Someone at Bandai Namco must have missed going to theme parks during the pandemic. That’s my theory about Park Beyond, the publisher’s first amusement park management sim. It’s from Limbic Entertainment, and it’s coming to PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S in 2022. Bandai Namco made the announcement today during Gamescom’s Opening Night.
Park Beyond promises to tinker with traditional management mechanics. As the trailer shows, gravity is just a suggestion, not a rule. It’ll compete with the likes of Planet Coaster, Roller Coaster Tycoon, and Jurassic Park: Evolution (it’s a park sim for dinosaur attractions).
Your designers can “impossify” rides (a standard Ferris wheel may “transform” when you do this, going from one standard wheel to three or four. It may even do so again, going from three or four wheels to nine or 10). You can shoot roller coaster cars out of cannons, or turn a standard carousel into something more riveting. This even applies to the Kraken ride you’ll see in the trailer.
Park Beyond also has a story mode, in which the main characters want to make the amusement park of their dreams. In either the campaign or sandbox mode, you can use data on how your park visitors are enjoying your attractions, food, and rides, and you can use this to spark even more joy … and make more money, too.
This game also comes with themes you can mix-and-match, such as Western and Candyland. You can tinker with these as well, eliminating specific elements or doubling down on the theme.
Limbic is a German studio that’s been around since 2002, working on co-development and other projects until its partnership with Ubisoft. It released Might & Magic X: Legacy in 2014, an RPG that not only celebrates the classic fantasy series but also serves as a homage to games such as Dungeon Master (I like it more than others do). It also worked on the sixth and seventh entries in the Might & Magic: Heroes strategy-RPG franchise.
Kalypso tapped Limbic to help make Tropico 6, a tongue-in-cheek “banana republic” management sim that came out in 2019.
Update, 1:49 p.m. Pacific with details that were held under embargo.