I'm still working my way through Kairosoft games on the Steam Deck, and now it's Biz Builder Delux's turn! There is a little more strategy in this title with how you layout individual stores and how you choose to expand your empire. The concepts of most Kairosoft games remain. Manage your properties, become profitable, and expand.

Aside from working with multiple stores (e.g. burger shops, game stores, and more), you'll also invest in the town itself. Players work with the mayor of their chosen town to find more residents, basically zone land, and improve conditions for your stores.

You can design your stores, both inside and out, with more customization than Forest Camp Story. You'll give medals to high performing staff like heroes in Dungeon Village. You'll improve your staff and research new items similar to Pocket Harvest. Again, if you like Kairosoft this is going to feel good to play. It seems a bit more strategic than those titles, but not as restrictive as something like Venture Towns.

I've not beat the game yet, and this review is a tad earlier than usual for me. But my first impressions are good, and I'm going to enjoy my time with Biz Builder Delux.

Biz Builder Delux is another Kairosoft title using the business simulation template found in some of their other titles. Your goal is to create a successful empire and expand, defeating your rivals. Do you have what it takes to run a profitable business and outperform your rivals?


🟩 Pros:

+ Each store type feels unique
+ Staggered unlocks mean your wont progress faster than intended
+ Fast mode available from the very beginning, a much-needed addition to all Kairosoft titles

🟥 Cons:

- You cannot lose due to how much money you make
- I would have enjoyed custom colour pallets for stores

🏷️ Suggestions:

~ A more active overworld map, think blimps or planes, seeing a car or two, anything to really liven things up


Starting out, Biz Builder Delux gives you three business options - Food, fashion, or gaming. Being a food lover, you can guess which I chose… Gaming! Despite my love for food, my love for gaming is stronger.

Customisation options are plentiful, allowing you to design both the interior and exterior of your business. Despite running a gaming business, the colour schemes on offer made it look more like a colourful ice cream parlour. I don’t know if it was the bright colours, or all the plants and signs I placed outside, but the customers were rushing in!

I set up as many sellable items as I had in stock and surrounded them with as many items as I could to boost their attractiveness. As the customers entered, they didn’t know what hit them. Everything looked enticing and wallets were emptied without hesitation - My sales were booming!


Unfortunately, I ran into my first two issues - Keeping shelves stocked and keeping lines moving. I needed more staff and asap! I didn’t care who it was, what level they were, or what skills they had, I just needed workers pronto. Thankfully, my recruiter came back with four candidates.

I gave my new hires their own room and spruced up the back to keep things moving seamlessly. After a few levels, some items, and a heap of research, I had the funds to open up my next store. It was burger time, ladies and gents!

As a self-taught chef who likes to present their food as beautifully as possible, I knew exactly how I wanted to design my restaurant. I proceeded to fill every possible tile with seats, with nothing more than a snake like path for my customers to weave through. It was ugly, but boy was it profitable (capitalism has warped my mindset of what makes a good business)!

Outside of managing businesses, of which you can eventually set on autopilot when you begin shutting down rivals and unlocking managers, you also invest in the town you operate in. Citizens, businesses, and industry - The world is yours! Overall, it was an engaging loop, and I was hooked.

One thing I didn’t like about Biz Builder Delux was that it’s impossible to fail. I know, I know, Kairosoft games aren’t meant to be difficult and you’re not meant to lose (not easily at least), but here, I don’t think you can. See, when a rival defeats you, your business can stay up and running if you pay a small fee. The first time this happened my fee was $20,000, despite me earning tenfold.

What can I say? If you’re a fan of Kairosoft, Biz Builder Delux differs enough to keep you engaged. However, be warned it will ruin other business simulation titles as its scope is far, far larger. While I’ve not beaten the game yet, I have loved every minute of managing my business empire.

Follow BSR for more bite sized reviews.

Follow our curator page: IndieGems if you like and want to see more reviews like this one.

This is the most involved Kairosoft game I have played so far. This isn't a play it for a while and you're done, this takes a lot more work than that. You have to build up your stores, beat rivals, expand and upgrade your town, elect a mayor and raise their approval rating to get bigger and better stores and attractions, and you can even hunt for treasure. So far I'm enjoying it.

This is a pretty fun Business simulator with a lot of options. One of my favorite Kairosoft games so far!

Biz Builder Delux is probably one of Kairosoft's best games out of their entire library. It offers a ton of replayability, it's new game plus is probably one of the best in all of their games and you will have the option to play in "fast" mode from the very start, a feature I felt like most of their games needed.

It's also nice to see that Kairosoft has taken some of the complaints of their previous PC ports and made an attempt at fixing them. The mouse operates a little bit better than in previous STEAM editions.

With that being said there's still a lot of quality of life updates I feel that need to be addressed:

1. The audio is just crazy loud. I keep my sound at around 30% anyways and I had to turn the music settings down to a '1'.

2. We need the ability to change resolutions for these games. They were originally designed for mobile phones. As a direct result when trying to play on my 4K 72" monitor everything is huge and in my face. Zooming out helps a little bit but does nothing to change the size of the UI (which is huge).

3. Speaking of the UI, if you have a controller plugged in to your system the game has these giant pop-ups telling you what the buttons do. They are ugly and easily take up a big chunk of screen real estate. If you don't have a controller plugged in, those big ugly green boxes still remain. Let us turn this stuff off!

