Shiny Ski Resort

Genre: Management Simulation

Players: 1

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Review:

Without a doubt the most prolific developer and publisher of Management Simulation games on Nintendo Switch is Kairosoft, who specializes in games with a retro-style isometric pixel art style, often with the word “Story” in the title. As of this writing, Kairosoft has released 61 games on Nintendo Switch, most of them Management Simulations.

After their earlier games, Kairosoft had established a few templates for their Simulation games that later games would largely follow. Game Dev Story established a Simulation-style game more focused on managing employee time and focus, Hot Springs Story established a Simulation style in line with Theme Park Simulators where you try to cater to guests’ tastes to maximize attendance and income, and Epic Astro Story established a Simulation style akin to games like Sim City, where you’re building out a town or settlement.

Shiny Ski Resort originally released on mobile devices in 2017, then a port to PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch in 2020, then to PC in 2022, and to Xbox One in 2024. And this is one of the “cater to guests” sort of Kairosoft games, with players building and managing a ski resort, both inside the establishment and on the actual slopes themselves.

There’s a lot to like in Shiny Ski Resort, and it’s clever to basically split this game in half, with one half being focused on facilities management, and the other being about clearing out the terrain, installing ski lifts, and making the area as conducive to skiing as possible. And to further tie these two halves into a greater whole, clearing out terrain on the slopes collects resources that can be used to research additional facilities for your resort.

However, this game once again sees the return of a common problem in Kairosoft games, where it just isn’t clear what everything actually does or how to improve it. How much room do skiers need to have a clear path to ski on? Which facilities can guests walk through and which are impassable? Heck, the game doesn’t even indicate which facilities are indoors-only and which are outdoors-only.

As I mentioned above, this game makes use of Kairosoft’s signature presentation style using simple retro-styled pixel art visuals, paired with forgettable chiptune music and simple sound effects. Apart from the music, everything about this presentation is really endearing, though by this point we’ve seen more or less the same thing in numerous other Kairosoft games.

Overall, Shiny Ski Resort is mostly a decent take on Kairosoft’s formula that has some good ideas to set it apart, but it’s disheartening that Kairosoft still hasn’t upped their game when it comes to making their titles more accessible and more easily-understood. Fans of Management Simulations may find this to be a solid take on the genre, but newcomers to the genre may find themselves feeling perplexed by this one.

tl;dr – Shiny Ski Resort is a Management Simulation where players manage their own ski resort, both managing the indoors facilities as well as gradually expanding their slopes and making them more enticing for skiers. This split focus is an interesting take on the genre that helps to set this game apart, but Shiny Ski Resort unfortunately suffers from Kairosoft’s usual lack of clarity. Overall this is still a solid entry in the genre, but not a welcoming one for newcomers.

Grade: B-

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