Tube Tycoon

Tube Tycoon takes the traditional simulator genre from gaming and brings it into whole new territory by tasking you with becoming a world renowned social media personality. That said, the fundamentals in place should seem familiar to anyone who's played the genre before, but the developers have managed to configure those fundamentals into a strong core formula that will entertain any fans of simulation gameplay. Just don't go in expecting a highly polished triple A game. This charming little app was produced by a single developer, and you can expect to experience some bugs and rough edges over the course of your play time.

The fantasy that Tube Tycoon lets you play out is very specific, and it can sometimes feel like an attempt to tether a popular and well worn formula to a passing fad. Tube Tycoon promises to provide you with the opportunity to live out the dream of becoming a famous YouTuber, but the developer has done a great job of capturing the tone of the YouTube celebrity culture. There's a strong sense of humor to the experience, and people well enmeshed in the community will find a whole raft load of inside jokes and Easter eggs to soak up.

YouTube offers an environment where a wide range of different creators can make a name for themselves, and Tube Tycoon succeeds in allowing you to blaze a variety of different paths on your route to internet stardom. Whether you want to make a name for yourself by recording cooking guides, earn a fan base through dedicated Let's Plays, or build your reputation as a video game live streamer, all paths are open to you. That said, all of these are generally just an extra layer of varnish on a traditional selection of well worn game play systems.

That would be a problem if the personality of this game wasn't positively overflowing with a sense of charm. The comments section on your YouTube account serves as the barometer for how you've been doing in the game, but it serves as a whole lot more than just a standard scoring system. The comments themselves are incredibly sharp and sometimes vicious, reflecting thee sort of harsh burns and criticisms that are prevalent in the real world YouTube. It's a great and intuitive approach to player growth that feels absolutely true to the subject matter. Just as in almost every business simulator, your ultimate goal is to earn money that you can then spend developing your tools and use them to become more successful. It's just that you're crowd funding resources from your users rather than relying on more traditional consumers and upgrading your cameras and software to improve your performance. It may feel like a classic game with a new skin, but that new skin is highly fashionable and a lot of fun.