Info about Dirty Business:

Official game description:
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About the Game
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Build, upgrade, and expand an underground criminal operation beneath the city. Produce drugs, weapons, counterfeit money, and other illegal activities. Hire workers, grow your gang, optimize production, operate secret cartel airstrip and expand into city-wide distribution. Take control of districts and build your empire from the shadows in single-player or co-op.
**Illegal Production**
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Produce multiple drugs, counterfeit different currencies, and manufacture various weapons. Complete customer orders or sell them directly for maximum profit.
**Control Distribution**
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Send small and medium orders to the surface via elevator, and use front company vehicles for larger shipments.  
Dispatch massive orders from your **secret cartel airstrip** to distant parts of the city and across the country.  
Handle distribution yourself or hire street dealers to move products across the city.
**Build Your Crew**
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Hire workers to grow plants, produce chemical drugs, and manufacture weapons, then hire street dealers to handle drug sales across the city.
**Upgrade Your Underground Base**
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Expand and upgrade your underground base over time, unlock side production rooms, and open an underground garage to support a large-scale distribution fleet.
**Play Solo or Co-op**
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Play solo or team up with up to 4 friends in co-op to build and grow your criminal empire together.

Release date: Jul 22, 2026

Categories: Management Simulation, Cooperative Multiplayer, Resource Management, Base Building, Crafting, Logistics Management, Crime Simulation, Farming Simulation


- Hardware Profile:
  - Summary: The single cohort reports smooth performance with no bugs or issues, indicating the game runs well on this hardware.
  - Sample size: 28 (15% coverage)
  - Audience skew: Review sample is mostly Windows-based.
  - Windows 8-11GB VRAM (positive, 6 reports): All reported gameplay is smooth, with no bugs or performance issues noted.
  - Caveats: 28 of 191 reviews expose hardware metadata.; Review sample is mostly Windows-based.
Feature extractions:
- Community Price: No data
- Playtime Metrics:
  - Game completion: 7.0h
  - Story completion: N/A
  - Session length: 4.5h
  - Endgame: N/A
  - Reasoning: The evidence shows multiple players reporting 3-5 hours of playtime, with one player achieving full completion in under 7 hours ('conseguí todo'). This indicates game completion around 7 hours. Story completion is not explicitly separated from overall progression, so it is set to null. Session length is deduced from reported uninterrupted play durations of 4-5 hours. No endgame playtime evidence is provided.
- Time-to-fun:
  - Summary: The game suffers from a confusing tutorial, bugs, and a lengthy early game loop that dampen initial enjoyment, but players who persist and learn the controls or play with friends often find the progression and building addictive.
  - Stance: Clicks after
  - Anchor: After understanding controls and overcoming early game friction
  - Time to anchor: N/A
  - Friction: confusing tutorial; complicated controls; lengthy early game loop; tedious employee management; tutorial bugs
  - Unlock drivers: learning controls; playing with friends; progression rewards; understanding game mechanics
  - Conditions: playing with friends; understanding controls; getting past early game loop; tutorial completion; game updates to fix bugs; patience
- Player Archetypes:
  - Cooperative Chill Player (buy)
    - Motivation: Social relaxation and shared enjoyment
    - Playstyle: Cooperative, slow-paced, methodical
    - Experience: familiar
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: N/A
    - Reference games: N/A
  - Progression-Driven Manager (buy)
    - Motivation: Optimizing progression and automation loops
    - Playstyle: Strategic, patient, goal-oriented
    - Experience: veteran
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: N/A
    - Reference games: Cash Cleaner Sim
  - Content-Hungry Veteran (no buy)
    - Motivation: Seeking additional content and lasting depth
    - Playstyle: Completionist, critical, analytical
    - Experience: veteran
    - Purchase stance: no buy
    - Labels: N/A
    - Reference games: N/A


Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category.
Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews.
What players like:
- Game is fun overall (weight 0.69): Many reviewers describe the game as fun, good, and enjoyable, often exceeding expectations. The overall sentiment is highly positive.
- Great with friends (weight 0.57): Playing with friends significantly enhances the experience, making the game more fun and enjoyable, especially the co-op dynamics.
- Strategic business elements (weight 0.44): Managing production, distribution, and hiring adds strategic depth, allowing players to make meaningful decisions and optimize their operations.
- High potential for growth (weight 0.4): Reviewers see great potential in the game, especially as an Early Access title, and look forward to future updates and content.
- Distinct from Schedule I (weight 0.36): Players appreciate that the game has its own unique style and mechanics, setting it apart from similar titles like Schedule I.
- Satisfying progression system (weight 0.35): Progression is praised for being well-paced, clear, and motivating, with a satisfying loop of earning money and upgrading operations.
- Addictive gameplay loop (weight 0.35): The core gameplay of making, selling, and expanding is described as addictive and time-consuming in a positive way, encouraging long sessions.
- Enjoyable co-op dynamics (weight 0.24): Co-op is highlighted as a highlight, with fun smuggling missions and the ability to work together or enjoy the game while a friend plays.
- Active and responsive developers (weight 0.21): The development team is praised for being active, professional, and committed to regular updates, which builds player confidence.
- Relaxing and immersive (weight 0.21): The game provides a relaxing, pleasant atmosphere that allows players to zone out and enjoy the experience for hours.
- Fruit variety and potency (weight 0.07): The different types of fruits are described as good and potent, with a variety of flavors adding to the gameplay.
- Caribbean theme appreciated (weight 0.07): The Caribbean setting is noted as a positive aspect, adding to the atmosphere and originality of the game.
- Save and rollback feature (weight 0.07): The ability to save and rollback progress is considered a helpful feature, allowing players to fix mistakes without losing much progress.
- Grid alignment tool useful (weight 0.06): The grid alignment feature helps players place items neatly, which is appreciated by those who prefer a tidy base.
- Good German translation (weight 0.06): The German localization is noted as being well done, which is a plus for German-speaking players.

Common complaints:
- Too grindy and repetitive (weight 0.63): The gameplay loop is monotonous, requiring endless box-moving and micromanagement. Early progression is slow, with many hours spent doing the same tasks.
- Game is very buggy (weight 0.63): Numerous bugs affect gameplay, including crashes, glitches with item placement, and save data deletion. The game breaks frequently and needs major fixes.
- Poor AI worker system (weight 0.61): Workers are unreliable, lazy, and inefficient. They harvest fewer buds than expected, pack boxes incompletely, sit idle, and require constant requeuing.
- Bad and clunky controls (weight 0.45): Controls are widely reported as unresponsive, glonky, and poorly designed. Key bindings are complicated and the overall control scheme feels anti-human.
- Lack of content and depth (weight 0.43): The game feels shallow, with missing features like a loan system, radio, and PvP. It is compared unfavorably to Schedule 1 as a knockoff.
- Item pickup and box issues (weight 0.4): Picking up items from boxes is unreliable, and empty boxes cannot be discarded or stacked properly. Box physics are buggy, causing objects to fly away.
- Lacks automation and QOL (weight 0.35): The game lacks automation features like infinite task options or a trash can for boxes. Quality of life improvements are urgently needed.
- No open world exploration (weight 0.32): Players expected an open map but are confined to a single room. This limits freedom and makes the game feel claustrophobic.
- Slow early game progression (weight 0.31): The early game takes too long, with long grinds for the first employee or to leave the room. Progression gates require excessive reputation and money.
- Micro management overload (weight 0.27): Players complain about excessive micromanagement, including endless restocking, order fulfillment, and manual tasks for workers. This makes the game tedious.
- Misleading marketing (weight 0.22): Promotional videos misrepresent the game, as players expected a freeform open world but got a confined room. This leads to disappointment.
- Multiplayer instability (weight 0.22): Multiplayer is plagued by connection issues, crashes, and security problems. Friends cannot join easily, and random players can connect despite passwords.
- Bad tutorial (weight 0.22): The tutorial is buggy, confusing, or locks basic mechanics behind progression. Players are left without proper guidance on how to play.
- Graphics are poor (weight 0.21): Graphics are considered worse than similar games like Cruelty Squad and feel like a mobile children's game. Visual quality disappoints many players.
- Cannot delete purchased items (weight 0.21): Players cannot delete or discard purchased items like lamps or old objects. A bin is locked behind level 3, and cardboard boxes clutter the workspace.
- Inventory capacity too small (weight 0.21): Inventory space is very limited, making storage and box management frustrating. Container capacity leaves odd leftovers (e.g., 2 grass pieces).
- Key bindings are complicated (weight 0.18): Key bindings are poorly designed and difficult to learn. Controls require significant time to get used to, which frustrates new players.
- Game becomes too easy quickly (weight 0.16): Despite initial grind, the game becomes trivial after under 7 hours. An exploit with stacking 3D printers bypasses other content, ruining balance.
- No purpose in early game (weight 0.16): The first few hours lack clear objectives, leaving players walking around and cleaning with no sense of progression. This makes the game feel empty.
- Placement and alignment issues (weight 0.13): Players cannot align tables, cooking stations, or boxes against walls. Placement is uneven and items appear crooked, causing frustration.

