Bandai Namco have announced a substantial 2.0 patch and the first DLC pack for their rollercoaster management game Park Beyond, both of which are dropping on September 29th. Prefabs and ride sharing are the big new additions coming with the free 2.0 patch, alongside the option to discover other player’s creations across platforms. Countdown to fiding the first penis-shaped coaster starts now.
The game already encouraged designing borderline cruel rides that pushed health and safety regulations, but the upcoming DLC Beyond eXtreme takes things one step further with contraptions that shake punters around like a fizzy drink, among new maps, rides and scenery items. On a side note, I’ve thought the game’s previous trailers were quietly creepy and the latest is no different. Maybe it’s the playground jingle in the background, or maybe I’m just sensitive to enthusiastic announcer voices. Take a look.
]]>Much as I adored Theme Park, it's a bit of a weird game to have inspired so many descendants. The latest is Park Beyond, and for the most part it's exactly what you'd expect. Build rides to attract crowds, shops to fill their stupid mouths, doctors to treat the vomitous and cleaners when the doctors were too late. Punters pay to use any ride, they pay for entry, for toilets and cash machines, and for every item you price in every shop.
That's as close as it gets to micromanagement, unless you count finely tuning the position of every rock, shrub, and decorative roof panel. It's more Planet Coaster than the cynical money grubbing of Theme Park, so if you're here for rollercoasters that do stunt jumps over canyons, it's mostly good news.
]]>Earlier this week I announced that RPS Yearly Premium Supporters can claim a game key for the Park Beyond closed beta, running until Friday May 19th. This is your reminder that you can claim them today, from 3pm BST/7am PT - that's in less than an hour's time!
]]>For the past while, I've been playing a closed beta build of Park Beyond, and let me tell you, I am very bad at it. I can just about (by the skin of my teeth) make a profitable park, but my god, that park will have the worst layout you've ever seen in your cursed, vomiting in the bins at a Disneyland life. But look, if the park works, it works, right? The shareholders can't complain!
Thing is, much like with the internet or your mum's relationship with the binman, theme park simulators can really change while you're not paying attention. While part of Park Beyond's selling point is making literally impossible rides via the aptly-named method of Impossification (an upgrade to rides you buy by spending units of amazement gleaned from your slack-jawed guests, in order to strap a canon to a rollercoaster), I really was not prepared for how simulation-y the simulation bits are.
]]>Any premium supporters who're missing out on a good theme park sim may have cause to rejoice this week, as the good folks at Bandai Namco have given us a blast of codes to give away for fantastical theme park 'em up Park Beyond's upcoming closed beta test, starting this Friday, May 5th. Park Beyond is not just a complex theme park management sim, or a physics-ish coaster builder (although it is both of those), it's also an anti-physics weird-ride expando-game, allowing you to unlock increasingly unrealistic upgrades for rides in a process the developers Limbic Entertainment call "impossification". Deets on how to get your code for the closed beta below.
]]>Theme park management sim Park Beyond is getting a new closed beta test, ahead of its full launch on June 16th. It’s a whacky-looking game that lets you build impossible rollercoaster rides that are just begging to be sued, all while you try to turn a profit running your park. The closed beta is completely free and begins on May 9th, so if you want a test ride, you can register at this link. In the meantime, publisher Bandai Namco have also released a new, more in-depth gameplay trailer, giving us a closer look at some of the minutiae involved in running a theme park.
]]>The upcoming theme park management sim Park Beyond gave us a lovely Valentine’s Day-themed trailer, except, wait a second, this isn’t lovely at all, Oh God. I’m sure Park Beyond will be a wholesome bit of fun - creating outlandish rollercoasters and managing the nuts & bolts of a made-up business is always a good time. But, good grief, there’s something seriously disturbing about its latest trailer.
Lay your eyes on it here, if you dare:
]]>Park Beyond, an upcoming theme park management sim in the vein of a juiced up Rollercoaster Tycoon, is trying to balance two slightly opposed teams in its target audience. There are people who love doing the management bits - the bean-counting, optimising the amount of salt on fries to make people thirsty and buy more drinks, paying close attention to demographics and average spends and that sort of kidney*. Then there are people who want to design a park full of cool-ass rides and different themed zones, a true magical wonderland. Inside this Park Beyond are two wolves, in other words, and each needs a different but equally robust set of tools to wrangle.
After some hands on with an early build of Park Beyond, I have a little more faith that Limbic Entertainment are going to be able to pull it off. The toolset for building a rollercoast is, in particular, impressive. It's never been so easy to make a ride that breaks both the laws of physics and the laws of health and saftey. The coasters in this game are an absolute menace. In a good way.
]]>S'been a while since we've had a proper in-depth theme park sim, hasn't it? Park Beyond was revealed almost exactly a year ago, when the devs also talked a lot about the concept of "impossification", but it's been all quiet on the rollercoaster front since then. Tonight, at the Opening Night Live marking the start of Gamescom, we saw a shiny new trailer showing off some of the building tools and wacky modules you can build into your coasters.
]]>2022 is finally here and that can only mean one thing. We've got another year of hip new video games to look forward to, and we've been busy rustling up the ones we're most excited about. In truth, there are tons of games on the horizon that could easily sit on this list, and some of them are so close to release we can practically already see the pixels on our screens morphing into their lush, polygonal landscapes. Games like Monster Hunter Rise, God Of War and Rainbow Six Extraction. You won't find them here, but trust us, you'll be seeing a lot of them over the coming weeks.
There are always more games coming out than we have fingers to write about them, but the 2022 games we've listed below are the ones the RPS team are personally most looking forward to playing. We've got games big and small here, and they're all listed in alphabetical order. After all, release dates are increasingly slippery beasts these days. Think we've missed something? Why not take to the comments below and tell us all about it. You might just convince us to put it on our radars. But enough from me. Here are our 43 most anticipated games of 2022.
]]>For some people their acts of wanton cruelty as children were burning ants. Others built rollercoasters to nowhere in theme park management games, launching their visitors to violent and abrupt death. I already have your money, you tiny fool. Mwah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!.
So when I learned that the developers who did Tropico 6 are working on a theme park management game, I think I'd be forgiven for expecting a similar, tyrannical approach. But that's not the vibe for Park Beyond, announced yesterday at Gamescom's Opening Night Live and set for release next year. At least, it's mostly not that kind of vibe. Stephan Winter, CEO at Limbic Entertainment does say that you can charge people for using the toilets, and could set the price at a pretty despotic level if you wanted to. Johannes Reithmann, the creative director, is just very excited to talk about rollercoasters and Park Beyond's core theme: "impossification".
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