Snowtopia is a tycoon game that feels like a cool breeze

Back when mags were in their heyday, I had a brilliant idea that I wish I could have seen make it to the newstands. Fake Snowboarder Magazine. Everything that I loved about snowboarding - the setting, the sense of speed and freedom, the travel, the having hot chocolate near a mountain. Just none of the faff of actually doing it.

Sometimes I feel a bit like that about skiing games. I love SSX and all that, but what I really love, I think, is that these games give you not a set of levels but an entire mountain range. In Steep - which is wonderful - I love leaving the slopes behind and pulling out to this huge wall of ice and rock, fabulously rippled and crenellated. I love mountains but I hate broken legs. What to do?

Snowtopia has spoken to me. I have been playing this game all week. It's a ski-slope tycoon game that's currently in a gorgeously slim alpha. It is also a lovely breath of crisp, chill breeze. It ruffles delightfully.

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