News Tower Preview

During Steam Next Fest, News Tower caught my attention, so when the opportunity to play it in Early Access arrived, I was excited. I enjoy tycoon games, and considering the added element of being in charge of a 1930s news publisher, well, I was intrigued.

In News Tower, your uncle has requested that you help him run the newspaper, which you can name. Naturally, I had to choose The Daily Bugle because I needed to embrace my inner J. Jonah Jameson. Upon arriving, I noticed that I had a reporter and a telegrapher, and several of my items had been destroyed by debt collectors. Thus begins the tutorial.

Using your telegrapher, you can pick news stories from around the country, and then you need to send a reporter to go out and research. Reporting will take a few hours, so it’s best to hire a few extra hands to cover as many stories as possible. Of course, remember that their comfort is important, so add some home comforts, a water cooler, and some toilets, or you’ll find that your employees will be less than pleased.

With additional quests, it’s crucial to remember that there will be some topics that you won’t have discovered yet, so you need to think about what quests to take. For example, I accepted a quest from the Mafia requiring me to write about the Mafia, but I hadn’t actually unlocked the topic yet; this was absolutely my bad, and it’s why you should always take these warnings into account.

You can add more pages to your newspaper with a printing press and, specifically, a page model. Worried you can’t afford it? Don’t worry! Take out a loan! Just make sure you write some good-quality work and remember to give your employees some privacy and keep them away from the printer. That thing is loud.

Much like any publishing house, time management is essential. Remember to keep track of what day it is because you don’t want to send someone out to report only to find that it’s become old news after you missed the Sunday printing deadline. This will take some time to get used to, but always select a nice mix and match of articles, and you should be fine.

Considering how much I’ve played it, I know that I’ve barely scratched the surface of what I’ll find in News Tower. There’s so much to do, and there’s so little time to get everything done. So, it will take some trial and error to print the best that you can. In my case, it’s taken a few loans and an effort to ensure my offices don’t cause a revolution.

While keeping your reporters and telegraphers happy is important, naturally, but don’t forget about the other important roles that keep the office humming, it’s not only the reporters and telegraphers who make the office. You’ll need cleaners to keep the building maintained and mechanics to keep an eye on that printing press. The last thing you want is for that printing press to break, especially when you have a Sunday deadline.

Like all tycoon games, there is a little bit of a learning curve to get to grips with what you can and can’t do. I found that I had to remember the different signs to find what I needed to purchase in the office. There are only small icons, so it can make it slightly challenging, especially when you want to ensure you manage your time well.

While it can seem like a great idea to shove everyone on the same floor at first, it can get crowded. So, remember to add some more floors as you go, or else your employees will do sloppy work, and you won’t be able to hand it in. If you’ve got two pages already, then trust me, there’s nothing worse than when you only have one unfinished page when you have two available.

Overall, fans of the tycoon genre will surely enjoy News Tower, and I know for a fact I’ll be keeping an eye out for any updates. I appreciate the challenge of the quests, and the soundtrack is a nice jazzy affair, which is perfect for the era.

So, why not try it out for yourself? You can see just how much Sparrow Night enjoys the genre, and there’s plenty available for you to do as you experience the core gameplay experience.