GolfTopia

It is honestly so fun how creative you can get with building holes. So much fun.

I'm in a bit of a waiting room for "Everybody's Golf Hot Shots" which releases in September, so was looking for a golf style game to scratch that itch. I've had this in my library since 2022 but never really gave it a good shot. In fairness, the UI is a little clunky in places and the game can look very daunting at first. However, once you do some investigating of the UI and put down one or two good looking holes after some planning, you get gripped and before you know it you've sunk a couple of hours in. I get Theme Park World vibes from this, a 90s/00s style game where you keep visitors happy. It's quite restricted in some ways with what you can do or build, but nevertheless i've made some creations I can be content with. Ultimately, there isn't really a market for this kind of game, so it's hard to say that it's market-leading or competitor-beating. That said, it's a decent little game and if you like golf style games this could be worth it for you on sale. Just be warned, while you can play your own creations and host tournaments, it really isn't a very functional or realistic golf-sim style mode - so don't expect to go in and finesse the courses. It's 99% a course building game and 1% a playing sim. Would recommend, it won't set the world on fire, but it'll give you something to do for a good few hours!

Golftopia is fun. The terrain tools are smooth and intuitive. Building holes and courses is a great time, and feels good. Golfers really do play your holes, and you can play them too. The game rewards you for creating variety from hole to hole, and overall it looks good. However, there's a lot here that just doesn't work. There is no campaign, only map generation, and it's not great. I tried to get variety in a water map, but the seeds all pretty much look the same. The futuristic aesthetic... kinda womps. I hate complaining about the theme here, but it's honestly bizarre. It feels like Top Golf had a big hand in deciding what kind of elements would be included, and it just doesn't work. There are "crazy devices" that alter your path shots and bounce your ball around and even teleport it. They are work great too, but the thing is I just don't want them in the game. The balance is also questionable. I started off creating a 3 par course on a tiny map, and the game just isn't balanced for anything other than a standard 18 hole course on a medium map. The revenue trickles in on standard mode. I had to leave the game on idle for hours to reach level 4 on my clubhouse, and that's not even the max clubhouse level. The gameplay could be smooth as butter, but the balancing makes it unenjoyable after a time. I found myself wishing I could just make pebble beach, instead of Retroland from the Jimmy Neutron movie. I will add this last caveat: the game was made by 2 people. That's dope. That doesn't make the game necessarily any more fun to play, but it does bring into perspective why the game is what it is. I think it's worth $20, but it's not going to be the only game you play for months. It's a quick ride, which is a disappointment in the tycoon genre.