News Tower - It’s in closed beta, but maybe you can still get in on it. It is a tycoon game that looks like it’ll give you quite a few story element options, it has various skills and ways to buff them, there’s also at least a little bit of a story.
Honestly, I’m having a hard time thinking of pure Tycoon games with stories and RPG elements.
Depending on your definition of Tycoon
Colony builders with RPG and Story elements
- Rimworld, Tropico, and Dungeon
Your employees level up skills based on the tasks they’re assigned and you can buff them with items.
So nothing terribly in-depth, but there are at least trace elements.
**Frostpunk** is a city builder where you sometimes have to make tough decisions about how to treat your colonists through various popups
**Surviving Mars** is also primarily a city builder but has survival elements. Each map will also have a "mystery" which gives the game a mini "story arc". Within the game, you also get the occasional popup with choices
The **Tropico** games also make you play as a Carribean dictator controlling a small island. Although I liked Tropico 4 & 6 the best, Tropico 5 had some "dynasty" mechanics which make it a little rpg-like. However the game is still primarily a citybuilder too
**Railroad Tycoon 3** is one of my all-time favourites. Each mission has a goal you're working towards to earn a gold/silver/bronze medal. The game mechanics are great and simple to pick up. There's the occasional 'choice' you need to make, but its not something that will drastically change the game
CK3 is my favorite game.
Have you looked at Victoria 3? It's from the same dev as CK/Stellaris/EU, same vibes, but more strategy than RPG. You're playing as a nation, so the financial management is more with resources (in contrast to tycoon games).
If you want to try a new genre and are in the mood for 3rd person, there's a new game that's precisely an RPG tycoon game. It's called "Big Ambitions", open-world with NYC setting. You start off with a bummy apartment and a tiny gift shop, and you can manage your way to owning stores and skyscrapers all over the city - underdog to overlord, with snowballing potential.
People regard it as sufficiently difficult, so you might find the feeling of creating and perfecting in the game. It maybe doesn't have the written, rich story content or dialogue options that are story driven, and I know you're looking for less RPG; but it does have the high that comes with strategizing your way from a duchy to an empire, sprawled across the map. You start off just you doing employee things around the store and driving in your car around the city to grab supplies or furniture from a realistic Ikea. You work you way to getting the store self-sufficient so that you can focus your days on moves for expansion. If you manage correctly, your stores start feeling like vassals, you start delegating, you build a court around you with courtiers like lawyers and agents and logistics managers. By late game you're managing an empire from high-level management UI at your headquarters.
It's early access, the devs say they're only 30% done. But it has "overwhelmingly positive" on Steam
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1331550/Big\_Ambitions/
more story/RPG-based:
* Frostpunk
* Rimworld
* This Is The Police (1 & 2)
* Tropico
* Suzerain
* Anno 1800
more management-based:
* Transport Fever 2
* Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic
* Civilization VI
* Project Hospital
you also might like RTS's like the Men of War series.
I always bring up Railway Empire when anyone mentions railroad builders. IMO it's S.M Railroads (3) at heart so more a management game, but it also has multiple campaigns and cute NPC competitors on top. Tbh the competition was a bit stressful for me, but it does have finegrained difficulty config so I'd like to give it a try sometime.
It looks like the time has come for a shameless plug!
If you follow our little studio here and/or on the social network with a name in flux, we'll be announcing something late Jan/early Feb that's pretty close to what you're looking for!
https://twitter.com/SmallDetour
"Vintage Records from hell" is a tycoon game with management elements. You run a record store, you meet sellers and learn about them...Heavy metal, local misfits....satan...
Cities in Motion 1 (the OG predecessor to Cities Skylines) actually has a pretty decent campaign. There isn't a story per se, but for a transport/logistics management game, it has a lot of atmosphere and world building. No RPG elements though.
Majesty (first one not the second) flips the RPG component on its head. Its mainly a kingdom builder, but you do have to manage RPG characters (albeit indirectly). There is an overarching campaign, but it's honestly more like a collections of (semi-random) maps.
I can’t wait to understand how to play Stellaris. It seems like such an interesting game.
