The first rule that you learn in business school is probably that you need to make sure to file your taxes on time, and while I’m sure there’s management games out there that do force you to do that, I’m rather glad that most strategy and business sims take a more lax approach. That really lets you focus instead on making your dreams come true, to see the birth of a nation and its rise to dominance, to build the very best museum for ghosts, to guide customers to their perfect book, and to hatch little baby dinos.
All of which lead us to our winner…
When I was younger I had two loves, the Jurassic Park film and the Zoo Tycoon video game. Never in my wildest dreams did I believe that later in life, Frontier would combine both of my biggest fandoms into one glorious park-builder video game where the player gets to create their own unique dinosaur theme park on an island just like Isla Nublar. What can I say? Life finds a way.
What’s more, Jurassic World Evolution 3 is the best iteration yet. It refines and enhances every aspect of the previous two games, whilst also adding in new features like natural dinosaur breeding and improved terrain tools to keep things fresh. Whether it’s protecting the park from devious hackers or delighting your guests with exciting new tour options, Jurassic World Evolution 3 brings us a vibrant and fully realised simulation. It goes deep into the park management genre whilst still providing an accessible strategic experience that will delight old-school fans and newcomers alike.
Also, there’s nothing better than adorable baby dinos.
– Laura
Europa Universalis V – Runner Up
Releasing a new game in any big and well-supported strategy or management series is a bit like reading up on the endless sequence of patricide in Greek mythology. It’s not so much the rest of the genre that a new game has to compete with, but all the years of updates and expansions that went before. For a game like Europa Universalis V, it had to compete with and succeed a game that was over a decade old!
But that provided Paradox Tinto with a huge opportunity to return to the game’s foundations, to reconsider many aspects of how things like population, government control and influence, market dynamics and wars all work. Importantly, they managed to do this while also still keeping a lot of the breadth and detail that had built up for EU4. There’s still plenty of room for expansion, but where it’s easy for a 1.0 launch to stutter and stumble, EU5 gets off to a great start.
Two Point Museum – Runner Up
If there’s one thing you know you’re going to get with a Two Point game, it’s bad puns, and if there’s a second thing, then it’s a charming management sim that’s been adapted to each new setting. From hospitals and universities, you now find yourself in charge of the museums of Two Point County, dusting off relics and old bones, gathering unusual flora and underwater fauna, and looking to build the best exhibits to draw in as many inquisitive minds as possible. And hopefully they’ve got some loose change to make a donation or two!
Two Point Museum takes a familiar template and blends it with a new setting in delightful fashion, giving you more opportunities to customise and express your creativity than ever before. It’s full of humour and whimsy, and there’s already some great new themes and additions in the form of both paid expansions and free updates.
Honourable Mentions (in alphabetical order)
- Anno 117: Pax Romana
- Tiny Bookshop
- Umamusume: Pretty Derby
Another award entered into the spreadsheet, and I’m sure we’ll manage to get another out the door tomorrow. See you then!
