Startopia

Created by the former Bullfrog employees Startopia offers something no other games could provide - build your own space station and manage it! Three decks await your settlement - the engineering deck where all the production/trading etc. is taking place, the commercial deck where the visitors hang out and have fun and the bio-deck where you shape the terrain and farm items! The humour of the game is tounge-in-cheek as in all other games previously done by Bullfrog. If you like "city-builders"/managers. This is certainly a recommended game.

I picked it up since it was in the top sellers list and i'm really suprised how complex yet accessible this game is. Lots of fun, Multiplayer also works even if a little buggy from time to time. However, biggest plus for this game: It has a good tutorial but you're able to actually FAIL. Yes, that's true. The game doesnt keep you on a leash and guides you somehwat. It gives you a hint but let you make failures so you can learn from them. Also the tutorial "ai" will comment them in a nasty way.

Startopia ranks really high for me as a space based builder sim. If you played Theme Hospital, or Dungeon Keeper, you'll get the controls right away, the construction interface is pretty much the same. Startopia has some extremely great humour, and the graphics while a little dated are still great.

When I first played this game I could not believe such a well-assembled game could come together like it did. The interface and graphics are flawless. The gameplay is easy to pick up and like some of the Theme games, it makes you want to spend more time on some levels than you need. The characters and setting are set up so well just through use that it doesn't NEED any exposition or story, I just wish it was longer.

I have completely missed this game until 2019, did not know it even exist. But it was really nice experience even for today's standards. A lot of interesting ideas, quite complex system, nice missions and challenging gameplay! Even the graphics is joy to look at.