Big Pharma

Assembly line game with minor approach to supply and demand management. There's too many things to focus on during this game, and it eventually becomes a chore. The core gameplay involves placing machines to adjust the concentration of ingredients to maximise cure strength and dodge side-effects. The machines are placed within randomised rooms, and there's a puzzle aspect in minimising your space while maximising your profits. And then there are research trees to access even stronger machines, or find more ingredients to create a portfolio of drugs while you compete against AI who has access to the same ingredients. I believe the UX could've been designed better too, it doesn't help that I have to watch an animation every time I tab between ingredients and cure paths, and can't easily access the next requirements for cures. Difficulty can be appreciated when having an assembly line game, but the biggest folly is the method of gameplay. There's either a sandbox mode, or timed challenges which are essentially the same game over and over again. Start over with the same basic equipment, research down the same tree, develop cures (which I don't believe change between runs) to achieve X profit/revenue/cured developed. It's not particularly fun to be timed when playing essentially a puzzle game, and failure means you have to repeat a ~4 hour run all over again. It doesn't feel good tearing down your early game assembly line in favour of future ones, but it especially doesn't feel good putting 4 hours into a run and then starting from the beginning again in the next challenge.

Pros: Fun process building Every game is different Getting a complex multi cure is very satisfying Good mix of space optimization and long term strategy. Cons: AI opponents are kinda dumb No real interplay with AI opponents. Patents are too restrictive. Maybe a little too easy. Overall, fun game. One I keep coming back to.

the rules for connecting and creating the supply chains are not explained, and the game gives you no way to see the results of a production without the production running, game has no planning mode and no respect for your time or patience. Play only with this understanding.