I wasn’t really much of a PC gamer in my younger years, but there was one genre that I just had to use a mouse and keyboard for. Tycoon games have always been a weakness of mine, dating back to that absolute classic Theme Hospital. Since then I’ve run all sorts of virtual theme parks and zoos, and had a blast raking in the profits while doing so. I’m always excited to try something new in this business management based genre, so when News Tower entered early access last year it caught my attention. Now eighteen months later the full game is here, and the headline is that it’s a lot of fun.
The concept of News Tower is pretty straightforward. You are in charge of a newspaper (which you can name however you please) and you’ll need to gather stories that capture the attention of the people and make a whole heap of cash in the process. It turns out a lot goes into running a successful pre war print media company, but thankfully a thorough tutorial will guide you through all that.
There’s no newspaper without the hard working journalists investigating leads and writing the pieces, so before anything else you’ll need some reporters and some desks. Each reporter has a few types of story they specialise in, and you’ll have to gather a variety of staff members so you can cover crime, economy and sports news effectively.
That’s only the start of the process though, because you’ll need a selection of writers and printers to bring their words to life. Once Sunday hits you’ll then need to use all your editing skills to put together the best paper possible, with different parts of New York appreciating different types of stories. Early on I would struggle to even fill the pages and had some tragic blank spaces, but with a bit of practice and some extra capital my hotshot team would always be ready for the weekend.
Utilising your staff is only one part of the News Tower puzzle, you’ll also need to carefully construct the building itself. At first this seems simple as you just slap desks and printing presses down, but you also have to take into account the feeling of your employees. They need to be able to drink at the water cooler and take a dump when their body requires it, and will also struggle in certain conditions. The printing press especially outputs a shit ton of noise and heat, so you’ll need walls, fans and ventilation to ensure your staff’s working conditions aren’t miserable.
All these fairly familiar tycoon elements are great, but what really excited me about News Tower was the idea of different factions I could try to get along with. The mafia, the mayor, the army and the aristocracy will all offer you rewards for ensuring they look good to the general public, and just like real world media you can be as corrupt as you want. Deciding to just not cover murder so the mob seemed less threatening just felt right to me, and being rewarded handsomely for it felt even better.
There are plenty of other elements you’ll need to take into account with News Tower, like getting advertising, managing loan repayments and training your workers. It’s a tycoon game with a whole lot of depth under the hood that only continues to evolve as you play, with a real story you work through as opposed to just the goal of growing more profitable. There are even reasons to replay the game with different tower layouts, like a skyscraper or a wide but stubby newsroom.
Early access feels like it was the right choice for News Tower, because over this year and a half period a whole lot has been added. I can’t pretend I checked the game out in early access, but when looking through the list of features added on the Steam page I was particularly impressed. The last portion of the game was added for the 1.0 launch, alongside the military faction, other newspaper competitors, and a whole host of other content to make this a ridiculously fleshed out management experience.
News Tower is a really entertaining newspaper tycoon game, but it does have a few issues. The intensity is a bit much for a genre I associate with relaxing Sunday gaming, with constant deadlines providing a permanent source of stress. The weekly challenges of impressing new audiences aren’t particularly thrilling either, and sometimes it felt like I was grinding away instead of evolving and gaining access to new exciting things (especially because this is probably the longest campaign this genre has ever seen).
News Tower is an engaging tycoon game with a unique setting and premise, and lots to keep on top of. It’s not quite as laidback as the genre often is, but there’s plenty of depth and hours of fun to be had with it. Breaking news – if you like the tycoon genre you’ll probably have a great time with News Tower, so give it a go before it’s old news.
