The modern revival of the theme park sim genre, Planet Coaster, is pretty much all I could have hoped for—and then some.
Where did this kind of game go for so many years? A large variety of rides and attractions combine with a virtually ludicrous level of terrain, structural, and coaster modification choices. Even if it lacks several types of buildings and is still far from being an engaging economic simulator, many of its flaws are likely to gradually disappear as a result of the clever addition of full mod support.

Despite its tremendous diversity, the fundamental process of creating and maintaining a park manages to be simpler and more obvious. I placed, moved, resized, changed the colour of, and edited gift stores, ice cream stalls, coasters, carousels, and walkways using straightforward keyboard shortcuts. The ability to fine-tune every square inch of my park to look exactly how I wanted it, down to the finest details, was made possible by fine control features like establishing bespoke angle-snapping and path lengths, which can initially almost seem overwhelming. Massive possibilities can be created by simply remixing the standard components, and the Steam workshop's collection of add-ons is constantly growing and is accessible from within the client thanks to a well-designed interface.

The coaster editor might be the best illustration of the experimental and free-spirited nature of Planet Coaster.
There are 28 different varieties of coasters in total, ranging from wooden to chain-lifted steel to hydraulically launched, with each having a unique set of track limitations and behavioural characteristics. I could make almost any form I could imagine because I had complete control over the slope, curve, and bank of the track. Additionally, each coaster includes a few pre-made loops and turns that I could add, resize, and move. There was just one issue: even though I could construct the roller coasters of my fantasies, no one would actually want to ride them.

It provides excellent resources for figuring out where ratings are originating from. It makes logic up to a point. After testing, each roller coaster receives ratings for Excitement, Fear, and Nausea. Excitation is always a wonderful thing. Strong nausea is never good. You want to feel some fear, but not too much; it's more of a balancing act. In addition, Planet Coaster offers excellent tools for figuring out where these evaluations are coming from, at least in principle. You can see a heat map, for instance, that shows, track segment by track segment, what parts of your coaster are getting people excited and what parts are having them spew a luxurious caramel sundae onto innocent bystanders below.

But the issue I kept coming into was that constructing a highly ambitious supercoaster nearly never produced anything that people wanted to put themselves through.

I spent the most time playing the Sandbox mode, which is the most similar to the original tycoon games in that you start from scratch and construct a park piece by piece without the need of budgets or loans. In Career, you take a pre-built park and spruce it up to accomplish a set of objectives. I didn't find these scenarios to be really engaging. The primary benefit I got from them was seeing some elaborate parks made by the developers, which made me realise the kinds of insane things I could design using the tools at my disposal.

Planet Coaster is a terrific sandbox for creating theme parks, and while it may not be the best simulation of capitalism, it almost never told me "No, you can't do that." A significant part of my excitement is anticipating what others will do with it, especially with the smooth Steam Workshop interface. Its knobs and levers are numerous and powerful enough to allow creativity comparable to that of Minecraft or Second Life. Let's just say that if I were another well-known theme park game releasing this year, I'd be really concerned right now.

The modern revival of the theme park sim genre, Planet Coaster, is pretty much all I could have hoped for—and then some. Where did this kind of game go for so many years? A large variety of rides and attractions combine with a virtually ludicrous level of terrain, structural, and coaster modification choices. Even if it lacks several types of buildings and is still far from being an engaging economic simulator, many of its flaws are likely to gradually disappear as a result of the clever addition of full mod support. Despite its tremendous diversity, the fundamental process of creating and maintaining a park manages to be simpler and more obvious. I placed, moved, resized, changed the colour of, and edited gift stores, ice cream stalls, coasters, carousels, and walkways using straightforward keyboard shortcuts. The ability to fine-tune every square inch of my park to look exactly how I wanted it, down to the finest details, was made possible by fine control features like establishing bespoke angle-snapping and path lengths, which can initially almost seem overwhelming. Massive possibilities can be created by simply remixing the standard components, and the Steam workshop's collection of add-ons is constantly growing and is accessible from within the client thanks to a well-designed interface. The coaster editor might be the best illustration of the experimental and free-spirited nature of Planet Coaster. There are 28 different varieties of coasters in total, ranging from wooden to chain-lifted steel to hydraulically launched, with each having a unique set of track limitations and behavioural characteristics. I could make almost any form I could imagine because I had complete control over the slope, curve, and bank of the track. Additionally, each coaster includes a few pre-made loops and turns that I could add, resize, and move. There was just one issue: even though I could construct the roller coasters of my fantasies, no one would actually want to ride them. It provides excellent resources for figuring out where ratings are originating from. It makes logic up to a point. After testing, each roller coaster receives ratings for Excitement, Fear, and Nausea. Excitation is always a wonderful thing. Strong nausea is never good. You want to feel some fear, but not too much; it's more of a balancing act. In addition, Planet Coaster offers excellent tools for figuring out where these evaluations are coming from, at least in principle. You can see a heat map, for instance, that shows, track segment by track segment, what parts of your coaster are getting people excited and what parts are having them spew a luxurious caramel sundae onto innocent bystanders below. But the issue I kept coming into was that constructing a highly ambitious supercoaster nearly never produced anything that people wanted to put themselves through. I spent the most time playing the Sandbox mode, which is the most similar to the original tycoon games in that you start from scratch and construct a park piece by piece without the need of budgets or loans. In Career, you take a pre-built park and spruce it up to accomplish a set of objectives. I didn't find these scenarios to be really engaging. The primary benefit I got from them was seeing some elaborate parks made by the developers, which made me realise the kinds of insane things I could design using the tools at my disposal. Planet Coaster is a terrific sandbox for creating theme parks, and while it may not be the best simulation of capitalism, it almost never told me "No, you can't do that." A significant part of my excitement is anticipating what others will do with it, especially with the smooth Steam Workshop interface. Its knobs and levers are numerous and powerful enough to allow creativity comparable to that of Minecraft or Second Life. Let's just say that if I were another well-known theme park game releasing this year, I'd be really concerned right now.