Limbic Entertainment, the studio most recently behind Tropico 6, is at work on its own take on the theme park building genre. The devs behind Park Beyond aim to differentiate it from the likes of Theme Park and Planet Coaster with the introduction of impossible fantasy rides and a story-driven campaign to lead you through the game.
Park Beyond will have a traditional sandbox mode – don’t worry – but the headline feature is a story-driven campaign that’ll have you balancing the needs of your visitors with the needs of your business. A big cast of characters will guide you through the story as you get access to increasingly absurd rides and coasters.
The rides start normally enough, like the Crazy Kraken, where a wooden octopus splashes carts into a small pool. Upgrade it a few times, however, and the ride will take the form of a live-looking giant octopus who dunks visitor capsules in a giant aquarium. A modular coaster building system will also give you a highly-customisable way to build your own rides.
While there’s a lot of emphasis on story and fantastical rides, the devs also promise deep management systems that will give you all kinds of visitor data to track, which will influence how you design your shops, manage your staff, and determine your marketing budget.
Park Beyond is due to launch sometime in 2022 across PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series S and X. For more sandbox games to dig into, you can follow that link.