Water parks have always struck me as quite a strange concept as the UK is small enough that you can just take a quick train ride and be at the beach in about an hour, give or take. We have them here, I just have no reason to go, and also the idea of ​​having to be rescued from inside a slide because I got stuck for one reason or another is a (I think rational) fear I’ve had since I discovered them. Therefore, I’m not going to visit one, but I won’t say no to building my own in Aquapark Tycoon, a water park simulation game that’s available in Early Access today.
Now obviously the problem here is that you’re building water parks of different shapes and sizes, pretty standard for this type of simulation/management game. What seems quite appealing is the granularity with which you can use it. You don’t just lay down pre-made slides and call it a day, you can actually choose each individual pipe section, what direction it goes, what angle it sits at, as well as add fancy sections like these bowls that you sort of slide into like a sink draining water.
It also goes further, because there are also buildable pools, which you can shape however you want, and you are free to add whatever decorative elements you think are fun. This also applies to saunas, something I never thought I’d find at a water park, but I guess there are also grumpy adults who don’t want to be near their kids to have fun. In addition to all this, there is the cooperative mode, so you can play with your friends in the water park design.
You also need to think about how you manage the park itself, responsible for keeping an eye on the needs and wants of your Roller Coaster Tycoon guests. Additionally, there are things like hiring staff to keep the park running and clean. Seems pretty involved! And if you’re not ready to try its early access version, there is a demo on Steam so you can play with it too.
