Parkitect: Deluxe Edition Review (Xbox)

When it comes to games like Theme Park and Rollercoaster Tycoon, are titles that immediately became core memories of my childhood gaming years. On several occasions, I would pretend to be sick to get time off school to plough hours into these games. I’m 39 years of age now and I still haven’t lost my love for the genre and whilst they probably aren’t as prominent on console these days, there are glimmers of success here and there. Planet Coaster is probably the most successful in recent years but may be quite complex for the more casual gaming community. I was quite excited when we recently saw Rollercoaster Tycoon Adventures Deluxe Edition on Xbox, but this fell extremely flat, you can read my review for that game HERE.

In comes Parkitect: Deluxe Edition to the Xbox family of consoles and admittedly I remember glancing at this game on Windows PC way back in 2018 and loving the look of it. Fast forward six years and we now see this Theme Park-inspired title finally from the comfort of your sofa. I was excited to get hands-on with this one and it has had the chance to breathe on PC allowing this version to port across with everything from that version. With almost 6000 “Very Positive” reviews over on the Steam storefront, I was poised and ready for hours to feel like minutes.

Be The Boss!

As with most park builders, you’re in charge of everything to do with your very own theme park. You’ll be responsible for the layout of your park, the rides, the staff, the shops and all the logistical needs of running operations to make a profit. Starting off you’ll be introduced to the basics of the game through a tutorial which will show you how to operate and navigate the map, build, hire staff and more. I do recommend playing through the tutorial as it gives you tips on certain aspects you’ll need to know later in the game such as transporting stock around the park and making everything look pretty.

Once you start structuring your park you’ll be able to experiment with the needs of your business such as deciding park entry costs, investing in new rides and whether you want to charge for rides as well. Want to give out burgers for free? Well, you can if you want to, but you need to be mindful of the revenue in the bank. Bank loans can give you a lift early game into getting some good foundations of a belting day out for your guests, but remember you need to pay that money back as well as your staff and running costs!

Loads Of Campaign Scenarios!

Whilst you can go mad and create the park of your dreams, I found myself spending 90% of this review indulging in the meaty content of 37 scenarios. 27 of which are included in the base game and an extra 10 are made up from the DLC content packs Booms and Blooms and Taste Of Adventure. As you’d imagine each scenario is different and has tasks assigned to them to achieve. It may be building a park completely from scratch and reaching a certain popularity score or it could be taking over an already operational business and adjusting how it is running to meet certain demands. I am still yet to play every single portion of the campaign, but I can tell you I have sunk over 30 hours alone into what I have played and I’d imagine I will at least double these hours going forward.

Some Fiddly But Manageable Controls

With a PC game ported to a console that relied on a mouse and keyboard, it always begs the question of how it handles with a controller in hand. For the most part, functionality is great with the Xbox controller with most demands selected from radial wheels. Where things got a little fiddly for me was when selecting certain options within sub-menus, like prices on a ticket for a ride or when placing assets like underground tunnels for stock transportation. After a few hours though, you kind of get used to this and it doesn’t become as frustrating.

Building rollercoasters is no easy feat either and is a steep learning curve if you want to develop something outside of a simple coaster. With theme park builders though, I have always found them in the similar vein of this being the most complex part of the game. Trying to connect those last pieces can sometimes mean backtracking and readjusting the ride completely, but the satisfaction of finishing a complicated and involved expensive traversal of wood or steel is rewarding.

Graphics & Audio

I adore how Parkitect performs in the visuals department, it captures the atmosphere of what these games are all about without pushing things too far. The game runs superbly on Xbox Series X and whilst it isn’t the most demanding game in the world there can be a lot going on when you have thousands of guests having a great time. What I love about park builders is that you’re essentially doing what you want and no two parks ever feel truly the same, customisation options mean that you can decorate everything to your heart’s content and theme around your colour choices.

The UI and menus are crisp and concise and simplistic to manage and navigate through which compliment the overall experience. I especially loved the lighting at night and how the overall look and feel changed through the seasons. The sound design is equally as great, giving you that sense of what a theme park sounds like when it is busy with people. The laughter, enjoyment and good vibes shine through and you can’t help but smile while playing too.

Final Thoughts

Parkitect: Deluxe Edition is honestly fantastic and well worth the purchase if you are into park builders. Not only does it give me the nostalgic nod to the past that I very much needed, but it does it in a modern style with beautiful polish and shine. The fact that you get access to the already-released DLCs in this entire package makes for potentially hundreds of hours of gameplay if you want it. I found it difficult to draw any criticisms from the entire experience other than some fiddly controls especially when laying underground pipes and some other fine-tuning elements. Aside from this though, this is an incredible indie title which has all the same vibes as Bullfrog Productions Theme Park from 30 years ago. For £19.99 it is an absolute steal and well worth every penny and a game that I will continue to play even after this review it is that brilliant.