“We read the weird tales in newspapers to crowd out
the even weirder stuff inside us.”
-Alain de Botton

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Newspaper management simulator News Tower hits 1.0.

It is a great day for anyone who has ever been curious about what it takes to make a newspaper. From investigating and writing the pieces to setting the pages and running the latest edition, there are a lot of moving parts that go into getting a paper out into the world. It is the perfect kind of career for a management sim. It has been done before, but based on reviews, it is questionable whether it has been done well before. With the 1.0 release of News Tower, that question goes out the window.

Set in 1930s New York City, your deceased father and still-alive-and-in-debt-to-the-mob uncle have left you a ramshackle, single-story newspaper plant. You have some money in your pocket, but it will not last long in the big city. With the few staff members you have left, it is your job to rejuvenate the old paper, hunt down scoops, and sell as many issues as possible. Luckily, you only print one issue a week, Sundays, so you have time to prep before the next issue is due. Time goes fast, though, so keep an eye on the clock and make sure your team is making the most of every hour.

Look and Feel

News Tower does not aim for hyper-realism in its visuals, and that works to its benefit. There are many things needed to run a newspaper business and keep your team happy, from the team members themselves to their desks, water coolers, noise dampeners, plants, and of course, the huge noisy printers. Simple visuals mean nothing gets lost in clutter. You are never hunting for where you put that small potted plant in a room or trying to find where your unhappy typesetter is hiding. Have you checked the toilets? It does not feel empty either, with plenty of decorations that give your office a pop of color and inspiration to your team.

Fitting for its 1930s setting, News Tower plays cozy classic jazz in the background. When you are focused on getting reporters out to the big new story, making sure you have enough paper to print, and keeping your employees happy, you do not want to be distracted by stressful music. Honestly, the soundtrack is relaxing enough that I could just keep it on and vibe without even playing. Luckily, there is also a fun game attached to it.

Time is Money

News Tower follows a standard tycoon-style management format. You start with a small building and the most basic tools needed to run a paper. With the guidance of your father’s former secretary, you learn the basics of hiring, expanding, outfitting, and printing a weekly paper. After a few weeks of tutorial, you are left on your own to use the tools and knowledge you have been given to make the best paper possible. With the release into 1.0, you have all of the 1930s to climb to the top of the newspaper mountain.

If you are like me, the biggest challenge in management sims and tycoons is time management. The days go by quickly, and there is so much to do. There are journalists to send around the US and Europe, typesetters to keep fed, watered, and sane, typewriter paper to restock so your articles can be written, new floors to expand into, new pages to add to the paper, and so on. Thank god for the pause button. It is your best friend. When things get overwhelming, you can take as much time as you need to reorganize, straighten things out, and try to make the paper work.

Money is also Money

No matter how overwhelming the flow of time can feel, you do not have to worry about missing the deadline. If you have an article that is just about to finish, you can run right up to the end of day Sunday. Then the game will pause itself, giving you time to set up your printing job and get the paper out. It may not be glamorous, but done is done, and paid is paid, and you desperately need to get paid. In the early game, you will probably take many loans, legitimate ones from a bank, not like your uncle, to cover the costs of keeping the lights on.

Each week, there are extra challenges you can apply to your paper for more cash and other benefits. Your readership is a huge area, with many neighborhoods looking for specific kinds of articles, such as sports and entertainment. You can pick one a week to satisfy, as well as one faction quest, such as appeasing the mob by not printing politics for the week. It may seem skeezy, but the money is good. You will also end up competing with other papers, defending your reputation and capturing the loyalty of the locals.

The News Doesn’t Sleep

As I said at the beginning, News Tower is not the first newspaper tycoon sim, but it may be one of the best. With two years in early access and plenty of feedback from early adopters, the developers worked hard to mold the game into something players love. Add in the pre-war, Depression-era setting, and you have a world often unexplored by games. It may not be perfectly realistic. It is the Great Depression, so would a bank really loan me four thousand dollars without question? But it is unquestionably enjoyable.

It is also endlessly replayable, with multiple towers to unlock, four factions to work with or against, and even leaderboards to climb if being the best is your thing. This one is no one-and-done. You will be here a while if you are the type who likes to see everything a game has to offer.

Final Thoughts

All told, I am not much of a tycoon player. I get overwhelmed when there is a lot to juggle and track. It takes a really good game to hold my attention in the genre. If I have not made it clear enough already, News Tower is a very good game. The early game feels like a lot to juggle, and the days go faster than you would think, but with enough time to focus and learn all the intricate details behind running the paper, it becomes a fantastic puzzle that feels satisfying to solve.

Special thanks to Sparrow Night and Twin Sails Interactive for supplying us with a copy of News Tower for this critique.