No More Blockbusters Near You? Try Browsing VHS Tapes in a Video Game

For anyone who’s ever endured the fluorescent tragedy of a closing Blockbuster, two new video games are offering a strange solution: build your own VHS rental store instead!

In March, two different indie game developers released workplace simulators built around the same concept. “Retro Rewind” was a surprise hit on Steam, selling more than 100,000 copies on the platform in less than a week. Just days earlier, “Rewind 99” launched with a similar hook. Still in its early access phase, that game got a more modest reception — with the full experience expected sometime in 2028.

It’s a weird coincidence made far funnier by the fact that the quirky competitors won’t be alone on the market for long. A third title, “Video Store Simulator,” is expected later this year, suggesting this oddly specific, cross-medium niche could be a real subculture just getting started.

All three releases belong to a rapidly expanding category of interactive entertainment that’s defined less by compelling characters and storylines than the calming effect of creating and organizing a functional system. From “Powerwash Simulator” to “Bus Simulator,” these are games that let players inhabit a specific job or routine with added emphasis on iterative optimization and slow, quiet satisfaction. Comparable to the so-called “productivity porn” you get by watching TV shows like “The Pitt,” the appeal of managing a digital video store is as nostalgic as it is procedural.

“Retro Rewind“

In “Retro Rewind” and “Rewind 99,” you stock shelves, track inventory, recommend movies, and slowly expand into a customizable space that reflects your in-world film taste. The two experiences diverge mostly when it comes to tone and scope — with “Retro Rewind” leaning into a kind of cozy reverence for the past while “Rewind 99” stretches the idea into something more chaotic. Think semi-historic preservation versus totally cartoonish escalation. Both fun but potentially designed for different crowds.

Either way, the idea is overdue. From floppy disks to CDs, physical media has long been embedded in video games. Survival titles like “Resident Evil” turned cassette tapes and bloody documents into breadcrumbs for dread, while indie experiments like “Five Nights at Freddy’s” allowed players to inhabit once-analog interfaces through uncanny digital space. In that sense, video games have created a more legible relationship between types of physical media than most Hollywood creatives can crack. 

“Rewind 99”

For decades, studios have struggled to adapt video games for the big screen. Too often, the immersive art form is reduced to its most popular IP and improperly translated for audiences who may or may not appreciate the original’s language and culture. Conversely, these VHS rental simulators don’t just reference movies but actually replicate the experience of discovering them. It’s an inversion of the typical game-to-film pipeline that actually preserves how both worlds feel, effectively repackaging a relationship between consumers and media that’s mostly disappeared.  

Of course, VHS started its renaissance way before now. Boutique rental shops, like Vidiots in Los Angeles or Scarecrow Video in Seattle, have found new life by leaning into the services that streamers can’t offer. Those brick-and-mortar establishments have built their buzziness on keen curation, perceived scarcity, and the social ritual of browsing. For Gen-Z customers in particular, the appeal tends to lie in the kind of experimentation these new simulator games are bringing full circle. You can absolutely find and watch weird things online. But holding a movie in your hands and committing to a single choice is a decidedly human fantasy that provides a sentimental escape that scrolling on Netflix, or even Tubi, cannot. 

“Retro Rewind”

At the same time, the VHS aesthetic is also becoming newly attractive to indie filmmakers. The upcoming horror feature “I Have Proof” is currently being shot entirely on VHS-C, chasing what filmmaker James Cullen Bressack describes as “texture, imperfection, and immediacy over polish” (h/t The Hollywood Reporter). That deliberate rejection of artificial sheen highlights a comparable philosophy among film directors who want their stories to look and feel less like simulators themselves. 

“Retro Rewind” and “Rewind 99” aren’t major AAA titles, and the economics that once sustained movie rental stores is largely gone. Still, the energy around physical media continues to surge in sincerely exciting new ways. In 2026, nerds who love storytelling aren’t just consuming and collecting VHS culture. They’re actively rebuilding it as a safe haven that last century’s cinephiles let die out too soon.

“Retro Rewind” and “Rewind 99” are available now on Steam.