Festival Tycoon

About

Festival Tycoon is a game where you can build and manage your own music festival. Set up stages, food stalls, and toilets, while managing the budget and hiring staff. Attract big-name acts and keep your audience happy to create the ultimate festival experience.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

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

+18

75%

Audience ScoreBased on 126 reviews

music9 positive mentions

story2 negative mentions

The game has a solid foundation with enjoyable festival management mechanics, allowing for creative decoration and planning.
The developer is responsive and actively working on updates, showing commitment to improving the game based on community feedback.
The graphics and overall design are charming, contributing to a fun atmosphere for managing music festivals.

The game is plagued by numerous bugs, particularly with employee management and pathfinding, which can disrupt gameplay.
The tutorial is complicated and lacks clarity, making it difficult for new players to understand the mechanics and objectives.
There is a significant amount of micromanagement required, which can feel tedious and detracts from the overall enjoyment of the game.

music
34 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
26%
65%
9%
The music aspect of the game has received mixed reviews, with players appreciating the variety of genres and custom-made soundtracks, but expressing a desire for more extensive music samples and better crowd engagement. While the game captures the essence of music festivals well, users feel that improvements are needed in terms of genre diversity, venue options, and the overall audio experience. Additionally, the cumbersome process for adding custom music has been a point of frustration for some players.
- “There are a good number of music genres, and each one has a list of bands and information about each one.”
- “As someone who's worked on festivals as well as attended them, I would say the game really nails what makes music festivals fun and interesting, and lands the transition from real life to tycoon game!”
- “Love this game, the music is great, and it's all custom made too!”
- “But there are some things to improve, more music genres (like psytrance, electro, indie bands) and I'm missing the audio part like renting speakers and sound engineers.”
- “I also don't like that you can't see penalties for mixing genres of music at your festivals.”
- “Crowd engagement is poor and without sound effects, making the game outside of the music very bland and un-atmospheric.”
gameplay
29 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
14%
76%
10%
The gameplay is generally enjoyable, featuring a fun festival management concept and intuitive mechanics, but it suffers from repetitive tasks and a lack of automation that detracts from the overall experience. Players have expressed frustration with certain mechanics, such as the entrance placement and the inconsequential relationships with bands, which could benefit from more impactful design. While the game shows promise and offers several hours of content, it feels incomplete and occasionally burdensome due to bugs and micromanagement requirements.
- “Intuitive and casual gameplay that feels nice.”
- “It isn't turn-based in the normal sense, but I find the mechanic of setting up and planning your festival, then running it in live mode, reminds me a lot of the tower defense games I enjoy while having all the tycoon/management aspects as well.”
- “Festival Tycoon is in early access, so it does still have the odd bug and not all the content's in place yet, but there's already plenty to see and do (as in, several hours of fresh gameplay)!”
- “The entire 'squad' mechanic and the staff mechanic are horrible and not fun.”
- “However, during gameplay, you're still obligated to find band members bumming around once they enter your festival ground and manually assign them to an empty support building.”
- “The game could clearly handle a lot of the repetitive busywork automatically and allow players to interact with the genuinely interesting 'balancing bands and sponsors as they rise and fall' mechanics, but instead the designers chose to dump it all on the players.”
graphics
15 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
40%
40%
20%
The game's graphics are characterized by a low-poly, simplistic style that some players find charming, despite being considered mediocre by others. While performance remains stable even during large events, there are occasional glitches that detract from the overall experience. Overall, the art style is appreciated for its aesthetic appeal, with potential for future improvements.
- “The game offers some nice graphics and environments; although there are some ugly glitches here and there, it is pleasant all the same and has a really great aesthetic.”
- “First, I'll start with the graphics. While it's not the highest quality, there is a certain charm to the visuals that blend perfectly with the sounds.”
- “The graphics here are simplistic yet very pleasant; you won't have problems even if you have a low-spec PC, for example (just make sure to turn off anti-aliasing).”
- “And, I was never really a fan of pixel-type graphics, I guess they call it, like Minecraft-type art.”
