Slides, saunas, sunburn: "Aquapark Tycoon" is the best outdoor pool substitute
The new early access title "Aquapark Tycoon" makes the summer heat more bearable and lets me build a water park according to my ideas.
Sauna in the office, oven in front of the front door and overheating in my head: I'm sweating. A rapid water slide, then a sun lounger in the shade and an ice cream, that would help me on these summer days. But I can't go to the outdoor pool because I have to write a game review.
That's why I'm sitting at my gaming PC in temperatures like Tolkien's Mount Doom, melting away, only kept alive by the fan, and building slides, ice cream stands and chill-out zones in "Aquapark Tycoon". And with that, I make my peace, because this is actually the best alternative to a real water park. Instead of getting a sunburn in the overcrowded outdoor pool, I design my own dream park and sell expensive sunscreen to the guests.
The building simulation from the German studio Boxelware was released in Early Access on July 22nd. My job: to build a bathing and sauna landscape and ensure that my guests are happy. Similar games like "Planet Zoo" or "Two Point Museum" haven't really captivated me in recent years. In these games, I only pay attention to the numbers: My guests want more decoration? Okay, they can have it. I spam decoration into the landscape as if my life depended on it – and everyone is happy, except me, because I feel underchallenged.
But maybe it's also because I've never envisioned a perfect museum or the most beautiful zoo in my mind's eye. But I'm sweating and I know exactly what I want right now: a nice tire slide. And I'm going to build it, exactly the way it should be: fast, with lots of curves, and at the end I'll fly into a pool with my tire.
Bathing worlds are dream worlds
Of course, "Aquapark Tycoon" is also number-driven. There are tons of overlays that show me where there's too much trash or where my guests are particularly hungry. I intervene there and help out. But actually, the game is about dreams. I wish for something, realize it, and feel like I'm right in the middle of the action. With the slides, I don't need any imagination for that: a virtual slide ride sends me through the tube in first-person view.
And boy, did the outdoor pool goddesses at Boxelware do a good job! The current of water washes me through the curves in a physically correct way, while I see the surroundings whizzing by at the top of the screen when the tube is open – if I'm not being whirled around too violently. In closed tubes, the splashing of water even echoes a little. That's what sliding feels like – and that's actually a comfort while I'm sweating at my desk.
The soundscape of typical cheering and splashing also contributes to the outdoor pool feeling. I even enjoy just watching the guests jump headfirst from the seven-meter board or store their bags in one of the compartments. The game perfectly captures the water park atmosphere. It gets even better with the unlockable themed worlds. This allows me to create areas with a tropical flair, as a fairy tale world, or in a pirate style.
By the way, "Aquapark Tycoon" is not just a summer game. The park is open all year round, and especially in the colder months, guests want sweating experiences in various saunas. I can understand that well, as I myself enjoy relaxing in the sauna with soothing sounds, dimmed lights, and the scent of hay. The game allows me to research and build many different types of saunas.
Currently, I'm not in the mood for a sauna visit, but thanks to my heated office, the immersion is definitely there.
I design slides, pools and saunas
In "Aquapark Tycoon", there are three types of attractions that I can largely design freely: slides, saunas, and pools. This is a simplified way of putting it, because they all have tons of subtypes to research. A Finnish sauna is not an earth sauna, after all, and a thermal pool is not a current pool.
All subtypes come with special features. For saunas, these are mainly decorative items: crystal embellishments in steam grottoes and Roman wall coverings in the tepidarium. The shape of a sauna building is not predetermined; I determine it myself. For the shape of the foundation, I combine rectangles and oval shapes or subtract them from each other. Or I draw a freehand shape with the curve tool.
I had no idea there were so many types of slides on God's hot earth. I can build body slides, wave slides, funnel slides, and high-speed slides, for example. Only the maximum height and maximum gradient are fixed. The course, however, is entirely up to me. Curves, drops, and S-curves are just a few of the possibilities.
