In just a few days, you can run your own gas station as an alien from another planet, and begin collecting data on our species

You’re not having a stroke; you read that title right. In a few days, Roadside Research is set to launch into early access on Feb. 12 for just $12.99.

At its heart, it’s another entry into the affectionately named “friendslop” genre, and offers a brand new adventure to take on with your gaming mates. In this one, you’ll need to run a gas station and keep people’s fuel tanks topped up.

You’ll need to keep the place tidy (if you’re a neatfreak like me), keep it clean, keep stock both in the shops and in the fuel pumps, and spend points on research to more effectively gather DNA on our species.

I’ve played the demo extensively, and even though I played solo, it was a lot of fun. There’s something addictive about sprinting between shelves and gas pumps and trying to serve everyone while keeping your stock levels up. It’s the good old tried-and-tested formula with a new spin, and I’m here for it.

The game was announced in June of 2025, and a playable demo was launched in September. Hence, the devs have been able to spend that improving on what’s there already, and we can expect a far more complete game than what the demo has in store for us so far (which is actually quite a lot).

It’s currently not clear how long the game will remain in early access, but there is a roughly mapped-out roadmap for the entirety of 2026, with no set full release window in sight. We will see a steady flow of features from the studio appear in the game as the year chugs along, though.

One thing we are sure to see a lot of is Streamers picking up this game. It’s through a YouTuber that I first discovered this game, and some of the shenanigans you can get up to make it a really good game for streaming and making videos.

Expect plenty of fun to be had, expect bugs as the game works towards a full release, and expect to also pay a little bit more once the full release is out. Hence, if you do want to capitalize and it’s your kind of game, it might be best to get in early.

The demo is still up, and it’s still a lot of fun, in case you want to check it out before dropping your $12.99 on the game. You can see Roadside Research’s Steam Page here.

It might be too early to tell right now, but I have a feeling we’re approaching the first hit friendslop game of 2026. It’s already in decent shape, and it’s only likely to get better from here on out. You can take on Roadside Research with up to three friends, for a maximum of four players (until someone brings out a mod to raise that cap, of course).