The Game Census
Buddy Simulator 1984 cover art

Buddy Simulator 1984

Not a Sailor Studios · 2021-02-18

SteamGOGPlayStation StoreEpic Games StoreMicrosoft Store

AdventureCasualIndieRPGSimulation

Modes: Single player

Releases: Feb 18, 2021 (PC (Microsoft Windows)), Apr 06, 2023 (PlayStation 4), Apr 06, 2023 (PlayStation 5), Oct 27, 2022 (Nintendo Switch), Apr 06, 2023 (Xbox One), Apr 06, 2023 (Xbox Series X|S)

Thanks to next generation AI technology, BUDDY SIMULATOR 1984 simulates the experience of hanging out with a best buddy! Your buddy learns from you, constantly adapting to your interests and personality. But most importantly, your buddy can play games with you!

6
playing now
93%
positive of 4.3k reviews
Very Positive
steam rating
200,000–500,000
owners (SteamSpy est.)
80/100
critic score (1 outlets, IGDB)
70/100
IGDB user rating (16 ratings)
6h
time to beat (IGDB)
platinum
deck/linux tier (ProtonDB)
$9.99
steam price (US)

6 players in-game as of 2026-08-30 03:00 UTC (census sample)

Buddy Simulator 1984 is a horror adventure/role-playing video game, developed by Chicago-based team Not a Sailor Studios. It was first released for Windows on February 18, 2021, before being released on October 27, 2022, for Nintendo Switch, and on PlayStation 4, 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on April 6, 2023. The game presents itself as a piece of text-based software from the year 1984, that allows the player to interact with an AI virtual "buddy".

Health check

Quietly active
  • · 6 players in-game at the last census sample.
  • · 157 reviews in the last 8 weeks (~20/week).
  • · Review velocity down 36% vs the prior 8 weeks.
  • · Top 14% of 11,312 Adventure games in the census by review count.

Health tier since 2026-08-29

Estimated sales: 87k–196k copies

Review-multiple estimate from 4,349 total reviews — how this is computed.

Current store prices

GOG$9.99
Microsoft Store$9.99

Deal snapshots via CheapShark, refreshed daily.

All-time low: $1.99 at Steam (2026-06-25) · bundled 5×via IsThereAnyDeal

12-month high $9.99 · on sale 4 of 10 observed days · $8.00 above the all-time low (census price snapshots)

Review momentum

PositiveNegative
38338320212026Week of 2021-02-01: 307 positiveWeek of 2021-02-01: 17 negativeWeek of 2021-03-01: 155 positiveWeek of 2021-03-01: 10 negativeWeek of 2021-04-01: 122 positiveWeek of 2021-04-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2021-05-01: 159 positiveWeek of 2021-05-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2021-06-01: 97 positiveWeek of 2021-06-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2021-07-01: 383 positiveWeek of 2021-07-01: 28 negativeWeek of 2021-08-01: 260 positiveWeek of 2021-08-01: 13 negativeWeek of 2021-09-01: 96 positiveWeek of 2021-09-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2021-10-01: 100 positiveWeek of 2021-10-01: 14 negativeWeek of 2021-11-01: 202 positiveWeek of 2021-11-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2021-12-01: 100 positiveWeek of 2021-12-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2022-01-01: 96 positiveWeek of 2022-01-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2022-02-01: 151 positiveWeek of 2022-02-01: 9 negativeWeek of 2022-03-01: 57 positiveWeek of 2022-03-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2022-04-01: 51 positiveWeek of 2022-04-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2022-05-01: 40 positiveWeek of 2022-05-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2022-06-01: 64 positiveWeek of 2022-06-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2022-07-01: 138 positiveWeek of 2022-07-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2022-08-01: 44 positiveWeek of 2022-08-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2022-09-01: 38 positiveWeek of 2022-10-01: 38 positiveWeek of 2022-10-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2022-11-01: 43 positiveWeek of 2022-11-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2022-12-01: 59 positiveWeek of 2022-12-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2023-01-01: 43 positiveWeek of 2023-01-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2023-02-01: 34 positiveWeek of 2023-02-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2023-03-01: 28 positiveWeek of 2023-03-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2023-04-01: 17 positiveWeek of 2023-04-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2023-05-01: 20 positiveWeek of 2023-05-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2023-06-01: 28 positiveWeek of 2023-06-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2023-07-01: 41 positiveWeek of 2023-07-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2023-08-01: 25 positiveWeek of 2023-08-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2023-09-01: 20 positiveWeek of 2023-09-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2023-10-01: 18 positiveWeek of 2023-11-01: 30 positiveWeek of 2023-11-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2023-12-01: 32 positiveWeek of 2023-12-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2024-01-01: 25 positiveWeek of 2024-01-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2024-02-01: 25 positiveWeek of 2024-02-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2024-03-01: 29 positiveWeek of 2024-03-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-04-01: 29 positiveWeek of 2024-04-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2024-05-01: 18 positiveWeek of 2024-05-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2024-06-01: 21 positiveWeek of 2024-06-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-07-01: 34 positiveWeek of 2024-07-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2024-08-01: 22 positiveWeek of 2024-08-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2024-09-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2024-10-01: 13 positiveWeek of 2024-10-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-11-01: 24 positiveWeek of 2024-11-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2024-12-01: 26 positiveWeek of 2025-01-01: 23 positiveWeek of 2025-01-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-02-01: 10 positiveWeek of 2025-02-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-03-01: 20 positiveWeek of 2025-03-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-04-01: 14 positiveWeek of 2025-05-01: 81 positiveWeek of 2025-05-01: 10 negativeWeek of 2025-06-01: 29 positiveWeek of 2025-06-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-07-01: 25 positiveWeek of 2025-07-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-08-01: 20 positiveWeek of 2025-09-01: 16 positiveWeek of 2025-09-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-10-01: 22 positiveWeek of 2025-11-01: 21 positiveWeek of 2025-11-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-12-01: 21 positiveWeek of 2025-12-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2026-01-01: 27 positiveWeek of 2026-01-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2026-02-01: 10 positiveWeek of 2026-02-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2026-03-01: 13 positiveWeek of 2026-03-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2026-04-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2026-04-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2026-05-01: 19 positiveWeek of 2026-05-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2026-06-01: 14 positiveWeek of 2026-06-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2026-07-01: 28 positiveWeek of 2026-07-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2026-08-01: 13 positiveWeek of 2026-08-01: 1 negative
Weekly review counts (Steam review histogram). Positive above the line, negative below.