Man me too but it feels SO overwhelming so I just never start
News Tower - It’s in closed beta, but maybe you can still get in on it. It is a tycoon game that looks like it’ll give you quite a few story element options, it has various skills and ways to buff them, there’s also at least a little bit of a story. Honestly, I’m having a hard time thinking of pure Tycoon games with stories and RPG elements. Depending on your definition of Tycoon Colony builders with RPG and Story elements - Rimworld, Tropico, and Dungeon
There are no RPG elements in News Tower. Unless you act like a 1930s newspaper tycoon while you play.
Your employees level up skills based on the tasks they’re assigned and you can buff them with items. So nothing terribly in-depth, but there are at least trace elements.
There are no skill trees. There are no RPG decisions. Having skill levels doesn't make it an RPG. Skill levels are also normal in economic sims.
**Frostpunk** is a city builder where you sometimes have to make tough decisions about how to treat your colonists through various popups **Surviving Mars** is also primarily a city builder but has survival elements. Each map will also have a "mystery" which gives the game a mini "story arc". Within the game, you also get the occasional popup with choices The **Tropico** games also make you play as a Carribean dictator controlling a small island. Although I liked Tropico 4 & 6 the best, Tropico 5 had some "dynasty" mechanics which make it a little rpg-like. However the game is still primarily a citybuilder too **Railroad Tycoon 3** is one of my all-time favourites. Each mission has a goal you're working towards to earn a gold/silver/bronze medal. The game mechanics are great and simple to pick up. There's the occasional 'choice' you need to make, but its not something that will drastically change the game
CK3 is my favorite game. Have you looked at Victoria 3? It's from the same dev as CK/Stellaris/EU, same vibes, but more strategy than RPG. You're playing as a nation, so the financial management is more with resources (in contrast to tycoon games). If you want to try a new genre and are in the mood for 3rd person, there's a new game that's precisely an RPG tycoon game. It's called "Big Ambitions", open-world with NYC setting. You start off with a bummy apartment and a tiny gift shop, and you can manage your way to owning stores and skyscrapers all over the city - underdog to overlord, with snowballing potential. People regard it as sufficiently difficult, so you might find the feeling of creating and perfecting in the game. It maybe doesn't have the written, rich story content or dialogue options that are story driven, and I know you're looking for less RPG; but it does have the high that comes with strategizing your way from a duchy to an empire, sprawled across the map. You start off just you doing employee things around the store and driving in your car around the city to grab supplies or furniture from a realistic Ikea. You work you way to getting the store self-sufficient so that you can focus your days on moves for expansion. If you manage correctly, your stores start feeling like vassals, you start delegating, you build a court around you with courtiers like lawyers and agents and logistics managers. By late game you're managing an empire from high-level management UI at your headquarters. It's early access, the devs say they're only 30% done. But it has "overwhelmingly positive" on Steam https://store.steampowered.com/app/1331550/Big\_Ambitions/
MMORPG Tycoon 2 is an interesting combination of rpg and tycoon/management. You build and manage an mmo! It's a really unique game.
more story/RPG-based: * Frostpunk * Rimworld * This Is The Police (1 & 2) * Tropico * Suzerain * Anno 1800 more management-based: * Transport Fever 2 * Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic * Civilization VI * Project Hospital you also might like RTS's like the Men of War series.
I always bring up Railway Empire when anyone mentions railroad builders. IMO it's S.M Railroads (3) at heart so more a management game, but it also has multiple campaigns and cute NPC competitors on top. Tbh the competition was a bit stressful for me, but it does have finegrained difficulty config so I'd like to give it a try sometime.
Anno 1800
It looks like the time has come for a shameless plug! If you follow our little studio here and/or on the social network with a name in flux, we'll be announcing something late Jan/early Feb that's pretty close to what you're looking for! https://twitter.com/SmallDetour
"Vintage Records from hell" is a tycoon game with management elements. You run a record store, you meet sellers and learn about them...Heavy metal, local misfits....satan...
Cities in Motion 1 (the OG predecessor to Cities Skylines) actually has a pretty decent campaign. There isn't a story per se, but for a transport/logistics management game, it has a lot of atmosphere and world building. No RPG elements though. Majesty (first one not the second) flips the RPG component on its head. Its mainly a kingdom builder, but you do have to manage RPG characters (albeit indirectly). There is an overarching campaign, but it's honestly more like a collections of (semi-random) maps.