Park Beyond Review (sam)
I've seen a lot of comparisons to Planet Coaster for this game, with people asking why to buy this one when they have PC/didn't like PC. For the former: Park Beyond's a way more whimsical game with some fun twists on its campaign mode (choices, more fleshed out characters--for a park tycoon, etc.). It doesn't have the (incredible, amazing) customizability as Planet Coaster, and some of the systems are significantly simplified, but the Impossification system really amps up the fun you can have with rides and coasters, and removes a lot of the more tedious micromanaging that Planet Coaster has. It's the version of a park sim you play when you want to be creative but not THAT creative, or you don't have the mental energy to invest in something more intense but still want to do the cool stuff.
For the people who didn't like Planet Coaster: this game is a much chiller version of park tycoon. It's a WAY easier entry point into modern park sims, with some of the same potential for depth. No need to build tons of scenery pieces and buildings, making coasters is way easier and more forgiving, and Park Beyond REALLY incentivizes you to do the fun stuff. No guests complaining that the coaster goes too fast! Want to launch people out of a rocket and into a stunt ramp? Go for it! In fact, make that park ride's animatronic Kraken sploosh people into a dunk tank for fun! Best of all, it won't take eight hours to build a coaster, building the whole thing only to realize somewhere in the middle you made the whole ride puke and you need to scrap the whole thing.
Park Beyond is a fun, charming take on park management. It's good fun with great potential. The big caveat I have right now on launch is that there seems to be very bizarre bugs, though nothing game-ending. Sometimes paths won't place until you back out of the pathing menu and go back in. Sometimes you have to "shut off" and "turn on" a coaster after saving to get it going. One memorable bug made an entire section of my pathable park a No Man's Land where guests refused to go for some inexplicable reason. None of these broke the game, all were fixed either by reloading or moving something around (which, I think, is free of cost). I'd like to see them fix these bugs before I wholeheartedly recommended the game, but realistically building a game like this is a logistical nightmare so I'm honestly pretty OK with the state that it's in on launch. They should fix it, but realistically these ARE fixable bugs and don't really hinder enjoyment.