Tired of all this lock down, social distancing stuff? Well why not play a virtual version of it instead? Fancy + Punk’s Coranavirus quarantine simulator (CQS) is just what it sounds like – a simulated world where you have to try to live your normal live while following all the quarantine rules: wear a mask, social distance, wash your hands, and for gods sake don’t touch your face!!

CQS has you doing everything you would do normally during the lockdown. You have to entertain and feed yourself while being safe at the same time. You can interact with items in your house like watching TV – and learning fun facts while your at it -, playing the radio, resting on the couch and thinking about things, and other things to keep you mental heath ok. You can also sleep if you want to.

One thing that is inevitable though is, ya gotta eat! And that means ya gotta go shopping! Grocery shopping is actually one of the main things you do in CQS. As you leave the house a list of food option pops up and shows you the ingredients you well need to make each item. So don’t think you can just live off chips and beer in this game! As you enter the store you can grab items off the shelves and drop them into a shopping cart or just bring them right to the register to buy.

Shopping is harder than you would think too. Not only do you have to find these crudely drawn items but you also have to practice social distancing and avoid going to close to people. If you are getting to close to a patron the screen will start flashing yellow and if you don’t get away in time then you will get hit with flashing red “you broke social distancing” and lose health. Also every so often your hand will start to go up towards your face and you have to quickly hit the button that is on the screen or lose more health for “touching your face.” You can also just waste time pulling things off shelves and slamming your cart into product displays, just saying.

When you get home you can cook but only if you have all the ingredients. But don’t forget to wash your hands first or that’s more health loss! Hand washing is another mini game simulator. There is a chart you can look at for this and the more steps you follow the mote points you get! You can ever hear your character humming “happy birthday” to ensure he is washing for the recommend 30 seconds.

Even though CQS is simple in concept, it’s not easy at all in practice not so much! In fact it’s HARD! It took my several tries to get through the grocery shopping people the patrons don’t seem to care about the “six feet apart” rule and you are constantly trying to touch your own face. Also to make it harder, when you return to the store sometimes items are in different locations making them harder to find when they are already hard due to the wonky graphics. Also it is very easy to forget little things like washing your hands and even just worrying about your mental health.

There is also a bit of a learning curve, especially if you are new to simulation games like this. It took me awhile to just figure out how to move my hands to wash them or even grab the shopping chart even with the button directions displayed on the screen. So don’t think this will be an easy walk in the park!

Why is CQS so hard? Why do I get penalized for little things like touching my face or not washing hands? But not only is CQS a game but it is also, basically, a PSA on how to be safe during the quarantine. In fact at the end of the game or when you lose, a checklist of all the things you lost points for pops up and explains why you lost points. Bottom line is Fancy + Punk found a way to really show you the benefits and penalties of following the rules without being pushy or preachy. If you don’t wash your hands before eating or touching things you could sick in the game and in real life. Same with touching your face and not staying away from people.

So Coranavirus quarantine simulator Is fun, quirky, silly at times, and hard as…well the real quarantine. But it might just teach you to be more safe. I give it 4 baby dragons outta 5.

It’s out now for Steam and for only $2.99! For more info check out Steam! Good luck and wear a mask!!!!