During the Steam Summer sale I bought Project Hospital and I'm enjoying it a lot so far. It reminds me of the tycoon games I grew up playing and what inspired me to type my thoughts here.
Project Highrise, 1849, Havendock, and Town To City are some other recent games I've played that gave me a sense of nostalgia as I played them. Those games are all quite different from eachother, and the nostalgia they give me varies, but I think what they have in common is mixing strategy and management together and that's giving me this feel of nostalgia, along with simplicity.
I do enjoy a lot of modern management games too but occasionally I feel overwhelmed by how complex and detailed they can be, other times I feel like modern games focus more on building and designing than being challenging. Which is fine, very good we have two choices, even three as some games balance both things. But anyways I'm more in the management and having to carefully spend money or having to but thought into where should I be placing or building things.
So with that since a lot of modern day management and simulators focus on new or more detailed features and building that wasn't possible twenty years ago, I wondered if there should be a term for games that are more like older games, like how boomer shooter is a thing.
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discmaan_
I know exactly what you mean. I don't think there's a widely accepted term like "boomer shooter" yet, but I'd love one because it really does describe a specific style of game.
What I miss about those older management games is how focused they were. They were easy to learn but surprisingly difficult to master. You spent more time making decisions than decorating every little detail, and the challenge came from managing your resources efficiently rather than building the perfect-looking city or hospital.
Theme Hospital, RollerCoaster Tycoon, Zoo Tycoon, and the older SimCity games all had that same feeling for me. Modern games can be fantastic, but sometimes they throw so many systems at you that they become exhausting instead of relaxing.
Maybe something like "retro management," "classic tycoon," or even "old-school tycoon" could catch on. It definitely feels like a subgenre that's becoming popular again, and I'm all for it
SHINIQUAM
I usually call them retro tycoon games and classic city builders 🤔.
If you want more challenging management games and haven't already tried them, you should check out colony sims like rim world, kenshi is similar to them, its just that colony sims are more focused on the individual-level character micro management rather than macro-management so idk if you would enjoy them, but they do often times offer more of a challenging experience. Maybe you could try out songs of syx (I'm leaning more into songs of syx for you since that is more similar to regular management games and its highkey tuff).
"You should check out Kenshi but I dunno if you'll enjoy it"
Excuse me sir but I'll have you know:
Kenshi loving aside I do have Rimworld on my wishlist and I'll be sure to check out Song of Syx! I saw it has a demo so I'll check that out.
by Gray; ; Report
mb 😭🙏, i would love to know your opinion whenever you do try them out
by SHINIQUAM; ; Report