Party Hard Tycoon Review

Party Hard Tycoon is a wild ride, but does it live up to the hype? Or are you the person that has to inject it with HYPE!

Let's just start right off comparing the original Party Hard to Tycoon. Is it the same? How are they different? Tiny Build shows off its cleverness with this new release in a few unique ways. Right off the bat with the glaring obvious is the re-using of the entire Party Hard universe and engine. Looking back at the first game, it becomes apparent that it would be an absolute travesty to throw away all those sprites and levels, which are pretty darn magnificent in all their pixel glory. Tycoon recycles this all for a completely new game--stressing the fact that it IS a brand new game, even if old characters pop their head in for a visit.

In Tycoon, you play a party promoter, starting from the bottom and working your way to the top. It's like a coke-fueled, neon Cinderella story of sorts. You throw trash parties in the beginning, working with a meager budget, earning little by little. The success of your parties lands you new jobs from a very peculiar cast of characters. The dialog is appropriately channeled through texting--the authenticity of it all being pushed further by things like typos and text-language. The characters are bold, loud and completely unapologetic, as is the person you play. It's all very interesting and instead of being a nuisance, the story ends up being a welcomed side track to it all (not to mention how you progress via rewards!).

You work on a calendar, which is marked for better or for worse on buffs for certain days, days that aren't good for your parties, and a colouring system. Since you work at a low level and climb up a ladder, there's different clientele to impress at every corner. The poor and the rich have their own flavour of a good time, and it's up to you to tailor accordingly. It's a smart game, and a lot of it is rooted in the tracking of your money and resources. You have to build a fan base, simulating word of mouth. You gain rewards for 'likes', and lose fans when you don't fulfill them. If you can't keep your 'hype' going, the party ends. It's addicting to say in the least--each party you throw having to be better than the last. Seeing the screen light up like a Christmas tree with either attendance, likes, hype or money is more than enough to keep me playing.

You're dropped in at the deep end. There's no tutorial level or much in terms of live help, except the occasional mouseover suggesting if a piece of decor might be good or bad for a certain vibe. The mechanics of losing and gaining fans, followers, aren't clear either. To me, this obfuscation adds a good dimension of gut feeling, and trial and error. Still haven't quite figured it out but it's a heck of a lot of fun getting there.

Despite a few bugs (some of the text messages were unavailable, when notification was showing, and it seems perhaps some placeholder text is still left in there), it seems like Tiny Build is on its A game pre-releasing in early access. I can't find much to say that's wrong about this game if it's your type of play--it's fun to get invested, fun to throw the parties themselves, and fun to live the life of a party planner.