Dream Park Story

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 62 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. And then there’s a template that has you managing not employees but members of a sports team, something we first saw in Grand Prix Story.

Dream Park Story originally released on mobile devices in 2021, then received a port to PC and Nintendo Switch in 2023, then to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in 2025. This is a game that fits in that second “cater to guests” category, with players building their theme park to attract guests and sell tickets and concessions.

I’ve been reviewing Kairosoft games mostly chronologically, though I’ve deviated on occasion, and I’m honestly surprised it took them this long to create an actual theme park game (by my count, this is the 65th game they’ve released). However, they may have been holding off on making it until they got it right, because they actually did a superb job here.

Oh, don’t get me wrong, the game has the usual “Kairosoft jank” as I’ve taken to calling it. There are odd creative choices and limitations – things like prices and employee wages are set automatically rather than something you determine, as per usual for Kairosoft and running counter how most games like this work. You also need to get used to odd things like needing to click on sidewalk tiles to build concession stands, bathrooms, and drinking fountains, unlike other items that are built using the standard menus. However, this is otherwise a surprisingly solid take on the formula set into place by games like Theme Park and Roller Coaster Tycoon.

Players get free reign to determine their park layout, with some rides taking up a predetermined amount of space while others like roller coasters can be expanded to snake around a path of your choosing, and dipping up and down as you please. The options here are simple compared to most other games of this type – you won’t be crafting roller coasters that loop into, through, and around one another. However, there’s an argument to be made that the simplicity makes this game a bit more accessible.

Apart from my usual Kairosoft complaints, there is one other issue I have with Dream Park Story, and that is pacing, which is wildly uneven. Sometimes while playing the game I find myself struggling to reach the next milestone, while other times I find myself getting an avalanche of messages about new things I’ve unlocked and goals I’ve completed, all at once. It definitely feels like this game’s progression curve could stand to be a bit smoother.

As for the presentation, this is in line with what we’re used to from Kairosoft. As I mentioned above, this game makes use of Kairosoft’s signature presentation style using simple retro-styled pixel art visuals (here presented in an isometric overhead view perspective), paired with upbeat synthesized music that’s a tad repetitive but also oddly catchy. For the most part, 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, Dream Park Story is one of my favorite games to come out of Kairosoft, and while it has some rough edges here and there I think this is a solid theme park Management Simulation. If you enjoy this genre and don’t mind a take on this style of game that’s a tad out of the norm and somewhat simplified, Dream Park Story is absolutely worth checking out.

tl;dr – Dream Park Story is a Management Simulation where players manage a theme park, and while this game bears developer Kairosoft’s usual eccentricities and simplified elements, this is overall a superb take on the genre that gives players a lot of options and freedom to create their own dream theme park. If you enjoy this style of game, this is absolutely worth checking out.

Grade: B+

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