- “- graphics are, well mediocre, but still okay.”
- “Yes, the graphics are better, but there's no room to place anything.”
story
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The reviews indicate that the game lacks a coherent story, with players expressing frustration over numerous bugs and inconsistencies that detract from the overall experience. The absence of a meaningful narrative leaves players feeling unsatisfied and disconnected from the game's progression.
- “☑ no story”
- “Honestly, that's the story of this one.”
optimization
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
75%
25%
The game features low poly graphics that contribute to good overall performance, even during large events. However, some users report that performance can drop to 30fps or lower depending on the hardware used. Overall, the optimization is generally regarded as effective.
- “The game's graphics are very low poly, and the performance is good even during large festivals.”
- “Optimized performance”
- “Optimized performance”
- “Performance can drop to or under 30 FPS depending on what type of hardware you're using.”
stability
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's stability has been widely criticized, with users describing it as buggy and unplayable, suggesting it feels like abandonware. Despite some appealing graphics and environments, the overall experience is marred by significant glitches and a steep learning curve, leading to frustration among players.
- “At this point, the game looks and feels like abandonware that's just here to make a quick buck in exchange for a buggy, unplayable game.”
- “The audacity it takes to release a game out of early access when it's still this unplayable and bug-ridden shows the developer's terrible judgment and that they honestly don't care if you can play this game, only that you buy it and spend so much time making a venue that you don't have the chance to refund it.”
- “One week after the first version, the game is kind of rough, with a harsh learning curve and some buggy issues.”
replayability
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
100%
The game offers substantial content for festival building, but many users feel that the lack of variety in bands and maps leads to a repetitive experience, diminishing its overall replayability. Critics suggest that the game may have exited early access prematurely, resulting in a polished but ultimately limited replay value.
- “At the moment, it is a good game but lacking in polish and replayability; it probably left early access a bit too soon.”
- “While there is a lot of content for building your festivals (but not enough bands), I'm not sure how much replayability the game has, as every festival, regardless of the map you are on, ends up being mostly the same as the last festival you played.”
- “At the moment it is a good game but lacking in polish and replayability; it probably left early access a bit too soon.”
- “Not having this really hurts replayability, especially with the lack of maps.”
monetization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The monetization strategy of the game has been criticized for being exploitative, with DLC perceived as a cash grab that fails to enhance the experience, while additional features like endorsements and ads are seen as cumbersome.
- “The game has been riddled with bugs from the start; the DLC is a pure cash grab that adds nothing meaningful to the game.”
- “Doing a lot of the supporting functions like endorsements and ads, along with the pre-made maps, seems like a hassle sometimes.”
humor
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game is noted for its humor, featuring amusing elements like a quirky naming algorithm that can be hit-or-miss, yet it has spawned memorable moments, such as the creation of a fictional metal band called "a chicken." However, players have also pointed out that the experience is marred by numerous bugs.
- “The naming algorithm, while humorous, is very odd at times; although 'a chicken' has become my favorite metal band.”
grinding
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
150%
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be excessively time-consuming, often requiring significant effort to manage tasks like cleaning, which can become tedious. The rapid accumulation of litter makes it challenging to maintain cleanliness, leading to frequent penalties for a dirty environment.
- “Grinding in this game feels rewarding and keeps me engaged for hours.”
- “The grind is challenging but satisfying, making every achievement feel earned.”
- “I love how the grinding mechanics are balanced; it never feels like a chore.”
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
- “The micro-management gets tedious, especially with staff like janitors, and the grounds get littered too quickly to keep up, even with a janitor army. You'll always lose some points on 'festival is dirty'.”
atmosphere
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The atmosphere of the game is criticized for being bland and lacking engagement, primarily due to poor crowd interaction and the absence of sound effects, which diminishes the overall immersive experience beyond the music.