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Build your dream ski resort in Snowtopia from tomorrow

Fantasise about the perfect ski resort since you probably can't go to one right now

A lovely ski resort in Snowtopia

Management sims have been booming lately, but there’s one type of management I’ve always wanted to sim and I am yet to be satisfied: running my own ski resort. Snowtopia is an indie game that’s looking to change that, and it releases into Steam Early Access tomorrow.

Snowtopia aims to let you develop your dream ski resort. You’ll plan pistes with a construction tool designed for intuitive, easy placement, and evaluate the terrain to choose which of 11 different types of ski lift is best suited to serve them. Keep your guests safe by providing maintenance and ski patrol services, and cater to their needs with amenities such as mountain restaurants – there are 12 different skier profiles in the game, some easier to satisfy than others.

Make them happy enough and they’ll even join your growing team of volunteer staff, because in an interesting choice, there is no money in Snowtopia. Naturally, there are new and upgraded versions of these amenities to research and unlock, meaning lots of scope to fiddle and fuss over your creation until you’ve built the winter playground of your dreams. This may make the fact that it’s near-impossible to get to the slopes right now either easier or harder to bear.

When your hard work is done you can even kick back and relax in your resort yourself. You can learn more on the Steam page, or check out the latest trailer below:

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Indie developer TeaForTwo says it’ll use its Early Access period to develop such features as slope editing, a weather cycle, wild fauna and slope access points to manage, new skier profiles and buildings, and new game modes such as a campaign and a level editor.

I ski, and I’ve always wanted a ski resort management game. I can remember playing exactly one: 2000’s Ski Resort Tycoon, which I notice Snowtopia has cunningly co-opted as its subtitle. It had the name down, but not a lot else. As with many old-school sim games it explained itself poorly and was fiddly to play. Worst of all, its small maps and obtuse customer needs limited the sense of fun and possibility that should be at the core of a good management sim, as modern standouts of the genre such as Planet Coaster have figured out. With that in mind, Snowtopia’s focus on intuitive construction is heartening and I’m interested to see how it’ll make the no-money thing work.

Snowtopia launches in Steam Early Access tomorrow.