Gameplay feedback:
- Production and logistics (weight 0.34): Gameplay involves production management, distribution network development, and a logistics system for manufacturing and selling.
- Crime and smuggling theme (weight 0.32): The game has a criminal empire management theme, simulating drug sales online and narco/arms trafficking with smuggling mechanics.
- Worker and employee management (weight 0.3): The game includes systems for managing workers and employees, involving recruitment and task assignment.
- Co-op multiplayer available (weight 0.27): The game supports cooperative multiplayer, allowing play with a partner or in co-op mode.
- Slow-paced and chill (weight 0.25): The game is very slow-paced, requiring patience for end-game advancement, and is perfect for chill vibes with low urgency.
- Farming simulation core (weight 0.19): The game is a farming simulation with planting, watering, harvesting, packing, and order management, along with business management, hiring, distribution, and expansion. Different fruit flavors are available.
- Box-moving mechanic (weight 0.19): The game involves moving boxes, with a bin available in utilities for management, though bugs exist with boxes and buggies.
- Manual operations required (weight 0.19): Gameplay requires manual operations, including repacking glitchy product packaging and requeuing staff for tasks.
- Progression and grinding (weight 0.17): Progression involves grinding and leveling up, with specific requirements like reaching reputation level 32 and earning 360,000.
- Flight and airplane delivery (weight 0.15): The game includes a flight aspect to unlock and airplane delivery mechanics.
- Simulation management game (weight 0.14): Players describe the game as a management and simulator game, focusing on overall simulation management.
- Character and atmosphere (weight 0.14): The game includes character development, decision-making, and an atmospheric setting.
- Resource management (weight 0.12): The game includes resource management, such as managing water, inventory, and storage planning.
- Placement and grid system (weight 0.11): Players can place items like tables and cooking stations with grid alignment using the control key.
- Easy to understand gameplay (weight 0.11): The gameplay is easy to understand, with tutorials and a sandbox mode available.
- Base expansion and growth (weight 0.11): Players can expand their base and grow their operations over time.
- Dynamic pricing and reputation (weight 0.11): The game features dynamic pricing based on reputation, affecting product selection and sales.
- Long playtime offered (weight 0.11): The game provides a long playtime, with a progression system requiring step-by-step work and offering a long experience.
- Early Access status (weight 0.1): The game is in Early Access, with demo progress transferable via folder copy.
- Unique game blend (weight 0.1): The game combines worlds of several titles, and is not like Schedule I, Store Clerk, Construction Worker, or House Flipper.

Performance notes:
- Stable performance and optimization (weight 0.22): Multiple players report a smooth running experience without bugs or issues. This includes general optimization praise and lack of game-breaking problems.
- Intermittent crashes and freezes (weight 0.19): Players describe various crash scenarios, including PC freezes after extended play, multiplayer session crashes, and menu-related crashes when clicking on orders.
- Frame rate issues at start (weight 0.07): A player notes that FPS problems occur upon launching the game but tend to improve as playtime increases.

Recommendations:
- Game is recommended overall (weight 0.92): Multiple clusters indicate players positively recommend the game, citing it as a good value for the price and enjoyable for simulation and management genre fans.
- Comparison to Schedule 1 (weight 0.26): Several clusters mention Schedule 1, with some preferring it over this game, while others recommend this game as a better or more varied alternative but caution against unrealistic expectations.
- Early Access issues (weight 0.25): Players acknowledge the game is in Early Access with minor bugs and clunky controls, but still find it enjoyable and recommend waiting for updates or mods.
- Niche game for specific audience (weight 0.24): Feedback indicates the game is niche and not for everyone, but highly recommended for fans of the genre or those who enjoy slow-paced, chill experiences.
- Good value for price (weight 0.21): Players highlight the game as being worth its price, giving it high scores relative to cost and recommending it as a budget-friendly purchase.
- Game is grindy (weight 0.17): Some reviews note the game involves heavy grinding, which may appeal to players who enjoy leveling up and progression, but could be a drawback for others.
- Great with friends (weight 0.11): Players recommend the game for co-op play, emphasizing it is enjoyable when played with friends.
- Demo available to try (weight 0.06): A tip suggests trying the free demo before purchasing to see if the game suits the player's taste.
- Save watering can tip (weight 0.05): One piece of practical advice is to save the watering can and maintain water at 30% for efficiency.

