Drug Dealer Simulator 2 is a crime sim about growing an empire built on selling drugs to the public. Read our review to see what it did well, what it didn't do well , and if it's worth buying.
Drug Dealer Simulator 2 Review Overview
What is Drug Dealer Simulator 2?
After running from your past, the protagonist finds himself in a small archipelago with only a handful of connections. He has to resort to dealing drugs to the local populace in order to survive. But, in doing so, he clashes with the many factions that assert control over the darker corners of the islands.
Drug Dealer Simulator 2 features:
⚫︎ Comprehensive resource management
⚫︎ A wide cast of characters and factions
⚫︎ A large map players can explore
⚫︎ Nearly endless number of tasks to do
⚫︎ A wide variety of money-making schemes
For more gameplay details, read everything we know about Drug Dealer Simulator 2's gameplay and story.
 Steam |
$24.99 |
Drug Dealer Simulator 2 Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
 Deep Resource-Based Gameplay A Wide Variety Of Things To Do |
Lacks Reliable Transportation Uncanny NPCs Boring Menu-Based Management |
Drug Dealer Simulator 2 Overall Score - 66/100
Drug Dealer Simulator 2 has the potential to be a great time sink for anybody with an interest in the genre. It has an amazing resource management system, a large world full of characters and factions to interact with, and a multitude of activities to busy yourself with. However, it first needs to polish many aspects of the game, including the addition of animations to round out the menu-heavy gameplay.
Drug Dealer Simulator 2 Story - 6/10
In a word (two, actually), Drug Dealer Simulator 2’s story is "barely acceptable." The driving narrative of the player’s quest to propel their drug empire higher than the amphetamines carry their regulars is consistent and ever-present. Yet, it's so full of diverging paths that it’s easy to lose the plot. In fact, it’s not even wrong to say that the game has too much of a narrative, which contradicts its tycoon-like gameplay and makes everything fade into obscurity.
Drug Dealer Simulator 2 Gameplay - 7/10
Featuring a robust resource management system for your drug production and circulation, as well as a wide variety of characters and factions to deal with, there’s no shortage of things to do in the game. However, that hustle and bustle does contain quite a lot of filler, as much of your time will involve walking and running through whatever shortcuts you can create due to the game’s lack of easy transportation.
Drug Dealer Simulator 2 Visuals - 7/10
The game uses very standard models for NPCs without much attention put into making them escape the uncanny valley. It makes playing the game somewhat unsettling if you’re the type to really look and not just glance at the people you encounter. There are also many, many empty places, which include venues where people should naturally gather. Otherwise, everything else is standard fare and some locations can even be called spectacular.
Drug Dealer Simulator 2 Audio - 6/10
There’s a whole lot to unpack here if we’re breaking down the game’s audio. It’s a confusing mix of good and questionable. Fortunately, there’s nothing terribly wrong about it, so it manages to barely escape complete mediocrity. Yes, that encompasses the sound effects, background tracks, voice acting, etc. Especially the voice acting, really. It feels like The Elder Scrolls Oblivion all over again, as certain NPCs sound like they’re voiced by different people but make recurring appearances here and there.
Drug Dealer Simulator 2 Value for Money - 7/10
Drug Dealer Simulator 2 was designed for co-op play, that much is sure. The amount of things you need to get done quickly inflates as your drug empire increases in size that it’s almost impossible to juggle everything at once. However, that’s where the game’s strong point lies. Playing with a friend means engaging in a whole lot of tomfoolery together, from smuggling goods to blowing things up. Unfortunately, it’s severely dampened by the same filler that the entirety of the game suffers from.
Drug Dealer Simulator 2 Review: High As Rocks
As I was browsing Steam’s upcoming games, it was easy to get attracted by something as absurd-sounding as "Drug Dealer Simulator 2." Since I wasn’t able to play the first game, it was doubly interesting since it was an entirely new series to me. Hence, I hopped on and fired it up, ready to dry some leaves and deal some packs (in the game. Cease, YouTube).
