The player is free to explore the game's world — a suburban setting — as a goat, and jump, run, bash things, and lick objects.

[5][9][10] In-game assets were purchased from third-party vendors instead of developed in-house, such as the original goat model which the studio acquired for use for less than $20.

[9] They limited themselves to a short development time of four weeks without significant management oversight as to set an urgent but realistic goal to bring the game to a playable state.

[10] Ibrisagic felt it was important for the game to be supported on Steam, but initially feared that Valve would not accept the quirky title.

[19][20] They estimated that adding multiplayer would remove "90 percent of the physics" and many other features, and left the game as a single player title at launch.

[11] Those that pre-ordered the game through Coffee Stain's website received early access to the title three days ahead of release.

[27] The patch also adds in additional controls that the player can use to make the goat perform various freestyle tricks comparable to those in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater.

[17][29][30] A paid-content expansion titled "GoatZ" was released on 7 May 2015 as downloadable content for the game on personal computers and a stand-alone application for mobile devices.

[31] The expansion's content spoofs zombie-based survival games, such as DayZ, and includes a new map and gameplay aspects such as fighting off zombies and crafting.

The expansion features a new map based on a space colony, and spoofs much of the recent science fiction media genre.

[40] Similarly, Deep Silver approached Coffee Stain Studios to work out a deal to publish the title in North American retail markets starting in July 2014.

[50][51] With the acquisition of Coffee Stain through THQ Nordic AB on 14 November 2018, it was announced that a Nintendo Switch version of Goat Simulator would be released.

[66] Eurogamer's Dan Whitehead complimented Coffee Stain Studios on building in enough content Goat Simulator and potential expansion through Steam to prove it more than a simple joke title, and instead a brief diversion "in which the player is a willing participant".

[2] Dan Stapleton of IGN considered the title a "clever interactive spoof of all the broken game physics we’ve seen in open worlds" and despite being short, was a "hell of a good time".

[61] Steve Tilley of the Toronto Sun described the game as one where "most players will have a few hours of fun and then file [it] away as an occasional novelty to pull out when they’re especially bored".

[67] Rich Stanton of The Guardian was very critical of Goat Simulator, noting how the title is self-aware of its poor quality, and stated that the game's creation and promotion "demonstrates how social media and the internet amplify our supine tendencies".

[17][69] Ibrisagic stated that Coffee Stain Studios made their money back on the development costs within a few minutes of the game being offered on Steam.

[17] As of August 2014, the studio has reported that nearly a million copies of Goat Simulator have been sold, outperforming their other games over the previous four years.

[73] With the success of the game, Coffee Stain Studios has worked to license out Goat Simulator-themed properties with third-party vendors.

[77] Zen Studios released a Goat Simulator table for Pinball FX on August 29, 2024 in what Gamespot called the weirdest crossover yet.