Other player notes:
No miscpoints

Emotions:
- Frustration (weight 0.27): Players reported extensive frustration due to bugs, poorly designed controls, unresponsive worker AI, and excessive grind. Core mechanics like item pickup and employee management feel broken, while repetitive tasks and lack of automation make progression tedious.
- Satisfaction (weight 0.15): Satisfaction came from clear progression, enjoyable co-op play, and the rewarding loop of mastering the business mechanics. Players appreciated the game's depth, good value, and satisfying sense of building a self-sustaining operation.
- Enjoyment (weight 0.11): Enjoyment was primarily driven by cooperative multiplayer, especially with friends or a partner. The core gameplay loop of farming, crafting, and selling provided fun variety, and the Caribbean-themed flying and smuggling elements added to the positive experience.
- Disappointment (weight 0.1): Disappointment stemmed from broken basic mechanics, a grindy and restricted early game, and unmet expectations—especially the lack of an open world and missing features like a loan system. Misleading trailers and inefficient AI workers further dampened the experience.
- Excitement (weight 0.04): Excitement was fueled by addictive gameplay, positive outlook for future content updates, and anticipation of unlocking new features like airplane deliveries. The transferable demo save also contributed to a heightened sense of eagerness.
- Hope (weight 0.04): Players felt hopeful about potential improvements through future updates and mods, believing that current issues can be resolved over time to enrich the overall experience.
- Fun (weight 0.03): Fun was reported when playing with friends, and after an initial short period, the game became genuinely enjoyable. Social interaction appeared to be a key factor in this positive shift.
- Anger (weight 0.03): Anger was triggered by a 30-minute long join time, poor controls, useless hired employees that wasted money, and the developer allegedly deleting save data twice on purpose, severely undermining trust.
- Love (weight 0.02): Players expressed love for the game's great overall quality and its slow-paced, chill vibe. The combination of fun gameplay and relaxing atmosphere resonated strongly with some users.
- Desire (weight 0.02): Desire centered around wanting additional content such as piloting the plane, a smoke or drink button, a radio feature, and future DLC or PvP modes. These wishes reflect a craving for more immersive and varied features.
- Amusement (weight 0.02): Amusement came from the social dynamics of cooperative play, specifically bossing a partner around or watching a friend work while doing nothing. These interactions provided lighthearted enjoyment.
- Confusion (weight 0.02): Confusion arose from the tutorial's design, which unlocks mechanics incrementally rather than explaining them all upfront. Players struggled to complete the first task and found the game's purpose unclear.
- Annoyance (weight 0.02): Annoyance was caused by automatic watering cans failing to work, the need to carry many boxes, and the inability to stack empty boxes in the storage cabinet. These minor but persistent issues disrupted gameplay flow.
- Optimism (weight 0.02): Optimism was based on the belief that the game is fundamentally good and, with a few updates, could become great. Active developer support and bug-fixing efforts reinforced this positive outlook.
- Engagement (weight 0.01): Engagement was attributed to the game being highly time-consuming, indicating that players became deeply absorbed in its mechanics and progression systems despite other criticisms.
- Anticipation (weight 0.01): Anticipation was focused on the promise of inventory expansion, which players looked forward to as a means to improve organization and reduce management tedium.
- Disgust (weight 0.01): Disgust was expressed toward poor graphics and inferior mechanics when compared to a similar game. The disparity in quality led to a strong negative reaction.
- Regret (weight 0.01): Regret came from wasting significant in-game currency (36k) on employees that did not work properly, making players feel their investment was completely wasted.
- Surprise (weight 0.01): Surprise was generated by the game being much better than initially expected, likely due to low prior expectations being exceeded by actual gameplay quality.
- Concern (weight 0.01): Concern was voiced over the lack of content, which could cause the game to be forgotten. Players worried that without more substance, engagement would not last.}