The game’s premise kicks you into the shoes of a guy running away from his past. At least, that’s what he claims to one of his old acquaintances, who he runs into fairly early in the game. In order to survive, he ends up relying on peddling drugs to the populace as a dealer. But in doing so, he inevitably makes contact with the rich and powerful people there, as well as that of the law enforcement.
So, was it good? Well, it is, kind of. The game itself has all the makings of a strong simulator. It’s rich in mechanics, characters, and even story. However, it’s very rough around the edges, which is understandable given the game’s current state.
First of all, much of the actual drug dealing simulation is done on a menu. You access tables, open up interfaces, drugs magically appear if you have the right ingredients and equipment. There’s no animation that plays between these things to get you immersed in the process.
When you’re not clicking and dragging items from one slot to another, you’ll busy yourself with walking around the several islands the game is set on. And trust me when I say that there will be a LOT of walking. This game doesn’t offer you any convenient transportation to get around. The bus only takes you from one stop to another. Meanwhile, even your own car, which you can obtain late into the game isn’t any different; it’ll just take you from one parking lot to another.
You can’t even drive the car on your own!
The game also has a lot of bugs. Some are inconsequential to the experience such as being unable to access the menu while you’re in a vehicle, while some will actually force you to reload and lose progress such as falling through floors and into inescapable crevices.
Despite all of this, the game does have a lot of charm and potential. Plus, there’s a severe lack of good games that put you into situations dubious enough to turn bigger developers away. With enough polish, I have no doubt that Drug Dealer Simulator 2 can be something special.
That said, if you do end up getting the game, I highly recommend going to the Options before starting it. Then, change the keybinds. The game has some extremely strange keybinding defaults, such as placing the flashlight toggle to L, and the car travel button to the spacebar. Gamepad bindings are even weirder.
Pros of Drug Dealer Simulator 2
| Things Drug Dealer Simulator 2 Got Right |
|---|
|
Deep Resource-Based Gameplay A Wide Variety Of Things To Do |
Deep Resource-Based Gameplay
What does it take for a well-oiled drug empire to function? Well, drugs, yeah. But other than that, the logistics of it all is very important. At the start of the game when all you have is a lab and a few connections, you’ll have to do everything yourself. That includes growing and processing the plants and distributing them to your regulars. Of course, that also includes promoting your products to new markets by venturing into foreign territories.
At first, this amazing aspect of the game won’t be apparent. After all, the only things you need to manage at that point would be your personal supply to sell when you need money. Later on, though, once you get a good footing in an area and are on the good side of the local bigwigs, you’ll be able to employ other people to do your job for you. And that’s when the game’s comprehensive resource management features really come into play.
The game allows you to distribute dealers who will do the selling for you. In order to keep up with demand, you’ll also have to step up production within their areas and ensure that the stash never runs out. Well, you could, actually. But why would you?
Anyway, each product or substance cannot be produced right at the start. Different drugs need different production methods, and accordingly, different equipment. Thus, you need to invest, as well as learn recipes, in order to expand.
It’s overall very immersive, which helps to sell the game. I just hope that the immersion doesn’t go past the point where the players end up selling some in real life. Cue the nervous laughter.
A Wide Variety Of Things To Do
Being in a questionably legal business means your activities aren’t limited to the standard negotiations, accounting, and other management tasks. Sure, peddling wares is unassuming enough, but when you’re intending to sell contraband for a long time, then you should also be willing to break a few rules.
By rules, I mean those that protect your rivals. It’s a dog eat dog world out there, so you should be ready to commit a few crimes here and there (just don’t do it in real life, of course).
Of course, not all things in the game have questionable legality. You may have to spend most of your day selling amber, or catching up to an old acquaintance. Drug Dealer Simulator 2 has a wide variety of tasks that, in a way, almost makes it seem like a slice of life game. And that’s great. It adds to the immersion, really, as kingpins and thugs both have things in their life that don't revolve around drugs.
