Painter Simulator Review (PC): Early Access Demo Review

In collaboration with Solverto, development studio, FreeMinds SA brings us Painter Simulator; a unique, painting-by-numbers game that brings a splash of color to another simulator.

Painter Simulator Gameplay

In a proverbial nutshell, Painter Simulator is best described as a painting-by-numbers take on the genre-defining Power Wash Simulator.

As opposed to a jet washing machine, however, in Painter Simulator you’re armed with a spray gun. Surprisingly, the scenarios are very similar too.

The early access demo that we played allowed for four scenarios: a car race, a farm house, a scarecrow in a field and a picturesque swimming pool. Rather than paint on a canvas, as you’d expect, Painter Simulator places you in the scene.

Sadly, this latest employment simulator leaves no room for creative flair. Instead, players are guided in a pleasantly surprising painting-by-numbers style.

Armed with your spray gun and a predetermined color palette, you need to follow the numbers and spray each section in the color matching the number.

At first this approach had us rolling our eyes, but our thoughts were soon swayed as we got further into the task at hand. Painting-by-numbers has always been a relaxing pastime and bought into the digital world as a game, it’s even more so.

Yielding only a spray gun – at first -, you would be forgiven for thinking that it’s all large areas that you would be painting. After all, how accurate can a spray gun be? However, you’d be off the mark.

The Finer Points of Painter Simulator

While it would be a lot easier to have huge areas to paint, FreeMinds SA knew that this would have fast become boring, tedious and somewhat rage-inducing. Thankfully, a little foresight was used and fine details are aplenty in this game.

For instance, the first scenario we tackled was a car. Rather than having to just give the vehicle a monotone coat, we were tasked with adding a design that makes Joseph’s technicolor dream coat look like formal attire.

Learn New Skills in Painter Simulator

After you have gained some ‘Triangles’ (Painter Simulator’s in-game currency), you will be able to unlock skills from the skill tree.

The demo only allowed for one skill to be unlocked. With that being said, it was one hell of an awesome skill. Paint bombs not only sound badass, they’re also perfect for the job.

Paint bombs splatter and cover a large surface area, which can be upgraded to cover even more. As soon as we unlocked these painty delights, we were finishing jobs a lot quicker. Furthermore, there’s no real need for any aiming. Bombs explode on impact and paint-in any areas correlating with the loaded color.

The Surprising Lack of Color in Painter Simulator

You would think a game with a title like this would be awash with bright colors. The truth, however, is that it’s sadly not (aside from the car level). It’s possible that you unlock more colors at later levels, when the difficulty starts to raise. The early levels, though, only offered us a few colors along with different shades of black, brown and white. You can cycle through to other palletes, but each is made up of mostly these shades and hues.

Some of the later levels do look far more bright and colorful, so we’ve not lost all hope – just yet.

Painter Simulator – Summary

There’s no denying that Painter Simulator is a relaxing way to pass the time. There’s plenty about FreeMind SA’s latest sim to be enjoyed. However, like most games that fall under this genre, there’s every chance that playing it for hours at a time will soon render the game a chore to play.

Painter Simulator is available now on Steam.