Park Beyond: Preview of Limbic's new park construction manager

Park Beyond

The developers of Limbic Entertainment presented their latest project called Park Beyond at Gamescom 2021. The studio from Langen near Frankfurt has been known for Might & Magic Heroes 6 and 7 and its various extensions in recent years and has recently successfully launched Tropico 6. With Park Beyond, the German studio is now starting a collaboration with Bandai Namco, which began around two years ago and is intended to go beyond this one title. At a digital event in the run-up to Gamescom, we were able to have the creators explain to us what distinguishes Park Beyond and what sets Park Beyond apart from other genre colleagues.

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Park Beyond : Over-the-top announcement trailer for the new amusement park game loadVideoPlayer ('84279', '& sAdSetCsategory = artikel_featured', 12, '16: 9 ', false, 1378377, false, 277796, 260, false, 0,' ',' ', false) ;

Table of contents

1 Impossification 2 Flying roller coaster 3 Stories of a park manager 4 Candyland

Impossification

To get in the mood, the developers showed us the announcement trailer, which was also presented to the public during the Gamescom Opening Night Live. Even during this short video it becomes clear that Park Beyond is not just a catchy title, but should actually go beyond what one is otherwise used to from park managers. The specially created technical term is also mentioned in the trailer - impossification.

Park Beyond: Preview of Limbic's new park construction manager (12) Source: Bandai Namco Behind this is the concept that the park is completely exaggerated and attractions are realized beyond one's own imagination and the laws of physics. However, it should not be about magic or science fiction, but only extremely good engineering. What we have to imagine this, the developers first make clear with a series of standard attractions. A classic horse carousel is transformed into a three-story structure with an ingenious gear train.

It gets even more funky with the impossification stages of the Ferris wheel. The first upgrade turns it into two wheels on top of each other that swap their gondolas with one another. In its final form, it becomes a monster made up of eleven different large wheels, which leads the passengers on an incomparable trip through serpentine lines and various changes of direction. So you first build a fairly normal-looking park with carousels, Ferris wheels and other well-known rides. Through the research system in the game, the more crazy levels are then gradually unlocked for the individual attractions, which of course attract more visitors.

Flying roller coaster

This "over the top" approach but doesn't stop at regular rides. Because what would an amusement park be without roller coasters? Right, boring. For the construction of spectacular routes, the developers have developed a modular construction system that should be both easy to use and individually adaptable. In addition to classic roller coaster elements such as chain hoists, boosters and loops, there will be so-called "Impossified Modules". In these, the railway wagons jump over ramps or are even shot through the air with a cannon. Of course, the vehicle then lands perfectly on the rail as if by magic and continues its journey.

An interesting detail of the construction system during the demonstration was a display of the expected speed of the roller coaster train at the currently placed cursor position. In this way, during construction, you always have an eye on whether the momentum of the car is still sufficient for the planned route. This means that the manual construction of a roller coaster could degenerate significantly less into trial & error than is the case with Planet Coaster. In order to see the results of our own construction efforts, a first-person camera is of course also integrated, with which we can experience our daring jumps and abysses for ourselves. Park Beyond: Preview of Limbic's new park construction manager (8) Source: Bandai Namco

Stories of a park manager

All the possibilities to build crazy roller coasters and to develop rides with impossification at first glance seem quite complex. But Park Beyond won't just throw you into the sandpit where you have to deal with all the options at once. The game also gets a story-driven campaign in which you are introduced step by step to various features. The focus is on characters like founder Phil and CFO Izzy, whose different personalities and goals are supposed to cause conflicts over and over again.

Park Beyond: Preview of Limbic's new park construction manager (9) Source: Bandai Namco The story is on one page is kept linear with exciting twists, but also offers space for individualization. Before each mission, the ideas and goals for the next mission must be defined in a management meeting. This takes place in the form of dialogues with various possible answers. This then results in various milestones and associated rewards that must be achieved during the mission. Park Beyond is not just about having fun building, the park also has to function economically in the end.

To do this, the needs, budgets and satisfaction of visitors have to be taken into account, as well as the equipment and that Training of your own employees. In addition to attractions, shops, food stands, toilets and other amenities must also be provided. By the way, the developers are already thinking about possible impossification steps for these buildings.

Candyland

So that it doesn't get boring too quickly, there should be different thematic orientations according to which you can set up your park can shape. If we build a pink-purple land of milk and honey one day with huge donuts, pieces of cake and cream cakes on every corner, next time we might switch to a western scenario, where buildings come in the typical wooden construction. The developers did not want to reveal anything about other subject areas.

The general graphic style and the presentation of visitors and parks make it clear in any case that one wants to compete with the genre-primus Planet Coaster. There is definitely potential for this in the creative ideas of the developers at Limbic Entertainment. The coming year will then show whether they can make the most of it. Park Beyond is slated for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series S / X sometime in 2022.