Ever since Theme Park World on the PlayStation 1, I have been searching for a theme park builder that can come close.
Planet Coaster was excellent, but went perhaps too far in terms of customisation, where my pea brain imagination struggled. RollerCoaster Tycoon Adventures Deluxe arguably went the other way, dumbing things down too much. Then, Park Beyond suffered from various issues at launch.
But now we have Parkitect, or rather Parkitect: Deluxe Edition on Xbox, bringing across everything from the initial PC version. This has been touted as the old-school park builder most like Theme Park World. Can it replace my beloved park builder?
Parkitect is the old-school answer to the more modern theme park sims. Its design is basic – in a good way – and doesn’t try to complicate proceedings with granular design mechanics or physics defying rides. There is a decent campaign with objectives that aren’t too demanding and any levels that are completed can then be replayed at your own pace in Sandbox mode.
The Deluxe Edition brings with it the two previous DLC packs from PC: Taste of Adventure and Booms and Blooms. Taste of Adventure adds a new set of levels alongside rides (many of which are coasters), shops and themes. Booms and Blooms features items, rides and more that can be used alongside existing challenges and sandbox parks and doesn’t require specific levels to utilise the content. These also keep the Parkitect formula but with some fancy new looks and unique amenities and rides.
There is a tutorial to welcome you into Parkitect: Deluxe Edition and it does a good job of explaining most things. Ride and shop placement is very simple and straightforward, and should be second nature to anyone that has ever played a game of a similar ilk. Parkitect also introduces a unique mechanic to preserve the magic of a theme park: staff members have access to their own footpath that they can use to restock shops, repair rides and more. Your guests will be put off by seeing staff members carrying crates of items to the shops, and this novel concept helps keep the magic intact.
At the end of the tutorial you will finally get to build a roller coaster. Or rather given the tools to create a coaster of your own with very little guidance. This tutorial doesn’t even show you how to connect your track back to the beginning at the end. It just says “Right, you’re close enough. That’ll do, don’t worry about it.” and just sends you on your way.
Crucially as well, and like a real theme park, it is the coasters that bring in the punters. This is immediately apparent in the first mission where you need to get 200 visitors in the park at once. There are only so many rides you can build before this number plateaus, and building a roller coaster is the only way to ensure your park reaches that threshold.
However, there are blueprints available to assist you if designing your own coaster is just too difficult. Ironically, Parkitect doesn’t inform you of this either really, allowing you to either discover it for yourself, or read an objective telling you not to use them.
Completing the objectives allows you to move on to the next challenge with some more challenging objectives. Completed parks can be saved and kept going should you so choose, but this brings a whole other set of problems for Parkitect.
During my time I have had several save issues. Files gone completely, or not the most recent one loading in. Even the save screen itself is broken on the campaign screen. It doesn’t load a previous save when selecting it, and the highlighter goes behind this screen onto the level select screen again. Only by swapping between the main game and the Taste of Adventure level screen did the save screen actually work. It’s a workaround, but it is far from ideal.
But when it does work, Parkitect gives you that nostalgia hit. Build rides and amenities, hire staff, run an advertising campaign and research newer rides; all the activities you spent hours doing back in the day are here as you remember them. You can go more granular into the details by changing paint styles or you can apply filters to check visitor happiness, hunger and more. This little feature reminds me of Planet Zoo: Console Edition and one of their major features. But in Parkitect, there is no pressure to use it at all.
Parkitect: Deluxe Edition’s no frills approach to building a theme park will undoubtedly appeal to those looking for a modern Theme Park World or Roller Coaster Tycoon game. But you’ll have to put up with a few big issues too. The roller coaster builder is terrible on console and doesn’t feel optimised at all for a controller, and major save issues lead to some frustration. All of this unfortunately leads to Parkitect: Deluxe Edition just missing the mark.
