Cartel Tycoon

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"Cartel Tycoon" is a strategy simulation game where you build and manage a drug cartel in South America. Expand your operation by constructing clandestine labs, recruiting workers, and battling rival cartels and law enforcement. Navigate a complex moral landscape as you balance the pursuit of power and wealth with the well-being of your followers and the community.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

Reviews

73%

Audience ScoreBased on 1,135 reviews

gameplay55 positive mentions

grinding43 negative mentions

Engaging gameplay with a unique cartel management theme that combines resource management and strategy.
The game features a vibrant art style and an excellent soundtrack that enhances the overall experience.
Active developer support and frequent updates show commitment to improving the game based on community feedback.

The AI logistics system is often inefficient, leading to frustrating bottlenecks in resource management and production.
The game can become tedious due to excessive micromanagement, especially in managing lieutenants and their demands.
Balancing issues with the terror and loyalty systems can make gameplay feel punishing and lead to frequent failures.

gameplay
203 mentions
27 % positive mentions
63 % neutral mentions
10 % negative mentions
The gameplay of Cartel Tycoon is characterized by a mix of engaging mechanics and frustrating limitations, leading to a steep learning curve and a repetitive experience. While players appreciate the unique themes and strategic elements, many express disappointment over the lack of depth, clarity in mechanics, and the punishing nature of certain systems, which can detract from overall enjoyment. Despite its potential, the game requires significant improvements in balance, AI behavior, and variety to enhance the gameplay experience.
- “It was a fun journey of learning how to use each build and mechanic in this game in order to make tons of money.”
- “Interesting gameplay mechanics, fun and challenging to set up proper routes for whatever product you want to smuggle.”
- “The gameplay mechanics are intricate and require strategic planning to succeed.”
- “The mechanics are simple and half-baked, and I lost any motivation to play after 4 hours due to tedium.”
- “Overall, the game's deceptive appearance and lack of depth in AI and gameplay mechanics left me thoroughly disappointed, prompting my request for a refund despite surpassing the two-hour playtime limit.”
- “Once players grasp the core mechanics, the gameplay loop becomes predictable and monotonous.”
story
199 mentions
16 % positive mentions
75 % neutral mentions
9 % negative mentions
The game's story mode has received mixed reviews, with many players finding it lackluster and repetitive, often feeling like a tedious tutorial rather than an engaging narrative. While some appreciate the character backstories and the potential for interesting plotlines, others criticize the mission structure for being overly simplistic and frustrating, leading to a sense of stagnation. Overall, while the story mode offers some enjoyable elements, it is often overshadowed by gameplay issues and a lack of compelling content.
- “The storyline is engaging and keeps the game rolling for the start of the map at a good pace.”
- “The developers put a lot of thought into the features and it goes much deeper into the story than I expected it to.”
- “Its addicting, the story/campaign is fun!”
- “Having played through the tutorial and a portion of the story mode, I found it lackluster and not compelling enough to continue.”
- “The story mode is buggy, confusing, and terrible.”
- “I tried to like this game but it feels soulless, the story isn't interesting, the economy is simply broken, and what's worse is that sandbox buildings are locked behind the most boring campaign I've ever seen.”
music
65 mentions
52 % positive mentions
42 % neutral mentions
6 % negative mentions
The music in the game receives mixed reviews, with many praising the soundtrack as immersive and well-suited to the game's theme, enhancing the overall experience of managing a cartel. However, some players find the music repetitive and lacking variety, which can detract from the enjoyment over time. Overall, while the soundtrack is often described as excellent and atmospheric, there are calls for more original compositions to elevate the experience further.
- “The soundtrack adds to the overall ambiance, enhancing the sense of being a powerful cartel leader.”
- “The music is really good, that's all I need for a tycoon game.”
- “The art style is awesome, the soundtrack is phenomenal; this game is on the right track.”
- “The music is very repetitive and does not really change outside of 'Mexican music #1' to 'Mexican music #2'.”
- “I paid extra for the music, no one even sings, boring and soulless.”
- “Edit: I forgot to mention that the music is okay but it's sooooooo repetitive that it grates my ears after like 15 minutes.”
graphics
54 mentions
56 % positive mentions
39 % neutral mentions
6 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with many praising the vibrant art style and charming visuals that enhance the atmosphere, while others note that the graphics can feel outdated or clunky, especially on older hardware. Overall, the aesthetic is generally well-received, contributing positively to the gameplay experience, despite some criticisms regarding depth and detail.
- “The hand-drawn graphics and vibrant colors create a distinctive aesthetic that captures the essence of the game's setting.”
- “The artwork, graphics, and music are amazing.”
- “Great graphics and artwork, great music and sound, and really fun gameplay.”
- “It offers decent gameplay with some cool and innovative mechanics, though the experience is somewhat held back by its graphically outdated, typical indie presentation.”
- “While the visuals leave much to be desired, the core game is solid enough to warrant a look if you’re into the genre.”
- “The graphics are still a tad bland.”
grinding
46 mentions
2 % positive mentions
4 % neutral mentions
93 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be excessively tedious, particularly in the mid to late game, where micromanagement of resources and gang loyalty becomes overwhelming and detracts from overall enjoyment. The repetitive nature of tasks, combined with poorly designed automation systems, leads to frustration and a sense of monotony, making the gameplay feel more like a chore than a rewarding experience. While the game has potential and enjoyable mechanics, the grind often overshadows its strengths, resulting in a lack of engagement as players progress.
