I used to train for Elden Ring, but now I’m addicted to roller coasters and hot dogs
Looking for a relaxing game to while away the time? Then consider carefully whether you have enough room for “Planet Coaster” – because this game will not let you go.
I’m sure you know that too: You have your eye on a new game and you’re looking forward to really sinking into it again. For me it was “Elden Ring”. As an absolute Souls beginner, I was allowed to test it before the release and was immediately hooked.
But I realized that I wasn’t used to the hard gameplay.
So I started playing Demon’s Souls on the PS5. I fought, cast spells, sneaked and rolled my way through grueling levels, defeating boss after boss – of course only after several tries. My plan: If I train properly here, then I’ll be well prepared for the Elden Ring.
I thoroughly enjoyed Demon’s Souls while also watching the praises Elden Ring received. Accordingly, the anticipation grew even more. But I wanted to finish Demon’s Souls first.
But now everyday life intervened: Suddenly you have long working days, stress, a lot to do, you know it. And one evening, after a hard day, I lost the desire to be slaughtered again in Ober-Latria.
Instead, I wanted something light, casual, fun. Something I can fire up and then put aside to plunge back into Souls madness.
So I searched my library and settled on “Planet Coaster” which had been floating around there since February as it was one of the free games on PS Plus then. I thought: make a roller coaster, make guests happy, mess around a bit and then put it aside again.
I’ll put it this way: I haven’t played an Elden Ring yet. And neither is Demon’s Souls anymore.
Planet Coaster won’t let me go
What kind of game is this? Originally Planet Coaster was released for PC in 2016, followed by consoles in 2020. It’s a very typical building game that focuses on amusement parks.
I actually think it’s sacrilegious to play such games on the console because I find it somehow impractical without a mouse and keyboard. But I love amusement parks and used to love RollerCoaster Tycoon. Besides, I didn’t intend to spend that much time on it.
So: installed and fired up.
What makes Planet Coaster so damn good: To get an overview of the game, I started the tutorial and learned the basics of park building there. The first ride, a few service buildings, guest needs and roller coaster tinkering – you get all of that taught there.
You also learn how to control it. It’s a bit tricky at first and I’m sure it’s a bit easier on PC, especially with all the menus and details you can place on the map.
But all in all, Planet Coaster is surprisingly intuitive to play with the PS5 controller. At least it’s intuitive enough that I haven’t had to try out the mouse-keyboard controls on the console yet – Planet Coaster offers that.
After the tutorial, I hopped straight into challenge mode. Here you can freely tinker your own dream park and just have to be careful that you don’t run out of money and that the guests don’t get grumpy. That shouldn’t be a problem with the amusement park skills I’ve just learned.
Then it started: I set myself the goal of building the best space amusement park in the world. With this project I went bankrupt twice within half an hour thanks to expensive space props and massive mismanagement.
So I set myself the goal of building the best Wild West amusement park in the world, because covered wagons are cheaper than spaceships. And now things started to fall into place.
If you survive the first few minutes without going bankrupt, you start to grasp the level of detail of this game. I realized I can’t just build a Wild West town out of prefab houses and rides to go with them. No no no.
I can:
- Adjust the entire terrain of the park to my liking. Huge mountains, deep caves, lakes – everything is possible.
- Put individual animatronics or decorations pretty much anywhere I want.
- Combine buildings freely.
- Add special effects. Dry ice, flamethrowers, smoke machines – you name it. Feels like everything is possible.
- Trees, shrubs, illuminated signs, flags, scaffolding – the list of small details that can be incorporated is simply endless.
- See the thoughts of the guests and react accordingly.
- Change ride colors and designs.
- Do a little park management – from the employee salary to the selling price of the jumbo hot dog. And yes: Even 50 cents can make a big difference.
- Building your own roller coasters from scratch – but I haven’t gotten to that yet.
Since my basic framework for the park is in place, I can’t stop. I regularly get bogged down in absolute detail work: Then I tinker a themed corner here and there, open pretty queues, make roller coasters more exciting, hand out endless hot dog stands. The latter are particularly popular – and I want my guests to be happy.
I then regularly see how my creations work from the guest’s point of view – and I’m always happy like a little child when it looks like I imagined it.
Incidentally, it doesn’t stop at the Cowboy Park. Because there are theme worlds from Western to Sci-Fi to the city, fairy tales or “Ghostbusters”. You can also buy additional packages. But I’ll work my way through my Wild West town and the pirates first.
I never expected Planet Coaster to captivate me the way it does right now. It’s just so much fun to let your imagination run wild and tinker with the park.
In addition, you can also look at the creations of other players who use and upload their own crafts. So Planet Coaster also offers an exchange with others – at least a little bit.
Anyway, now I actually have a game to really sink my teeth into on the weekends – it’s just not what I was looking forward to. I can only recommend: If you also downloaded Planet Coaster on PS Plus in February and have ignored it so far, check it out.
The nice thing is: At some point I will certainly have enough of amusement park handicrafts. And then it’s Elden Ring’s turn. By the way, you can find numerous guides to Elden Ring here.
Have you ever had a game that just won’t let you go? Maybe even a building game? Tell us in the comments!
Reference-mein-mmo.de
