Been eyeing this game for some time while it was in Early Access, but at the time, i couldn't bring myself to spend money on what's essentially a pre-order. I don't know how i even heard of it in the first place, but i think part of it had to do with buyer's remorse associated with Planet Coaster (I mean, building things for it was fun, but the management side of the game was absurdly difficult). IMHO, I think Parkitect caters to nostalgia much better than Planet Coaster does, while also adding adding some new mechanics so that it's not just an off-brand remake of RollerCoaster Tycoon. In fact, I strongly suggest that you at least check out the shops section of the game's tutorial, especially if you grew up with RCT1 (First mistake i made was not realizing that shop supplies aren't magically teleported to your shops)


Being a fan of the original RCT, the first thing I did when booting up the game was download custom scenarios, though the first thing I noticed was a thing called Park Utilities, an important asset for designing your park though are considered to be bad decorations in parks. I can see the intention behind having this type of mechanic and actually forces you to think about adding scenery to your theme parks because back in the days of the earlier RCT games, scenery did next to nothing for your parks and was either a money sink for when you wait for the timer to tick down before goal completion or in the case of RCT3, a fun tool for you to play around with in the Sandbox mode. Here, scenery plays a much bigger role in the game, as you are forced to make your park look nice to distract people from the inner workings of your park. As someone who has played around with scenery features in RCT3, i actually like this change, all things considered. Barring the Bad Decorations mechanic, the game's pretty similar to the older RCT games, albeit with RCT3's building system sprinked on.

6/27/2019 Edit
Upon playing the actual campaign, i've noticed that researching is more of a frustration in comparison to RCT, in that the creation of a research team is costly to the point where you'll need to have already built a big enough park to make at least $300 a month before you even hire your first research team. This can make progression a lot more challenging than what RCT players can expect and... I'm of a mixed opinion on this myself, though i think it might have to do with how Go Karts worked in RCT. More likely than not, the devs didn't want you to do the same thing, though I'd like to think that things could've been done differently in this regard.


Being invocative of the 2D RCT games, you're not gonna get some fancy phong shaded normal mapped rides and scenery like in Planet Coaster. That's not to say that the graphics in Parkitect are bad. In fact, the art style does a lot of favours with how Parkitect plays if i'm honest to myself. I do get the occasional microstutter when zooming out the camera, though it's pretty easy to ignore in such a slow-paced game. The only real gripe i have is that I can't seem to enable the advanced water shaders shown in the game's launch trailer, instead having this blue opaque texture instead.


I really don't know what to say about this game, since I've pretty much described the entirety of the game: It's pretty much RCT1 if the game actually forced you to think about decorating your park, and the visuals are pretty good at capturing that feeling. Oh, and the game has mod support, but most people have their sights turned towards Planet Coaster so if you're not content with the default scenery options, you're probably gonna have to pick up Blender and Zbrush. Still, i think this game is a far more enjoyable experience than Planet Coaster even when you consider the much lower production values.

P.S.: You can actually kill your guests unlike Planet Coaster


Another thing i probably should've mentioned that the game also comes with a Flat Terrain scenario where everything is unlocked but isn't a true sandbox since you are limited by the amount of money you have. I actually think that it as a solid alternative to a consequence-free Sandbox mode, as you can learn the game's mechanics at your own pace.

[h1]I think Chris Sawyer would like this game[/h1] Been eyeing this game for some time while it was in Early Access, but at the time, i couldn't bring myself to spend money on what's essentially a pre-order. I don't know how i even heard of it in the first place, but i think part of it had to do with buyer's remorse associated with Planet Coaster (I mean, building things for it was fun, but the management side of the game was absurdly difficult). IMHO, I think Parkitect caters to nostalgia much better than Planet Coaster does, while also adding adding some new mechanics so that it's not just an off-brand remake of RollerCoaster Tycoon. In fact, I strongly suggest that you at least check out the shops section of the game's tutorial, [i]especially[/i] if you grew up with RCT1 (First mistake i made was not realizing that shop supplies aren't magically teleported to your shops) [h1]Gameplay[/h1] Being a fan of the original RCT, the first thing I did when booting up the game was download custom scenarios, though the first thing I noticed was a thing called Park Utilities, an important asset for designing your park though are considered to be bad decorations in parks. I can see the intention behind having this type of mechanic and actually forces you to think about adding scenery to your theme parks because back in the days of the earlier RCT games, scenery did next to nothing for your parks and was either a money sink for when you wait for the timer to tick down before goal completion or in the case of RCT3, a fun tool for you to play around with in the Sandbox mode. Here, scenery plays a much bigger role in the game, as you are forced to make your park look nice to distract people from the inner workings of your park. As someone who has played around with scenery features in RCT3, i actually like this change, all things considered. Barring the Bad Decorations mechanic, the game's pretty similar to the older RCT games, albeit with RCT3's building system sprinked on. [b]6/27/2019 Edit[/b] Upon playing the actual campaign, i've noticed that researching is more of a frustration in comparison to RCT, in that the creation of a research team is costly to the point where you'll need to have already built a big enough park to make at least $300 a month before you even hire your first research team. This can make progression a lot more challenging than what RCT players can expect and... I'm of a mixed opinion on this myself, though i think it might have to do with how Go Karts worked in RCT. More likely than not, the devs didn't want you to do the same thing, though I'd like to think that things could've been done differently in this regard. [h1]Graphics[/h1] Being invocative of the 2D RCT games, you're not gonna get some fancy phong shaded normal mapped rides and scenery like in Planet Coaster. That's not to say that the graphics in Parkitect are bad. In fact, the art style does a lot of favours with how Parkitect plays if i'm honest to myself. I do get the occasional microstutter when zooming out the camera, though it's pretty easy to ignore in such a slow-paced game. The only real gripe i have is that I can't seem to enable the advanced water shaders shown in the game's launch trailer, instead having this blue opaque texture instead. [h1]Conclusion[/h1] I really don't know what to say about this game, since I've pretty much described the entirety of the game: It's pretty much RCT1 if the game actually forced you to think about decorating your park, and the visuals are pretty good at capturing that feeling. Oh, and the game has mod support, but most people have their sights turned towards Planet Coaster so if you're not content with the default scenery options, you're probably gonna have to pick up Blender and Zbrush. Still, i think this game is a far more enjoyable experience than Planet Coaster even when you consider the much lower production values. P.S.: You can actually kill your guests unlike Planet Coaster [h1]Last Minute Edit[/h1] Another thing i probably should've mentioned that the game also comes with a Flat Terrain scenario where everything is unlocked but isn't a true sandbox since you are limited by the amount of money you have. I actually think that it as a solid alternative to a consequence-free Sandbox mode, as you can learn the game's mechanics at your own pace.