- DEVELOPER: Take IT Studio!
- PUBLISHER: Take IT Studio!
- PLATFORMS: PC
- GENRE: Anomaly-detection / Simulation
- RELEASE DATE: October 10, 2025
- STARTING PRICE: 9,75€
- REVIEWED VERSION: PC
Before Exit: Gas Station is a first-person anomaly-detection and simulation game where the you works as a gas station employee tasked with closing the station at night. The gameplay combines elements of roguelike, puzzle logic, and walking simulator genres, focusing on completing various cleaning and closing tasks while navigating a mysterious, eerie atmosphere. The setting is an empty gas station in the middle of nowhere, with no customers after dark, making your lonely shift tense and strange.
Facing 48 Scenarios of Closing Duties and Hidden Puzzles
The main goal is to survive seven night shifts by finishing a checklist of closing duties. These include things like turning off lights, locking doors, mopping floors, and taking out trash. The game has over 48 different scenarios, which means some tasks might feel the same over time. However, these scenarios bring a lot of variety, making you deal with things like fires, changing solar panels, putting away tools, and much more.
Your main goal is to be very careful, as your boss is strict and will fire you for any mistake. The game tests your ability to spot anomalies as you must notice anything strange or out of place and fix it. Even though the tasks are simple, you are always panicking about missing something, and you only get two warnings before you are fired. Each week, you get promoted, and the game continues until you find four different endings.
That’s most of the gameplay, so don’t expect anything too complex. However, a small problem is that the game is bad at giving hints. For example, in one task, you need to put tires away, but the game doesn’t tell you where. You might spend 10 to 15 minutes walking around before finding the tires near the price sign outside. Some scenarios are easy to figure out, but others are just as hard.
Before Exit: Gas Station Succeeds as a Niche Psychological Thriller
Before Exit: Gas Station is not a normal horror game with jump scares. Instead, it creates a creepy, spooky feeling through the scary setting, the sound design, and the strong feeling of being totally alone. The main character’s voice also adds to this mood. Each week ends differently, giving you weird vibes and letting you learn more about the story behind them.
The graphics also create a heavy atmosphere with detailed indoor and outdoor areas, making the place feel isolated and scary. Lighting is key to the mood and you can adjust the grain effect in the settings, but I did notice that the game has FPS issues when too many lights are on. Overall, the visuals do a good job of making the gas station feel both familiar and deeply unsettling.
Since the game is quite cheap, you already know what to expect. Every day will feel a little different, but the environment around you stays mostly the same. For what it offers, this game is perfect if you enjoy anomaly detection and like great graphics where the atmosphere is the main source of the creepy feeling. It’s a very niche game, and I think adding multiplayer might have made it much more fun.
Pros
- Unique Genre Combination: Blends anomaly detection with roguelike, puzzle, and walking simulator elements, creating a distinctive and niche experience.
- Atmospheric & Non-Traditional Horror: Builds tension through eerie sound design, isolation, and unsettling ambience rather than cheap jump scares.
- High Replayability & Variety: Features over 48 scenarios with diverse tasks such as fixing solar panels, handling fires, and organizing tools, making each day feel different.
- Tense & Challenging Gameplay: The strict two-warning limit and demanding boss add constant pressure, testing the player’s attention to detail.
- Good Value: Offers substantial content and replayability for a very affordable price point.
Cons
- Lack of Clarity & Poor Hints: Players can waste significant time on simple objectives due to unclear guidance or missing instructions.
- Repetitive Core Tasks: Despite varied scenarios, the nightly routines like locking doors or mopping floors can feel repetitive, and environments rarely change.
- Technical Issues: Frame rate drops occur when too many lights are on, affecting performance in certain situations.
Review copy provided by the publisher
4
