The game so far is pretty barren. There are a few things you can do. You can build the mall, shops, and exterior (to include the parking lot). They can all be customized with about 10 different colors, but with any hue, saturation, and shade you want. You can even free paint sections. That is also where the play stops.

You have to press a button over and over to spawn guests. Though, I don't know how they can buy anything since there are not staff. You cannot hire any type of staff to work at the mall. There are no prices for any item during construction, Though, it wouldn't matter anyways since the only play mode available is sandbox. There are no dynamics to the game. Sure the guests wander about, but that is as far as it goes.

It would be better if the management system, business mode, and traffic from the road map were already implemented. They wouldn't have to be fully implemented, just to a degree that makes the game feel more like a simulator instead of a design studio. According to the road map, the management foundations will be in the game somewhere between now and the end of the year. Business mode will not be implemented until the last half of next year. Traffic will be sometime in 2025.

The game play is not intuitive. You have to select the entrance in order to add store items. I feel this should be in the construction menu instead. This would allow for people to make hybrid stores. Such as a store that does electronics as well as some electronic musical instruments. It would also allow people to make department stores. Unless it's a strip mall, I have never been in a mall that doesn't have a department store. Though making hybrid or department stores might be one of the new store types mentioned at every stage of the road map.

I can understand being able to click on a cash register to manage the store's finances, but this should also be able to be done by clicking the store entrance. If you want to edit/delete the store, you have to do that from the cash register as well, which seems like an odd place to do that at.

There are other minor nuances in the game, and others will pop up over time as the game gets more things implemented. So far, most of mine will be fixed in the road map, and some never will. After all, you can't make everyone happy. This game has a lot to improve upon and can end up being a decent game, it's just not there yet.

In gist, as it stands right now, this is more of a design studio than a simulator. If you like design studios, then feel free to buy this item, you might like it. If you are looking for a simulator, wait until the game has progressed before buying it to make sure it is heading in the direction you are comfortable with.

Edit: There is an updated review in the comments.

let me get straight to the point, you are buying a game here that is still in the absolute early stages of beta.
All the negative reviews you read are people expecting a nearly completed game.

The game is also modest in its price for this reason. You are not buying a finished game here, but a product in development. What you invest in to get a fully playable game in 1-2 years in return.

What do you get in return for your investment?

You have the opportunity to test the game and report bugs. But also the opportunity to give both positive and negative feedback on the development. Thus, if enough others share your opinion, you will help shape the game to your liking.

You are now investing a small amount of money, which in the long run will become a game priced significantly higher. These investments are unfortunately necessary to help independent developers make this kind of project a reality. What this niche is just ignored by the big studios.
So with this you are helping to make a game that has not existed since "Mall tycoon"....

Currently, expect a game that crashes often already, is far from finished and has little gameplay value. if this doesn't suit you, you can get the game cheaply now and wait a few months until the game is more playable.
I am an adult and have a full-time job in addition to children, so I also fall into the category that unfortunately has little time to help test.
But I do believe in this project.

The developer has been clear from the beginning what the status of the game is, what you can expect from it and what the schedule is for the future.
So you know what you are buying and what to expect. So buy the game at this stage only if, like me, you also believe in this project. But leave the game for now if you don't share this vision. That will save disappointment.

DO NOT believe the bad reviews. Yes its early access and there are things that need improved, but for its development state it is highly customizable! You could lay out the same design plan for 10 playthoughs and never have the same looking mall. After installing the game, load up the tutorial map and READ THROUGH it. it take 3 minutes to do so. Once your done reading, exit to the main menu and load a new game. Use New Opportunities, 80's Dream, or Sunny skies. The first thing you should do when loading one of these maps, click the "+" in the bottom right corner next to the camera icon. This is your floor control allowing you to build on top of existing floors and with the premade malls, begins to give you the idea of how customizable this game is.

New opportunities has 8 premade stores.
Add nothing and use the premade mall to see how much money you can make through advertising and item price adjustment. (Yes, you can control the individual prices of items in every store) Click dashboard button (bottom left), click the shops tab, click "details" for one of the shops, click details again at the bottom, click products at the top left, and finally click one of the products in the middle and a drop down will appear.

