Think you can chain together resources to develop multiple worlds in real time? You can put your skills to the test with Masterplan Tycoon, a minimalistic resource management sim by Ravenage Games.
A copy of this game was provided for the purposes of this review.
You start Masterplan Tycoon on an empty island save for some starting resources. You’ll need to implement different factories and processes to begin your steadily growing society, and as you progress you will unlock more resources. Your world even expands beyond your starting island to get more unique resources like bamboo from the islands or concrete from the limestone mission. The ultimate goal is to have developed your land to the point of showing it to the world in a world expo.
When it comes to the gameplay mechanics, the game becomes a sort of tycoon and puzzle hybrid. You’ll place your buildings for all the different resources, connecting them to factories to produce goods or into storage systems. Fitting all of these buildings and connection lines into your spaces is where a puzzle aspect comes in since there are various restrictions for both placements of buildings (ie the well must be next to water) and how the connection lines can only be so close to other buildings before they don’t function. The tycoon-ing comes in with managing the inputs and outputs to make sure everything operates smoothly.
There are both construction research and upgrade options to increase efficiency, but the game doesn’t feel impossible to do without those. You could have everything at its most basic level and still finish the game, but it is nice to increase production speeds and have more storage. Some construction research is required to get you new buildings, but they are pretty easy to get so there is no grinding involved in the game whatsoever.
Even with the increasing complexity that managing multiple resources gives, the game as a whole feels very relaxing to play. The minimalist art style keeps it feeling simple even when you have so many crossing lines and connected buildings. I definitely got sucked into the game, playing non-stop for multiple hours at a time. It was never stressful, but still made me think carefully about my decisions. There were a couple of moments where I felt like I got stuck, but all of those were easily resolved.
Overall, I greatly enjoyed Masterplan Tycoon. It’s a good balance of stressless strategy and relaxing resource management that can be completed in a few hours. I had fun playing it the first time and I am even considering playing again to try and see if I can be more organized and streamlined with my placements.
Masterplan Tycoon is available on Steam.
This post is an Indie Game Collective Showcase