4. There should be a button somewhere on the screen that allows you to pause, slow down or speed up the game. It's like the developers have never played a simulation on the PC before.

5. Do something about the scroll wheel. The developers added support to use the mouse scroll wheel to scroll through menus but it's crazy fast and it doesn't stop at the top or bottom, so it'll just endlessly scroll.

This is a halfway decent port, but it feels like the developers have no idea what they're doing on the PC platform besides making some extra money. It doesn't feel like a ton of thought or consideration was put in to the final product.

Frankly the only reason why I considered buying this version was I got bored of the android version and wanted something I could easily cheat at. Outside of that one reason I personally believe people would have an overall better experience playing this game on mobile instead of on PC.

Kinda fun game, really make you keep playing for next several hours.

"Build your BIZ"

"Biz Builder Delux" by Kairosoft is a detailed simulation game where you can run your own series of shops and businesses. In simple terms, it's like becoming the boss of a little virtual world where you create and manage everything from tiny burger joints to big bookstores. Below is a simplified explanation of the gameplay:

Starting Out: When you begin, you select a type of store to open. You have options like a bakery, a comic store, or a sporting goods store. Think of what you might enjoy running most!

Building Stores: Once you've picked your store, you'll get to set it up. This involves designing the layout, deciding what products you'll sell, and hiring staff to help customers and keep the place running.

Managing Finances: You'll have a budget to keep an eye on. That means you have to be careful about how much money you spend on buying goods to sell, how you price your items, and paying your employees. If you spend too much without enough customers, you might run out of money!

Attracting Customers: To get people to visit your store, you have to make it appealing. This includes having a nice store design, good products, and promotions. Happy customers will come back and bring friends!

Upgrades and Expansion: As your store becomes popular and profitable, you can make it bigger, add new products, or even open new types of stores. The game has dozens of business types you can explore over time.

Research and Development: You can improve your goods and learn new things to help your store. This might include creating a tastier recipe for your bakery or a new type of yoga mat for your sports store.

Challenges and Competitions: Kairosoft games often have special challenges, and "Biz Builder Delux" is no different. You might find yourself competing against other virtual stores for the best sales. This adds some excitement to the game!

Town Growth: Your businesses contribute to the growth of the town. As your town grows, you unlock new possibilities and challenges.

"Biz Builder Delux" is part of a larger family of Kairosoft games that usually focus on managing some type of venture or team, but this game has its unique elements:

Multiple Business Types: While most Kairosoft games focus on running one type of business or team, "Biz Builder Delux" lets you manage a variety of stores and combine them into a single empire.

Complexity: This game is known for having a bit more depth in the management simulation compared to others. There are more variables to control and strategies to consider when running diverse business types.

Graphics and UI: The style is the 'signature cute pixelated look' that Kairosoft fans love, but each game often has slight variations in how things look and feel, making familiar mechanics fresh.

Community Interaction: In "Biz Builder Delux," the growth of your business and the growth of the town go hand in hand, which is a more connected approach to the simulation than some other games where the focus might be solely on your single entity.

Economy of Scale: This game allows players to reap the benefits of expanding to a chain of businesses as opposed to focusing on a single establishment, which adds a whole new level of strategy as you manage different aspects across multiple industries.

Remember, "Biz Builder Delux" is meant to be a fun escape into the world of virtual business, so while it can be challenging, it's also designed to be enjoyable and satisfying as you grow your business empire from the ground up.

---

One thing I always admire about Kairosoft games is their consistent visual style, and 'Biz Builder Delux' does not disappoint. The pixelated world is as endearing as ever, and I found myself again lost in the details of designing my own series of shops. The vibrant color palette and the familiar art style evoke a sense of nostalgia while also being inviting and pleasant to the eye. Each upgrade and expansion provides that delightful graphical payoff that fans like me have come to cherish.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3132701452

---

Audio in Kairosoft games is simplistic, but it's not a bad thing. Although main tune constantly playing can be hit or miss, in this particular title audio is fine and stays true to the Kairosoft formula: a breezy and upbeat soundtrack complementing the building experience, never overshadowing the gameplay but always enhancing it. The chirpy effects when customers make a purchase or a new shipment arrives have that familiar tone which, for me, is akin to meeting an old friend. No Kairosoft game is complete without those little dings and tunes that signal your growing success.

---

It's a real treat to see how Kairosoft continues to refine and perfect the simulation formula with each new entry. With 'Biz Builder Delux', they've managed to retain that nostalgic feeling while injecting enough new content to keep the experience engaging. The balance between management and creativity is finely tuned, providing a satisfying sense of progression that vets like me not only understand but crave in a simulation game. It's a Kairosoft through and through, right down to its core' and it's this familiarity that makes each new game a joy.

Being a Kairosoft aficionado, "Biz Builder Delux" for PC has been a blast: blend of the old and the new, and a testament to why Kairosoft games hold such a special place in my gaming library. It's a game that embodies simple joys, strategic craftsmanship, and everything that keeps me returning to their games time and time again. If you're a fellow fan, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about, and if you're not, you're in for a delightful introduction. Engage in this charming venture and watch the hours disappear!

Follow IndieGems for more reviews like this one.

Great game, deeper than you think, whit lots to do.