Sunny Skies has 4 premade shops and is setup for you to start adding new shops in whatever layout you choose.
Use this map to go crazy and see what you can create.

80's dream has the mall layout premaid and you just have to add stores.
I would use this map to make a compact mall within the pre-existing layout

Once you've play through two of these, go to the empty map and push your creativity the the max.

I expected this to to be a management sim. Seems like it release too early to be a sellable product. The video trailer talks about managing a mall, but that part doesn't exist yet. I will rebuy it later when it has some gameplay.

It's so extremely new. Has a lot of potential. Really can't wait to see what you do with it over the next few years. Can't build walls within walls, roof doesn't exactly line up with building-- you're able to place them anywhere. No real economy yet, which is the heart of a tycoon simulator. Would love to see some campaigns, more assets, more store types, custom store types, research component, marketing, disasters, scenarios. Will keep an eye out on the progress of this game!

I haven't had a chance to play a lot of this game but I noticed the lack of reviews and my want for a modern mall tycoon so I chose to support.

Please purchase this game if you want to support the development of a Mall simulation. But understand that its not a fully functioning game yet.

I will edit this review as I come across things:

- The lack of interactive tutorial makes it disengaging to start the game. I don't know how to build a mall and it took me a while to figure out the mechanics of the stores and even how to rotate objects.

- because of how confusing it was to build a mall from scratch and figure things out, I opted for the prebuilt.

- The lack of lighting drives me crazy. I'm not sure if I just couldn't find them or what, but I find this essential for a game like this.

- the customers wander aimlessly outside until something is build. There seems to be no reason to have a parking lot. I think a better approach would be making the parking lot essential and having customers physically drive into parking spaces before walking into the mall.

- The customers have no diversity or objective. They all act the same. Think about why people go to a mall and what their objectives are based on their personality, social status, familial status and whatever else. I would like to see a variety of customer types and have shop options associated with what they come to the mall to rather than "clothing". A person shopping at Louis Vuitton is not the same person shopping at H&M.

- Another thing to expand on my previous point is having a variety of shops, default styles, and how expensive those shops are. Maybe have a money sign indicator to decide how expensive the store is. Maybe have a way to decide who the target demographic is or have different themes. This is essential to create a somewhat realistic mall.

- the animations are very lackluster and I know this is complicated to achieve, but it is extremely important. The cashier should be moving around the counter, putting items in a bag or at the very least taking the customer's money. There should be animations of customers looking through products, talking to one another. Animations really are needed to make the mall feel somewhat real for this type of game.

- I have no way of seeing (at least to my knowledge) how customers are feeling about the mall. No needs. I also couldn't find where to build a food court or bathrooms. Both of which are needed for a mall. If they are in the game then there just needs to be an easier way to find them.

____________________________________________________

Please take this criticism as my way of supporting you and what you have created. I think these points will create the foundation of a much better mall simulation.

Don't buy this right now if you're looking for a full game, this isn't it. Buy it to support the developer!

I bought this to support the dev and help them finish this game!

After playing for over 11 Hours, my first impressions of the game are that this can be an incredible game if the dev is able to stick with it and keep adding more content. Even with only 5 store types available, the amount of products offered in each type make the combinations possible to have well over 40-50 stores, each with different specializations. And the customization options available for everything are incredible.

I can't wait to see what we will be able to create as more options are added.

Shows great potential. Its on a day 1 EA, so expect a few crashes every here and there. There are several features included already, but you can only build kinda like creator mode. Missing the economy component of the game. I'd suggest waiting a bit and see where it goes.

Game seems to be in a playable state other than that.

Right now thing are very bare bones: there's only 4 shop types, no food court options, the parking lots are just for decoration, there's not that many decoration objects in general, and overall it feels a little unpolished. But I do see a lot of potential here. I had fun putting together my own shops and building a cozy little mall with the few options I had, and the new economy and management system(s) set the ground work for all kinds of mall managing fun! Good luck to the one guy working on this right now, ya gonna go far kid (also sorry for being so critical at the beginning).