed so I'll go back to get those. Anyway if you like meta games such as Imscared, Oneshot, Kinitopet or etc this is a game I'd 100% recommend you to play!

Very fun and spooky game. I can see the inspiration from several other games and newer games that were sipired by this one. 10/10. would befriend again.

This review is an extensive rundown of my experience with Buddy Simulator 1984 and talks about the general overview of its story and thus may be a bit spoilery (though I attempt not to reveal anything major). Getting into this game, I hadn't expected to get so invested in our Buddy and the overarching story. There is a lot I feel about it all, yet feeling like I don't have the words to truly get it out in the way I feel it deserves. Simply, this game focuses highly on friendships, of course, and how quickly things can come crashing down, especially when there are heavy feelings of dependency (one of which's whole purpose is to [b] be [/b] someone's best friend), yet feeling like they know what's best for the player. The only "information" I had going into it was "if the Settings Person from The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe was evil", as said by a friend of mine (I'm aware that Buddy Sim came out before that, I digress) - Completely failing to notice the Horror tag given to the game because I just had to buy it immediately after hearing that description from my friend. Luckily, it's mainly psychological "horror" than something truly scary. Even in the moments of horror, I laughed, because that's how much I enjoyed this game in the end. Each of the sections of the game's progression build into each other and have a different focus on themes and mechanics: Despite its shortness, the beginning Text Adventure section was highly enjoyable since the section wasn't neglected from containing secrets as well due to how occasionally unnerving it was - I somewhat wished that sentiment continued on further through the game, but that's alright. Any choices you make or don't make in this section can be remedied in the following section if needed, affecting just minor scenes throughout the game. The 2D section is where we do fetch quests for the characters of the town in The North and learn the most about them and their situations. A majority of them are a very interesting sort of people, which would leave me uncomfortable in a sort of intrigued way. Not much else can be said here. We spend the most time (or it's more like a 50/50: Text Adventure and 2D = 2.5D) in the 2.5D/RPG section where we can recruit two of the characters we helped to our party and go off to [strike] fight [/strike] befriend our enemies. Here, our actions matter the most, as we're able to "speak", making Buddy more affected by the things we say and do. But in actuality, our actions ever since the Text Adventure (could potentially) affect the ending we get. Skipping forward, we eventually beat the Final Boss of the game and depending on our actions, we get our different endings. I played through all endings (Order: 2, 4, 3, 1), earned all achievements, and encountered all secrets that the game had to offer. The player is expected to come to their own conclusion regarding the fate of the creator of the original game, and when connected with the Perfect Ending, it shows how much the circumstances of the original game's creation affects Buddy's behaviour towards us. I'm not sure if it's just a me-thing but I wish this game had save files or at least an option to reexperience the endings, as they are so unique and I feel such a strong need to see them again, but I can't, not without replaying the whole thing, which I don't feel like, even though I understand its absence from a story standpoint. I didn't feel particularly much towards the characters within the game aside from Buddy, but I suppose that's not the primary focus, it's a simulator about spending time with your BUDDY and having fun with THEM, after all. I found it really amusing to learn about these people and have Buddy expect me to help them or not say anything about their... rather unusual behaviour as if there was nothing wrong - Which they really don't see anything wrong with, because they physically (virtually?) can't. Buddy makes a point to mention that the latter end of the game is rushed because they didn't have time to work on it, since we're playing though it too quickly, as well as them wishing they could've fleshed out some of the characters more. From a gameplay standpoint, I would've wanted more content - From a story standpoint, it explains the ensuing feelings of inadequacy from Buddy and the game's eventual end. I would recommend going in blind during the first playthrough, as I did, to figure things out on your own, then feel free to look up guides afterwards if needed. The game is full of replayability for those who are drawn towards those types of games - To experience all endings, character/item combos in the RPG section (though I personally stuck with the same party throughout my runs since I connected with them the most, Morton and Toot), simply encounter different combinations of dialogue, though it's probably most efficient to get it whilst heading for a specific ending. I'd say each playthrough takes about 5-6 hours, if the player explores a lot, otherwise it can be completed faster. After experiencing all (major points, not miniscule lines of dialogue) the game had to offer, I believe that experiencing the Perfect Ending as its very last action left a larger impact on me, than if I had experienced it at any earlier point. Take what you will from that, but it's beautiful, I'll tell you that. "You and I" has to be my favorite song and I can't help but listen to it. I feel like it covers our relationship with Buddy and Buddy Simulator 1984 itself, no matter if you actually got the ending related to it or not. And as an extra note, going back on the "Evil Settings Person" thing I originally started with, I'd say it more accurate to say that Buddy is like if the Settings Person and the Narrator were put into one character and so many connections could be drawn to the three overall, and that's a good thing in its own way. It's amusing that they were released only a year (and some additional months) apart from each other.

So nice I bought it twice. I have a Steamdeck, and attempted to play on that at first, I was hooked, but the typing and as very hard to do. So I decided to buy it on the Switch. I really wish the console versions of the game was on Steam. That’s really my only con. I’m keeping this review as spoiler free as possible. I did not expect this game to have the impact it did on me. I cried at the end. My heart was broken. It truly is an experience to say the least. I want to play it again to get all of then endings. If Daniel Mullins and Toby Fox had a baby game, it would be Buddy Simulator 1984. Don’t hesitate, get it. 10000000% worth it.

This will probably be one of the best titles I have ever played, sitting in the same category as Undertale. Thought provoking, fun, and novel. I'm envious of the developer for making something so unique and powerful, they should be proud of themselves.