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
- “The game felt great and had a cool concept in the beginning, but quickly falls apart once you get into the mid to late game with so much tedious micromanagement that it becomes a chore, stripping away all the initial enjoyment you felt.”
- “In essence, it doesn't matter because every quest in the game boils down to 'bring x goods to location y.' It gets tedious after 5 minutes.”
- “Managing connections between buildings is tedious to put it politely... seriously just let us right-click to enable or disable connections between buildings.”
stability
22 mentions
18 % positive mentions
5 % neutral mentions
77 % negative mentions
The stability of the game has received mixed reviews, with many users reporting significant bugs and glitches that hinder gameplay, particularly in the tutorial and story mode. While some players have noted improvements and a generally smooth experience after extended play, others find the game too buggy and unfinished to recommend at this stage. Overall, the game's stability appears to be a major concern, especially for those expecting a polished experience in early access.
- “Visually pleasing, absolutely bug-free tycoon game with a nice amount of sand added in how you do things.”
- “There's a lot of deep gameplay, great graphics, and the game after twenty hours is remarkably glitch and bug-free.”
- “Runs great, appealing visuals, lacking some depth and content but that is to be expected.”
- “It was buggy, I dropped it until its full release.”
- “It's a buggy mess of a game with so many issues, some making it impossible to play; I can't even complete the second story as it either does the mission twice or something bugs out.”
- “Too unfinished and buggy to recommend at this stage.”
optimization
16 mentions
25 % positive mentions
50 % neutral mentions
25 % negative mentions
The game's optimization is generally criticized, with users reporting significant performance issues as they expand their cities and build more structures, leading to slowdowns and stuttering. While the UI and logistics for production chains are well-optimized, other aspects, such as algorithms for resource distribution and vehicle management, require improvement. Overall, while the game runs smoothly at lower scales, it struggles with performance under heavier loads, indicating a need for further optimization.
- “Gameplay feels smooth with nicely optimized UI and logistics for any production chain.”
- “This game is a decent management simulation/resource chain optimization game.”
- “As this game is all about setting up a smooth production chain, do not overproduce and over-expand, and manage limited resources, with depth in optimization (easy math, but very versatile) and layout planning (location, roads, supply chain inter-connections).”
- “A little underoptimized; it can get really slow when you build a lot of buildings.”
- “I think the game also has some performance issues, as even in the lowest settings, my computer is crying for some ice.”
- “Not optimized game; the tutorial is too long. If you don't speedrun, you won't be able to refund the game. Buildings are not distributing the right packages to the right places (unless you micromanage everything), which causes your police heat.”
replayability
14 mentions
29 % positive mentions
50 % neutral mentions
21 % negative mentions
Replayability in this game is a mixed bag; while many players appreciate its depth and potential for varied experiences, particularly with updates enhancing gameplay, others find it limited due to the absence of multiplayer and repetitive endgame content. The game offers a solid foundation for replayability through different storylines and settings, but some players feel that once mastered, it can become easy and less engaging. Overall, it shows promise for future updates to enhance replay value further.
- “This game has huge depth and replay value.”
- “Amazing game, very replayable and love the recent updates to gang relations.”
- “Overall, it's a lot of fun, challenging and has tons of potential, with a decent amount of replayability (the map is the same, but you can choose where to start - some areas are harder, some easier etc).”
- “The absence of a multiplayer mode limits the game's appeal and replayability.”
- “End game is a bit tedious and the replayability for me is low, but getting there is a lot of fun and a good challenge.”
- “The only thing that's frustrating to me is once you grasp the concepts and learn, the game quickly becomes pretty easy, redundant, and boring.”
humor
9 mentions
100 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is a mixed bag, with some players finding it genuinely funny through witty dialogues and absurd situations, while others point out that the game's poor coding leads to unintentional hilarity. Players appreciate the comedic elements tied to gameplay mechanics, such as the irony of managing "dirty money" and the frustrations stemming from glitches. Overall, the humor adds a unique charm, even if it often stems from the game's flaws.
- “Good game, the AI can get funny at times, but there's always a solution.”
- “+ Humor and good dialogues/storylines.”
- “Vacation... now that's funny.”
atmosphere
8 mentions
75 % positive mentions
25 % neutral mentions
0 % negative mentions
The game's atmosphere is highly praised for its immersive art style, polished sound design, and phenomenal soundtrack, all of which enhance the overall experience. Reviewers highlight the effective storytelling and the ability to create a captivating environment, even in sandbox mode. Overall, the atmosphere significantly contributes to the game's appeal.
- “The game's visual style and atmosphere contribute to its immersion.”
- “The graphics are great, soundtrack, atmosphere.”
- “Something that really impressed me was how polished the sound design was; I could click on things all day, and the music is actually phenomenal. It really sets the atmosphere of being Gus Fring managing a meth empire.”
monetization
1 mentions
100 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
0 % negative mentions
The monetization aspect of the game currently feels minimal, resembling a mobile game experience without ads, which contributes to its addictive nature. However, players note that the game could benefit from further refinement.