Park Beyond is a management game that lets you create a theme park like no other. You’re guided by park veteran and ideas man Phil, as well as level-headed finance woman Izzy. As part of a story-driven campaign mode, you pitch your ideas for the ultimate theme park that defies expectations, and occasionally gravity. You can also escape those boring aspects of management like profit and finances, in a flexible sandbox mode.
The game’s unique focus is the idea of taking rides to the next level by adding seemingly impossible features and functionality. We spoke with Limbic CEO Stephan Winter and Creative Director Johannes Reithmann about how Park Beyond differs from other park management sims, and this unique concept they call impossification.
Related: Someone Made Death Stranding In Planet Coaster, And The Bridges Ride Looks Sick
“We settled on this, what we call impossification idea,” explains Winter. “What can you do with a ride? How can you make it bigger? How can you make it crazier? How can you make it more whatever? And that’s basically a big part of the early DNA of the game”
This idea is certainly the selling point of Park Beyond. As the trailer begins and we see Phil and Izzy looking at his current park, it looks like this is just another Planet Coaster-style game. That is until you see blueprints transformed into over-the-top lavish creations with scant regard for health and safety.
Rollercoasters can now make flying jumps as guests are shot from canons in the carts, Ferris wheels look like literal clockwork, and even the carousel has multiple levels. Everything grows and becomes more complex and creative, opening up possibilities never seen before in theme park sim games.
It can all seem like it’s a bit too much, but the team had very firm ideas with regards to keeping the impossible in check. “It’s really important to us that we don’t overshoot impossification in a way that we are suddenly magical or are going into sci-fi territory,” Reithmann assures us. “The majority of cases are bound to real rides. It took a while until we found the sweet spot between not too futuristic but still over the top but once we found this the team had a lot of fun.”
However, Reithmann explains that you’ll still have to take gravity into account, and it appears that you’ll need to work with the basic laws of physics at all times. While gravity can be defied somewhat, it can’t be removed. There’s still an element of making a functional coaster involved and carts can still come off tracks and crash, as you’d expect from a game of this type.
As well as different kinds of rides there are also different themes to decorate your park with. “We created multiple themed packages,” says Winter. “It contains everything; characters, rides, scenery, objects, animatronics, buildings, shops, and specific goods.” We got to see the Candyland and Wild West themes during the presentation but Winters assures us there are more to come and that they are all “totally combinable so you can mix in any way you like.”
During testing, the team realized that while many players love to get involved with the complex management systems offered, many more just want to create coasters. However, even if you are more of an Izzy than a Phil you’ll be pleased to know that crafting an impossible coaster appears to be far easier than expected, thanks to what Winter calls “a note-based drag and drop system.” This is when you can drag the end of a coaster and move it around to place the track. Once the track is down you can click it to produce a note, a point that can be moved to easily craft hills or dips. “The tool has to be super haptical in a way.” Reithmann says. “They [players] cannot feel like the editor’s standing in the way of what they want to create.”
Anyone who has built a coaster and had to remove half of it to get the physics right will also be glad to know that Park Beyond has a ghost cart system. This means that a ghost cart will constantly run around your track, allowing you to easily identify any issues as you build. You can also use notes to make a number of adjustments without pulling up the track.
While it looks very simple and intuitive, there are a number of pre-built options for those who prefer a solid base to work with. Winters also stresses that the team is fully aware that not only is building fun, but sharing your creations is also fun. He says they will “talk more about this element at a later stage.”
Once we wrapped our heads around the idea of flying rollercoaster carts we turned to the campaign mode, which also contains some unique features. “A mission could be for example that there’s a park that isn’t working. Then you as the player decide how you want to solve this,” Reithmann explains. “What’s my vision? What’s my pitch?,” he continues, “You are setting your own mission objectives.”
Each mission will require a pitch from you as the player where you ask for money and research help as well as setting targets such as the audience you wish to attract. You’ll even be able to specify how long you think it will take. This means that while there is a basic narrative that runs through the campaign you’ll be able to replay it in new ways by setting yourself different goals.
Along the way, your theme park will need to generate money, as every good park does, and there are management options to help with this. However, there’s also a second form of resource, which is currently known as amazement. This is where the modifications you make to your park rides generate amazement from guests. “You want to amaze people, you want to excite them, they should be happy in your park,” explains Winter. “This creates for lack of a better word, an abstract resource which is spent on research.”
All of these unique ideas are combined into what appears to be one of the most intriguing theme park management games we’ve seen in a long time. The team has recognized that sim game players often have different focuses and are committed to creating an experience that offers new ideas for both building and management. The flexibility in both creation and in terms of goal setting makes Park Beyond likely to appeal to all fans of the building and management sim genre.
Park Beyond is currently slated to be released for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S|X, and PC in 2022.
Next: Development And Diners: Interview With Planet Coaster Console Game Director, Gary Richards
