Big Ambitions: An Early Access Game That Could Reshape The Genre

Every once in a while, a game will come along that has the strength in both concept and execution to completely revitalize a genre. For example, recently Stardew Valley did this for the farming simulator and Rogue Legacy did this for the roguelike. Big Ambitions has the potential to do this exact thing for the life and business simulator genre based on the strength of this early build alone, especially if the game grows from this point into something bigger.

Big Ambitions has two modes, though someone first starting out should probably start with the story over the sandbox mode so they can get the hang of the controls and interfaces. The story has your character meet a long-estranged uncle at a funeral and he offers to take you under his wing to help you learn how to become a business mogul. You start living in an apartment and working at a grocery store and work yourself up to owning multiple properties and businesses to make more and more money.

In this way, Big Ambitions kind of works as a cross between The Sims and an intensive business simulator where the player has all the options to build a business empire at their disposal while also having the systems to keep their player alive through needs to sleep and eat. There is a car that players can use to traverse the reasonably large map and there is very little lag between entering a building and the rest of the world. On a technical level, this game functions perfectly within the systems defined in this early build. If there is a complaint to be had, it would be that for some reason walking is controlled via point and click (think The Sims
where the player selects a point on the map to walk to with the mouse) while when one is driving with the car it controlled with the arrow keys when both should just be controlled the same way.

The business simulating controls are intuitive and easy to use. While there are a lot of menus to keep track of, they are easy to find and keep track of so even if one steps away from the game, it is easy enough to pop back in without skipping a beat. There is a wide variety of buildings and customization options, as well as the ability to expand the playable character’s abilities without taking up a bunch of real-world time. The fast-forward/time travel abilities are a welcome addition to a game like this that is just baked into the innate gameplay in a way that does not feel like the experience is being short-changed.

As the game is right now, it is a fun exploration of a city where one can build a business empire in a very hands-on way that other games have not done. As the game is now, it is a good value for the retail price, however hopefully at full release, there will be additional features that could elevate this into something truly special that could create some legitimate competition within the life and business simulator genres.

Final Rating: 9.5/10