For the players looking for a new business management simulation game, then look no further than Blooming Business: Casino. Developed by Homo Ludens and published by Curve Games, the game follows our player’s arrival into the desert city of Las Venas, where they are soon swindled into buying an old and failing casino from the prior owner. Now saddled with massive debt to both the government as well as the mob, the player must use their management and entrepreneurial skills in order to not only save their own hide, but to also build up their casino empire.
The game plays much like other simulation games like it, taking an omniscient role as the owner, being able to shape the casinos the player runs from a top-down view. The game offers a wide range of customization options, with the player being to run non-gambling games such as arcade machines, pinball, and darts, as well as games like blackjack and slot machines. The game focuses on managing the needs of the casino’s guests and making sure they are having fun is only a part of it. Customers need to drink enough refreshments, have enough areas to rest between playing, and a bathroom for when nature calls. Not only this, but the player is required to also cater to the guest’s aesthetic choices. For example, a VIP could really enjoy a sci-fi aesthetic, so the player can modify the casino to have more space-themed slot machines to compensate.
The game is also full of a lot of charm. Set in a fictional Las Vegas, all of the characters are portrayed by cutesy, chibi animals in a simplistically delightful medium. The game never gets boring to look at, and the game’s artstyle goes hand-in-hand with the game’s sound design and gameplay. This helps to make the game’s otherwise serious and sometimes gritty attitude seem all the more absurd in the best of ways.
However, the game suffers from a debilitating flaw, which is the game’s UI being a mess. When players interact with elements on the game’s screen, normally the game attempts to clarify what is being shown in a clear and concise manner. Blooming Business: Casino suffers with its UI elements because of a lack of clarity and its inability to convey information in a sensible way. For example, when the game is running through its first tutorial, the prior owner tells the player to open a menu in the entrance area and hit a button that says “open casino.” However, no such button exists, save for one titled “Permit Client Entry.” It doesn’t seem like a lot, but the game is full of these slight disconnects between the game’s instructions and the game’s UI layout. Without crystal clear clarity on what a player needs to do, then they will sit there, scratching their heads and possibly even stop playing due to a lack of understanding.
All in all, while the game’s art style and gameplay are solid and help give the game a good push in the right direction, the unclear instructions and messy UI cause Blooming Business: Casino to miss the landing. With some tweaks, this game could be really enjoyable, and perhaps a solid choice in high-quality simulation games. But without a flawless UI system not bogged down by confusing layouts and overly complex instruction, the game will fail to live up to what it is trying to accomplish.
SCORE: 7/10
Blooming Business: Casino releases tomorrow, May 23rd, for PC via Steam. You can wishlist it right now.
Related: Reviews by Matthew White
An avid gamer, Matthew is also an aspiring game developer. Because of this, Matthew knows not only what makes a game great, but also the hard work and artistry required to craft such a phenomenal experience.
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