The slide tool initially put me off, but after some getting used to it, it works logically. Slides consist of individual segments, each about two meters long. I connect segment after segment, setting their properties such as gradient, roofing, and curve angle separately. Despite practice, my constructions never come close to what the game offers in terms of pre-set slide templates: my slides, to my regret, always look like they were drawn by a kindergarten child.
It's really annoying that slide elements cannot be changed afterwards. I put all my roasted brain cells into building a creative construction and then, during the test run, I find that guests fly out of an open tube segment. And now what? I can't just turn the offending segment into a closed tube, which would solve the problem, but have to tear down the entire slide up to that segment again. Please fix this, it's driving me crazy!
I also have extensive design freedom with the water pools. Here too, there are many different sub-types such as pools with wave or current generators, children's pools, and pools for relaxation or sporting challenges. They differ visually as well as in the preset water temperature and water depth.
I determine the shape of the pools just like with the sauna. So I tinker with creative pool shapes and beautify them with elements like water fountains, bubble jets, and diving boards. These not only look good but also satisfy guest needs for relaxation, sports training, or luxury. Finally, I add a staircase, and then the pool is ready for my esteemed guests.
Easy to learn, hard to master – but not a Tycoon game
If there's nothing else to do, I take a look at the guest thoughts. This is a very useful tool that summarizes what's going on in the guests' minds. For example, I find out which sauna they miss the most and can fulfill that wish for them.
Again and again, I am surprised by how many possibilities "Aquapark Tycoon" offers and how deep they already are. The game is not difficult to learn, and I don't even have to exhaust the full range of possibilities to build a lively water park. But if I want more, I can do more: The global grid layout and the standard rotation angles can be adjusted, for example. This makes it easier for me to design parks that don't primarily consist of right angles.
I can adjust prices, take out loans, set water temperatures and chlorine levels, and reduce electricity costs by building solar panels. Overviews show me the UV radiation intensity and the maximum G-forces of my slides. I know my guests' favorite scents and can have infusions carried out in saunas that combine different aromas, sounds, and even salt scrubs.
Fortunately, I don't have to spend much time on personnel management. It's enough to hire enough people to clean up after guests and keep the attractions in good shape. However, there are no shift schedules or special employee skills. It's good that I can precisely define each employee's work area. This helps to better monitor highly frequented areas. I painfully realize that lifeguards are also necessary when a message informs me of a drowned visitor. Damn.
Despite the depth of the game, I wouldn't call "Aquapark Tycoon" a classic tycoon game with a focus on economic growth. The game clearly places more emphasis on design and happy guests than on making money. But that's not a disadvantage: I like the direction of "Aquapark Tycoon" exactly as it is. Optional victory conditions, for example, require a certain number of visitors or achieving a certain park rating within a set time. However, this is not difficult, and I haven't experienced any serious money problems.
Not everything is cool in the water park
Currently, there are still some things that are not running perfectly. These are mainly interface and control elements, which will certainly be fixed during Early Access. For example, visitors of all ages just stand around in the children's pool, staring blankly into space. In other pools, people are diligently swimming and romping around.
A few more examples: The display of the victory conditions at the top right cannot be hidden. It remains at its full size throughout the game. Rotating objects is still very uncomfortable: I activate the rotation mode with the R key and then have to drag the object to the desired angle with the mouse. It would be nicer to simply press R several times instead of having to use the mouse. The info overlays cannot be activated or deactivated via keyboard shortcuts, and there is no eyedropper to pick up ground textures.
Conclusion: Fun not only in summer
"Aquapark Tycoon" quickly won my heart. I like the atmosphere, the hustle and bustle, the building and design possibilities, and above all, the game evokes good memories of real water parks. "Aquapark Tycoon" has achieved something that few building games manage for me: it conveys not just management, but a feeling for life. If you dream of an outdoor pool in summer but are sitting in front of your computer, you'll probably find the best digital alternative here.
If you like leisure pools and building simulations, check it out. Because it's an Early Access game, I'm not giving a final star rating. As it stands, it would have earned four stars.
Feels just as comfortable in front of a gaming PC as she does in a hammock in the garden. Likes the Roman Empire, container ships and science fiction books. Focuses mostly on unearthing news stories about IT and smart products.
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