Drug Dealer Simulator 2 launches this month with co-op drug empire management and nostalgia for the early 2000s

In our cultural quest to simulate all possible jobs, gigs, and hobbies, we inevitably landed on Drug Dealer Simulator and, soon, Drug Dealer Simulator 2. The sequel turned up to today's PC Gaming Show with a quick clip to remind us of its June 20 release date and, if you're so inclined, a demo that's available now.

"Welcome to the early 2000s! You are Eddie, and a lifestyle of bad choices made you an outlaw seeking refuge," says DDS2's developer Byterunners. "Don't worry tho, Isla Sombra is the perfect place for fugitives like you." It comes with such staples of 2000s nostalgia as brick phones, parkour, and weed being edgy.

DDS2 sports improvements over its predecessor such as a much bigger world map, tropical weather of Isla Sombra, expanding and decorating your drug lab, and a co-op mode. If television's taught us anything it's that you should probably embark on your fugitive drug empire dreams solo to avoid any chance of a season finale backstabbing. But videogames have taught us that messing around in a simulation is often best with friends willing to throw a wrench in our operation. 

"Drug Dealer Simulator is ugly, dumb, and kinda clunky, but there's something strangely compelling about it," we said of its singleplayer predecessor back in 2020. "It's clear some effort has gone into its systems, which is more than I can say for a lot of games with 'simulator' in the title."

After looking in on Andy Kelly's Drug Dealer Simulator adventures of four years ago, I'm wondering if his contact "Eddie" is in fact now DDS2's main character and aspiring drug empire magnate Eddie. So it comes with lore, even.

Drug Dealer Simulator launches on June 20 and has a demo currently running over on Steam as well.

Lauren Morton
Associate Editor

Lauren has been writing for PC Gamer since she went hunting for the cryptid Dark Souls fashion police in 2017. She accepted her role as Associate Editor in 2021, now serving as self-appointed chief cozy games and farmlife sim enjoyer. Her career originally began in game development and she remains fascinated by how games tick in the modding and speedrunning scenes. She likes long fantasy books, longer RPGs, can't stop playing co-op survival crafting games, and has spent a number of hours she refuses to count building houses in The Sims games for over 20 years.