This novel kept popping up in my searches whenever I went looking for something new to read. For a while, I ignored it. The title sounded quirky, the premise a bit chaotic… but eventually, curiosity won—and I’m so glad it did.
Reading Gotham City Simulator felt like sipping aged wine. It doesn’t hit you all at once. You have to swirl it around, taste it, sit with it. The early chapters almost lost me, I won’t lie. Vivi—the protagonist—seemed far too indifferent, too robotic, hyper-focused on development stats and town logistics like she’d forgotten she was in a dangerous city filled with capes, chaos, and corpses. She’s like that almost the entire way through. And then… the last two chapters hit.
Only then do you understand why she’s so detached. Why she hoards her own dead bodies in a cabinet like it’s just another resource tile in a strategy sim. It’s not laziness or disinterest—it’s part of the mystery. And the way it all comes together at the end? Brilliant.
Aside from the mystery and emotional payoff, the structure is exactly what the title promises: a town-building simulator, but with Gotham’s insanity layered over it. You get game menus, decisions like “do you want to spend 1000 gold to cremate your corpse or just stuff it under the desk,” and constant financial spreadsheets. It’s absurd, and yet somehow completely immersive.
What elevates this story are the cameos. Jarvis appears, which I adored. Batman is there, in classic suspicious Bat-mode. Even Joker makes his entrance. And despite all the chaos, these characters fit. They don’t feel like parodies—they feel like themselves, just dropped into Vivi’s warped sim-version of Gotham.
If you go into this expecting non-stop action or fast-paced character growth, you might be disappointed. But if you’re willing to stick with it and appreciate the dry humor, subtle worldbuilding, and slow-unfolding mystery? This is a hidden gem. A clever, dark, weirdly heartwarming novel that I will absolutely be rereading with new eyes.
Highly recommend giving it a shot. Just… don’t open any cabinets.
