Developer: Squeaky Wheel Studio
Publisher: Squeaky Wheel Studio
Platform: PC
Tested on: PC
Academia School Simulator – Preview
School is an essential part of one’s life as for many years you will sit on the school benches and learn the arts and skills to become successful in life. For some kids school is fun, but not many really like it. You might have thought back then “if I would run the school, I would do it better” and this is your chance. Academia School Simulator is a game inspired by the Prison Architect games, but instead of managing a prison, you will be able to build and lead a school to your heart’s content. As this is a very early build and the game isn’t to be released until late 2020, there will be limited content, yet enough to feel how it is to manage a school and have sufficient options to last you through a few runs.
Your career starts with having carte blanche for your own school. You begin by choosing a name, motivation, and shield. After the basics, you can then decide on the difficulty and how your pupils will look like. There are a lot of styles to choose from and you also need to pick the right principal to lead on the work floor. At the moment, there is no real background to the story as you must build your school from the ground up. In the future, it is planned to have a rivalry with other schools, as you must compete to become the most prestigious institution in the country.
The game does a great job of holding your hand throughout the game. It all starts with a very short tutorial explaining the general workings of the game, how to allocate zones and build rooms. Each mission gets really well explained on what to do, what steps to take, allowing you to do one at a time, so there is no rush to complete your objectives. In the beginning, you can do a few missions without the school being open, but at a certain point, you will have to combine construction work with pupils trying to learn.
From a graphical standpoint, the game is pretty simple and very colorful to look at. The U.I is very easy to work with and even though this is a rather elaborate simulator, you can easily navigate the menus and will find what you are looking for. The latter benefits the gameplay by making it go fluently and accessible for each kind of gamer. On the creative side of the game, you are able to design your own school emblem, select the colors of your flag, the uniforms of your pupils and the entire build of the institution. The game is presented from a top-down view, so you will just see the floors and walls, yet there are some nice and fine details. At first, you can build a cold, cheap and simple school, but as you progress, do more research and get more funds, you can turn your school into a place loved by its students.
If you think about a school, you might imagine very loud and rowdy halls, the bell ringing and the sound of chairs screeching over the floor. While you won’t get bombed by the bell, you will hear the many students acting lively in the vicinity. There is a fun soundtrack supporting the game which blends in nicely with the many sounds that the game emits.
Now that you are ready to build your own school and start managing it, you might think that you are in for a treat. Well, in all honesty, the game is perfectly made for all kinds of players, from those that are used to being an architect, to your average Joe that has never really played this kind of game. In the beginning, you are helped by a really good tutorial, holding your hand as you get to lay your first bricks for the school. After playing for a short while, you immediately get the ropes and can fully enjoy the game. Money is earned by completing grants (that are quests), of which they will pay you some upfront to cover the costs and you will be reward with some extra spending money upon completion. Your job is to hire staff, assign teachers to the right courses so they teach the students well, accept pupils into your school and become successful. In the beginning, you start out small with four classes, but as more research gets done and you expand, more people will want to follow classes in your established institute. The game will automatically assign the schedules for the classes, but you can adjust them to your own desire. As the game is still in Early Access, the content might be a bit limited but there is plenty to go around. You do have a lot of options to include new classes, facilities, and abilities to keep your pupils in line. If you manage to screw it up or want some extra challenge/ease, you can fully adjust the difficulties when you create a new school. Try building a utopia for students or have a largely underfunded school in a rough part of town.
Conclusion
Academia School Simulator is all about having your own school and having it your way. It lends itself perfectly to new players and also to veterans of the genre. The short tutorial holds your hand as you get to learn the ropes of the game and with the great quest system, you know perfectly what to do. The difficulty settings allow for all kinds of scenarios and there is already a decent amount of content to dive into. You get full freedom when building your own school or institute and get to lead it just as you wish.
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