After a not-so-brilliant release day and a handful of patches in the weeks after I decided to finally give a go at Tattoo Removal Simulator. This title is the debut offering of a Lithuanian indie studio, Uraga, and is a relaxing and satisfying game where you remove tattoos and unveil the stories behind them. The developers compared it to the well-known PowerWash Simulator, but for removing tattoos. With its release, the Uraga team was just really starting a longer journey as they are already working on expanding and improving the game’s experience.

Tattoo Removal Simulator will keep telling new stories by new clients that will be added over time. Each of the clients will come with their own backgrounds, emotions, and reasons for their tattoos to be removed. New levels with unexpected environments will also be added to the game, and Uraga will also keep polishing the experience with further bug fixes along the way. Other quality improvements based on players’ feedback are also to be expected, as the developer’s goal is to make every session feel as intuitive as possible. As far as immersion and atmosphere go, they will expand the world and introduce an in-game radio system, plus add more interactables.

This game is a first-person simulator that places gamers in the role of a tattoo removal specialist. It is set in a small studio within a teeming city in which players help their clients erase the marks of their past by removing bad tattoos. Each and every one of these tattoos will provide a unique story, be it humorous or dramatic. It will be up to you to manage and eventually grow your studio by performing quality business, earning money, and upgrading the tools of the trade. Tattoo Removal Simulator includes narrative elements as told by your clients that will share unpredictable stories with plenty of twists during their tattoo-removal sessions.

Its gameplay provides slow removals of tattoos where you will work to erase line by line and watch the ink fade. It is all about precision and patience in your line of work, as you will cause unnecessary pain by trying to rush and push too hard. If you lose control over the process, the clients will lose trust, which will result in losing precious earnings. So remember not to rush, keep focus, and have as steady hands as you can. There are three game modes available in Tattoo Removal Simulator, and those are Career Mode, Casual Mode, and Story Mode. Let’s dive into each of those for a bit.

In Career Mode, you build and run your tattoo removal studio, and your earnings depend on the quality of your work. As mentioned in the previous paragraph, bad handling will cause pain to your clients and lead to unwanted mistakes and, most importantly, unhappy clients that will result in penalties. You will need to invest your income in upgrading the studio and tattoo-removal tools. Only by earning trust and not rushing your job will you be able to successfully grow your business. Opposed to Career Mode, Casual Mode is a more relaxing experience in which you will take on random clients without worrying about deadlines and mistakes too much. Your only focus will be on erasing the tattoos that will be put in front of your trusty laser. Finally, in the Story Mode, you will witness customers’ stories that will be as vivid as possible.

The game also supports a full VR experience, which I have not tested, since I do not own virtual reality gadgets. In it, you will step into your studio from a different perspective and actually sit in the chair beside your clients. In virtual reality and not real life, of course. Everything else remains the same; the gameplay consists of a calm experience in which you will be meticulously removing your customers’ unwanted tattoos. To conclude, Tattoo Removal Simulator is a chill experience that, according to the developers, will continue to expand further in the future, so it looks pretty promising. It is easy to get drawn into it for plenty of hours, as removing the tattoos and seeing fresh skin just feels so addicting.