Players online

1812026-08-07 00:00 — 10 players2026-08-07 08:00 — 7 players2026-08-07 16:00 — 11 players2026-08-08 00:00 — 7 players2026-08-08 08:00 — 11 players2026-08-08 16:00 — 10 players2026-08-09 00:00 — 10 players2026-08-09 08:00 — 9 players2026-08-09 16:00 — 12 players2026-08-10 00:00 — 8 players2026-08-10 08:00 — 13 players2026-08-10 16:00 — 12 players2026-08-11 00:00 — 11 players2026-08-11 08:00 — 8 players2026-08-11 17:00 — 10 players2026-08-13 00:00 — 10 players2026-08-14 08:00 — 4 players2026-08-15 15:00 — 8 players2026-08-16 23:00 — 6 players2026-08-18 07:00 — 5 players2026-08-19 14:00 — 7 players2026-08-20 22:00 — 5 players2026-08-22 05:00 — 4 players2026-08-23 13:00 — 7 players2026-08-24 21:00 — 10 players2026-08-26 05:00 — 4 players2026-08-27 13:00 — 7 players2026-08-28 20:00 — 10 players2026-08-30 03:00 — 6 players
Concurrent players, hourly average, last 30 days (census samples).

Price history

$9.99$1.992021-02-182026-08-302021-02-18 — best price $8.992021-05-20 — best price $9.992021-07-15 — best price $6.992021-08-05 — best price $9.992021-10-20 — best price $5.992021-11-01 — best price $9.992021-12-23 — best price $5.992022-01-14 — best price $9.992022-03-31 — best price $6.992022-05-05 — best price $7.992022-06-23 — best price $4.992022-07-14 — best price $6.992022-07-21 — best price $9.992022-08-29 — best price $9.992022-11-01 — best price $9.992022-12-08 — best price $9.992023-01-05 — best price $9.992023-02-25 — best price $9.992023-04-06 — best price $8.992023-09-04 — best price $7.492023-09-18 — best price $9.992023-11-21 — best price $4.992024-01-04 — best price $9.992024-03-14 — best price $7.492024-07-11 — best price $9.992024-11-27 — best price $5.992025-01-02 — best price $9.992025-05-13 — best price $3.992025-07-10 — best price $9.992025-10-27 — best price $2.492026-01-05 — best price $9.992026-08-29 — best price $9.992026-08-30 — best price $9.99
Lowest recorded price across tracked stores, per day (census snapshots).

Attention

4432026-05-31 — 11 pageviews2026-06-03 — 10 pageviews2026-06-06 — 8 pageviews2026-06-09 — 16 pageviews2026-06-12 — 9 pageviews2026-06-15 — 11 pageviews2026-06-18 — 14 pageviews2026-06-21 — 13 pageviews2026-06-24 — 12 pageviews2026-06-27 — 22 pageviews2026-06-30 — 18 pageviews2026-07-03 — 18 pageviews2026-07-06 — 18 pageviews2026-07-09 — 21 pageviews2026-07-12 — 13 pageviews2026-07-15 — 17 pageviews2026-07-18 — 23 pageviews2026-07-21 — 5 pageviews2026-07-24 — 8 pageviews2026-07-27 — 14 pageviews2026-07-30 — 11 pageviews2026-08-02 — 16 pageviews2026-08-05 — 11 pageviews2026-08-08 — 8 pageviews2026-08-11 — 27 pageviews2026-08-14 — 6 pageviews2026-08-17 — 15 pageviews2026-08-20 — 14 pageviews2026-08-23 — 17 pageviews2026-08-26 — 24 pageviews2026-08-28 — 19 pageviews
Daily Wikipedia pageviews (attention proxy, census-recorded).

Completion

30
achievements tracked
84.7%
earned "Wakey Wakey!"
26.8%
median achievement earned by

Global achievement rates from Steam.

Details

WindowsSingle-playerSteam AchievementsSteam Trading CardsFamily Sharing1 DLC

1 supported languages: English

Console footprint

PlatformPlayers trackedCompletionTrophies/achievements
Steam (Steam)3,6455%30
PS5 (PlayStation)2938%30
Xbox Series, Xbox One (Xbox)744%30
PS4 (PlayStation)4819%30
Switch (Nintendo)200%0

Players tracked by Exophase (achievement/trophy trackers) — a sample of the player base, not total sales.

Player tags

2DRPGCute1980sIndieRetroCasualHorrorAdventureSimulation

Census log

Computed from census-recorded observations only — dates are observation dates.

Players also track

Star Control®: OriginsUnclaimed WorldGET EVENChildren of MortaMomodora: Reverie Under The MoonlightCelesteCHANGE: A Homeless Survival ExperienceThe Watson-Scott Test

Similarity via IGDB.

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