Yerba Mate Tycoon Reviews

It was one of the most boring games I've ever played. No matter how four hours I played, I put some effort into completing the achievements. We're selling a product and we cant see what we are selling. So there is no image of the product we sell. There is only one image of the man and the shop on the screen. The graphics were sweet. But still not worth playing. Boring.

this is better than I expected, much better than many higher priced tycoon games out there. It has a good tutorial, figuring out the tons of possible additives and what works well with what is a lot of fun, there are random events such as getting hacked, the game looks great, what with all the different packaging choices and a nice selection of company logos--it's little touches like that that say loud and clear that this game was made by someone who cared. It's very polished, easy to jump right into and play, and deeper than one might expect with options like research, hiring employees, messing with competitors, doing outside contracts for extra cash--lots of little things. I'm REALLY impressed by this game. Buy it.

Great game! it has some bugs or things that can be improved like the translations because is still an early access but is very good and has lot of potential. Also the game is very cheap. Congratulations to the developer!

In this innovative simulator, we take on the role of freshly reincarnated Walter Hartwell White, a man humbled by his past mistakes yet no less ambitious. Don't let appearances fool you. His new drug of choice does not seem as unhealthy or destructive as blue crystal but may turn out just as addictive. Will you assist him on his path to redemption and help him meticulously build a yerba maté empire from scratch, successfully hooking the world on this tealike beverage, or is he destined to fail? The choice is ultimately yours. It's maté on!

I didn't pay very much for this game, but it was still a disappointment. There is a lot of potential promised in the features but it doesn't really pan out. In one of the promotional screenshots you can see a "Yerba Creation Phase" screen where you can adjust circular sliders between taste / aroma / appearance. I initially thought that this would lead to a lot of creativity and allow the user to design yerba products however they want. However, if you want the product to come out good, you have to follow the game's recommendations. Not shown in the screenshot, but a little later in the game you see plus signs underneath those circular sliders. So for example, you might see taste / aroma / appearance with "++" against taste and "+" against aroma and appearance. The game is telling you that you need to set the sliders to 50%, 25%, and 25%. If you do that, the yerba product comes out great and you make money. If you deviate from that recommendation, the product comes out bad. What this means is that every time you create yerba you have a limited amount of creative agency like choosing additives, the name of the product, and packaging, but that's about it. The rest is just doing what the game tells you to do. After that all you really do is sit around waiting for numbers to go up. There are parts of the game that I didn't even use. For example, you can take out loans from the bank, but the gameplay is so basic and easy that I never went into debt, so the banking part of the game was completely unnecessary.

It was either this or two Guaymallén Alfajores. First off, I want to say that I really appreciate the developer making a game as niche as this. I never thought tycoon games would get as specific as focusing on a South American drink that's relatively obscure outside the continent save for a few countries. It's really clear that this was a passion project and that the dev really put time and care into Yerba mate Tycoon and genuinely likes working on it. The gameplay is very similar to Game Dev Tycoon in some aspects, but it introduces new gameplay aspects as well. The first ones that come to mind are the abilities to purchase rival companies and the fact that the process for making your Mate is more in depth than making your game in Game Dev Tycoon. The soundtrack is pretty upbeat, it's not the highlight of the game, but it adds enough so that the game doesn't get too boring. As for critiques, I'd say that, even though the gameplay is more in depth than Game Dev Tycoon (GDT), it does eventually fall into a gameplay loop of "Make the new mate, train workers, buy stock, repeat". In GDT you got to see your office expand more as you grew your company, and while that does happen here, all that changes is the background looking more like a store and your character getting older. In GDT you could see the whole office itself, along with each individual worker at their desks. Granted, you can have way more workers here than in GDT, [strike]but I wish there were more classes of this the workers could specialize in other than "researcher or regular worker" (if I'm wrong and there are more specializations then I'll gladly edit and correct the review).[/strike] and there are four specializations which they can belong to (leader, worker, marketer, researcher) and the dev plans to bring in more as he mentioned in the reply below. The other critique I have is that because the gameplay loop is so repetitive, you do eventually get bored with doing the same thing over and over again. The ability to buy stocks of other companies is a great idea and I hope that it'll get expanded upon. Basically, I want more things to do other than the previously mentioned loop of "Make the new mate, train workers, buy stock, repeat". I also think that each country could have a special ability and not just different starting stats. The dev is already doing this by giving Brazil the ability to make Chimarrao at the start, so that's cool. Nevertheless, it's very clear that the dev cares about his game and the criticisms people have against it, this can be clearly seen with the frequency he puts out updates. The game is solid so far, but it is still lacking because it's in early access, however, I feel like it can really improve in the future and be much better. I recommend that you buy it. It's cheap, fun, and a good game to play for a while after you finish work or over the weekend. [b]EDIT:[/b] The dev replied below, be sure to check his response :)

This could be one of the most annoying sound designs I've played in a game. You basically have to mute it, because even with the sounds at the bare minimum, it blasts terrible sound effects with everything you do at maximum volume. This feels like a 1 to 1 rip off of Mad Games Tycoon except as a coffee company. The "tutorial" is poorly explained and done. After 14 long minutes, even though I was on normal and my second product was getting 10/10 ratings, I had no interest in playing. The price really isn't a consideration for a game like this to me, but it's a cheaply made game with little frills. It's just not well done, whatever price it's sold at.

This game feels unfinished. It's hard to understand how it works, the results seem random every time. It's hard to progress and enjoy, especially as development seems to be stagnating. It's a shame!

Good for the price, I like experimenting with the percentages to try and get just the right blend. Some stuff is a little underexplained in it's current state, I'm currently trying to figure out what the + signs mean under the blend options. I think it means I have to adjust the percentages to account for it, but I'm still trial-and-erroring whether it means I need to put it up or down. I'm not sure what "Bad balance of stimulation and refreshment, refreshment and stimulation is not too low" means. If they aren't too low, doesn't that mean it's a good balance?

Overall 7/10 at the current price. I look forward to seeing where this game goes. This game has potential, but it seems early in development. The core game mechanic revolves around creating yerba mate blends, and functions similar to Game Dev Tycoon. Each production cycle you chose some options and try to find the right mix for the market. The products sell on the market for 8 months and either increase or decrease in sales based upon marketing and how well the market appreciates the current product. There are sliders where you adjust variables within each production cycle like taste, appearance, and aroma. There is some research that unlocks some additional options to add a bit more depth. The Good: + The main art style is fitting for this type of game + The core mechanic has potential for a good amount of expansion + It's entertaining to discover what works and what doesn't + Overall the music is decent The not so good (for now): - There is a mixing of art styles (character avatars, additives) that clearly don't match and are a bit jarring - At this time there isn't a lot of variance in the market, once you find the right percentage, just make more of that over and over forever to generate more fans and make ever increasing amounts of money, the challenge is lacking. Unless I'm missing something. - The employees don't seem to have much of a noticeable impact on things, I don't know if I need to train to higher levels or if I need more employees. It is unclear what the benefit of training or more employees does. Other: - The competitors don't seem to have a role for now, other than you can buy shares. There is a great opportunity to have them effect the market. - the stats screens and budget are a little lacking, it's hard to track what is and is not successful. Can I re-release a popular product once it comes off the market? Do they all last 8 weeks with no variation? What influences the reduction in sales? Where are taxes an tax rate displayed and what effect are they having on my revenue? Now I need to go buy some yerba mate so I can find out what this game is about and fix my products in the game.