Tropico 6 developer Limbic Entertainment is taking a break from El Presidente and satirising political corruption, switching gears to the slightly more wholesome Park Beyond, a theme park management affair that's coming next year.
At first glance, Park Beyond looks quite a bit like Frontier's Planet Coaster, but like the Transformers there's more to this sim than meets the eye.
Park Beyond's trick can be found in its 'impossification' system, which turns mundane rides and theme park services into altogether more fanciful things. You'll start with familiar, plain rides and coasters, but with some help from the R&D boffins you can start to add extra modules to them, putting together increasingly bizarre creations. Even a boring Ferris wheel is pretty exciting when you chuck a whole bunch of extra wheels onto it.
Naturally, you'll be able to unleash your creative juices in a sandbox mode, but there's also a story-driven campaign where you'll need to help a failing business and work with and against a cast of theme park-obsessed NPCs. The announcement trailer introduces Phil, an enthusiastic and creative park owner, and Izzy, his more grounded COO. Together, they represent the creative and business sides of running a theme park empire.
To ensure your parks are successful, you'll be able to dig into a giant pile of data that will help you balance your budget and find out what guests really want. The sim promises "extensive monitoring tools" that will inform you about trends and help you figure out how to design shops and rides to attract people looking to spend big.
I love me some theme park shenanigans, but it's really the impossification system—despite the terrible name—that's piqued my interest. I'm already imagining the weird inventions I'll be plonking down in my park.
Keep an eye out for our preview of Park Beyond tomorrow.
