We thought we had this whimsical SimCity-in-space game's number before we even sat down to play it. We'd played quite a bit of its they-hope-we-don't-mention-it forerunner, Outpost Kaloki X on Xbox 360 and were certain that Space Station Tycoon was just a clone of it. We were only partly right; this is a very similar title from the same developer, but it's very heavily evolved and expanded. We didn't exactly expect the Jetsons and get a new season of Firefly - dammit - but we were pleasantly impressed with how different it was.
Space Station Tycoon casts you as a young fellow named Shawn who, in one of those only-in-a-game twists, continually finds himself designing the lighthearted sci-fi equivalent a multi-gajillion-dollar outer space strip-mall, despite the fact that he's completely unqualified. Heck, his brother Nash - whom we'll admit right now seems kind of cooler than Shawn. Kind of a lot, in fact - is a pirate. Isn't that like Steve Wynn showing up in the next Ocean's Eleven movie and asking George Clooney's sister to design a casino for him?
Whatever. The point is, you've got the job, so you need to do it. Basically, each space station starts out as a flat, circular platform floating in space, to which to attach different items: power plants, tourist attractions, restaurants, scientific research centers, and so on, like the spokes of a wagon wheel.
One of the most enchanting games like Stardew Valley I played in 2024 just got a big new update, placing the medieval life sim RPG back on my radar
The Sims creator's first game in over 10 years is an AI life sim that uses your real memories: "The more I can make a game about you, the more you'll like it"