Cons of Drug Dealer Simulator 2
| Things That Drug Dealer Simulator 2 Can Improve |
|---|
|
Lacks Reliable Transportation Uncanny NPCs Boring Menu-Based Management |
Lacks Reliable Transportation
Drug Dealer Simulator 2 features a relatively large collection of islands that you can freely explore as long as your parkour and cliff scaling skills are up to par. However, there’s not a lot of ways to get yourself from point A to B quickly without having to do something troublesome along the way. In the early game, this mostly involves a lot of walking, running, and swimming (and sometimes getting bit by snakes). That’s fine and all since you’re basically a nobody with nothing to your name at the start.
But there’s no reason for that to remain true late into the game.
For reference, your main modes of transportation in the game excluding the pair of legs you were granted with at birth include buses, boats, and cars. The first one you can access with the least amount of trouble would be the buses, which can only be accessed through the few bus stops scattered across the island. But the thing is, you can’t use buses without buying tickets, and they don’t even work after 10 PM in-game. On top of that, they can only take you from one bus stop to another.
Now, you might think that this is just a necessary hardship you must endure so that you won’t take your personal car for granted once you can afford it. That’s not the case. Even your car functions much the same way as buses in the game in that you need to buy fuel for it to even run, and it can only take you from one parking lot to the next.
If you haven’t guessed it yet, I do mean that having a car just means new fast travel spots. You can’t drive them manually and go into jungles with a steel cage, much less the next town without a bus stop.
While I do appreciate the immersion of having to manage even your car’s resources, it’s all kind of ruined by the severe restrictions of not being able to drive your own car. Plus, it also means you can’t run people over with it. For the immersion, I mean.
Uncanny NPCs
Personally, I don’t have issues with uncanny NPCs since I consider them an acquired taste (I think they’re funny). But it is also true that I find a lot of the NPCs in the game very uncomfortable to interact with, particularly the ones that don’t serve as elements to the story.
It’s a combination of many things, as is usually the case for these matters. First, their movements are extremely stiff, yet they’re quite expressive in terms of gestures. It’s almost like they’re robots trying to act like humans. It also gives their unmoving eyes a hollow feel to them; a bottomless abyss that’s about to reach out into the world.
The voicing is also quite weird. It might just be a hearing issue, but I could swear they’re either using different voices for when you talk to them and when they’re talking in the background.
Boring Menu-Based Management
Yes, the game’s resource-management mechanics are great. It’s very immersive and even gritty at times. However, all of it is done with menus that you open interfaces and use inventory screens for. It’s boring, quite frankly lazy, and ruins a lot of the otherwise immersive tasks that you have to do. There aren't even any animations for things such as packing substances and placing plants on drying racks.
Is Drug Dealer Simulator 2 Worth It?
Worth Taking A Hit
Drug Dealer Simulator 2 is the kind of game you would open when you have absolutely nothing else to do. It’s good at being a time sink, sure, but at the same time, there are other games right now that can fill that void.
That said, it does have a somewhat unique quality to it that will find some niche regardless of everything else. At the very least, it’s worth trying out, assuming it's price point is similar to the first game. It just needs a lot of polish at this point.
| Platform | Price |
|---|---|
| Steam |
$24.99 |
Drug Dealer Simulator 2 FAQ
Does Drug Dealer Simulator 2 have co-op?
Yes! And it’s arguably a much better experience with friends, really.
What are the other dangers in Drug Dealer Simulator 2 other than gangs?
Players trying to circumvent the cheap boating costs will often find themselves drowning even in shallow waters. Oh, and there’s snakes on tall grass.
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Drug Dealer Simulator 2 Product Information
 | |
| Title | DRUG DEALER SIMULATOR 2 |
|---|---|
| Release Date | June 20, 2024 |
| Developer | Byterunners |
| Publisher | Movie Games S.A. |
| Supported Platforms | PC(Steam) |
| Genre | Simulation |
| Number of Players | Singleplayer, Co-op (1-2) |
| Rating | RP (Assumed Mature 18+) |
| Official Website | Movie Games Official Website |
