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Park Beyond; new theme park simulation game coming 2022

Matt N

TS Member
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Hi guys. Recently, it’s been announced that a new theme park simulation game is being released in 2022, named Park Beyond: https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/park-beyond-is-a-theme-park-sim-with-the-best-and-weirdest-rides/


In terms of what Park Beyond will be like; not too much is known, but here are some key points:

  • The game is designed to be very similar to Planet Coaster, but “less like an editor and more like a real game”.
  • The rides are said to have an element of “impossification” (their word, not mine) about them, so they can defy physics and do things that wouldn’t necessarily be possible in the real world. For instance, you can do coasters that shoot out of cannons to jump gaps in the track, and you can do multiple carousels piled on top of one another, or you could do a 10-wheel, skyscraper-sized Ferris wheel.
  • Even though the impossification element of the game is heavily emphasised, you will not be able to build impossible rides to begin with, as you haven’t generated enough money, and physics (the laws of reality, as they call it) still applies; you need to ensure that your coasters can actually make it round the track, and you can’t use “teleportation or high-end sci-fi”.
  • The game relies pretty heavily on a story mode (you’ll apparently be meeting “Phil, the veteran park owner” and “Izzy, his level-headed COO” quite a lot), and perhaps has some of the most in-depth management abilities I’ve ever seen; you can’t just build stuff, you have to ensure that you have the money to build stuff and that you’re turning a profit, and you need to pitch your ideas to executives to check that they meet the requirements of guests. You’ll also meet “allies and opponents” throughout the game, and you also need to analyse every element of the operation and make sure it’s delivering and turning a profit.
  • In terms of the executives feature, this will mean all kinds of things. They’ll determine whether what you’re designing is appropriate for your park’s target market, and give you restrictions and deadlines to meet, as well as a budget.
  • The designers said that they wanted to make it more like an actual game as opposed to a mere theme park editor like Planet Coaster, and they wanted to remove the “hours and hours of tinkering” that Planet Coaster requires. The design team certainly seem very critical of games like Planet Coaster.
There may well be more info, but those are the main points.


So what do you think of this? Personally, while I certainly think it sounds interesting, I think Planet Coaster is a little more my speed; call me dull, but I like realism in my creations, which this game does seem to lack to an extent, and I also personally like the freedom to just build whatever you want as opposed to having to meet requirements and have meetings with executives and what have you (while the game apparently has a sandbox mode, the story element of it is being heavily emphasised, so I’d guess that many of the management elements will still apply in sandbox). It sounds excellent if you’re into the whole management side, however!


Will anyone be buying this when it comes out in 2022?
 
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Looks fairly interesting although not really my thing. I personally like the somewhat reality of planet coaster and other games. The graphics do look farily similar to planet coaster in a way I can't really describe with words however it looks a lot 'faker'. It'll be interesting when it releases to see if it steals the crown from planet coaster or not.
 
Looks fairly interesting although not really my thing. I personally like the somewhat reality of planet coaster and other games. The graphics do look farily similar to planet coaster in a way I can't really describe with words however it looks a lot 'faker'. It'll be interesting when it releases to see if it steals the crown from planet coaster or not.
I get what you mean, and I agree with you. I personally like the realism that the likes of PlanCo offer.

However, I get the impression that this game isn’t really designed for theme park enthusiasts per se.
 
However, I get the impression that this game isn’t really designed for theme park enthusiasts per se.
I don't really know if planet coaster is. I think it just appeals because of its attention to detail and the realism of the physics and functionality. Something this game doesn't seem to have. Which is not necessarily a bad thing it just might not appeal to the enthusiasts as well as other games.
 
I don't really know if planet coaster is. I think it just appeals because of its attention to detail and the realism of the physics and functionality. Something this game doesn't seem to have. Which is not necessarily a bad thing it just might not appeal to the enthusiasts as well as other games.
I don’t know whether it’s intentionally or not, but Planet Coaster does seem to have an element of enthusiast-specific appeal that the average player wouldn’t really care about. For instance, all of the coaster types used are actual ride types with the same track and trains as they have in real life, and they do use pretty accurate (to a degree) physics, as well as the huge degree of attention to detail and realism you can go to.

Also, the PlanCo creators have put in different types of ride that do essentially the same thing (for instance, B&M, Mack, Intamin, Arrow and Giovanola hypers, and putting in the Mack launch coaster as well as the Premier one, the Gerstlauer Infinity and the other launch coaster types. I’d be here for a while if I listed all of them!), which certainly seems like a nod to us enthusiasts as opposed to something to appeal to the average consumer.

Certainly, though, this game doesn’t look to have that same degree of realism, and that’s fine; not every theme park game has to be realistic and has to appeal to enthusiasts! There are some people who will absolutely love this kind of thing!
 
I don’t know whether it’s intentionally or not, but Planet Coaster does seem to have an element of enthusiast-specific appeal that the average player wouldn’t really care about. For instance, all of the coaster types used are actual ride types with the same track and trains as they have in real life, and they do use pretty accurate (to a degree) physics, as well as the huge degree of attention to detail and realism you can go to.

Also, the PlanCo creators have put in different types of ride that do essentially the same thing (for instance, B&M, Mack, Intamin, Arrow and Giovanola hypers, and putting in the Mack launch coaster as well as the Premier one, the Gerstlauer Infinity and the other launch coaster types. I’d be here for a while if I listed all of them!), which certainly seems like a nod to us enthusiasts as opposed to something to appeal to the average consumer.

Certainly, though, this game doesn’t look to have that same degree of realism, and that’s fine; not every theme park game has to be realistic and has to appeal to enthusiasts! There are some people who will absolutely love this kind of thing!
Yes I presume there must have been enthusiasts on the team for planet coaster as these detials are great. I presume they wanted to target both audiences while with this new game I get the impression they are trying to target younger non-enthusiasts but maybe I'm wrong.
 
I did make a thread on this earlier, although regrettably I did not post in the correct sub-forum; sorry about that: https://towersstreet.com/talk/threads/park-beyond-new-theme-park-simulation-game-coming-2022.5889/

As for my opinion on the game; I’ll reiterate what I said in that thread, which was that while I think the game looks very interesting and is certainly a novel take on the theme park simulator, I’m not really sure it’s my personal cup of tea. Call me dull, but I personally like realism and a blank canvas with few limits, which this game doesn’t really seem to be about with its heavy emphasis on the story/career aspect, as well as “impossification”. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it’s not the sort of thing I’d personally go for. Planet Coaster all the way for me!

What are your own thoughts @Rick, if you have any in particular?
 
I did make a thread on this earlier, although regrettably I did not post in the correct sub-forum; sorry about that: https://towersstreet.com/talk/threads/park-beyond-new-theme-park-simulation-game-coming-2022.5889/

As for my opinion on the game; I’ll reiterate what I said in that thread, which was that while I think the game looks very interesting and is certainly a novel take on the theme park simulator, I’m not really sure it’s my personal cup of tea. Call me dull, but I personally like realism and a blank canvas with few limits, which this game doesn’t really seem to be about with its heavy emphasis on the story/career aspect, as well as “impossification”. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it’s not the sort of thing I’d personally go for. Planet Coaster all the way for me!

What are your own thoughts @Rick, if you have any in particular?

This reminds me so much of thrillville!
 
It seems there's been a bit of confusion, and two topics have been created about Park Beyond. I've merged the threads and moved to the appropriate sub-forum.

Thanks all!
 
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