Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

SimCity Societies: Destinations brings a fresh layer of strategy to the base SimCity Societies experience by turning your city into a bustling tourist magnet. Rather than simply zoning residential or industrial plots, you’ll focus on crafting unique visitor experiences that appeal to five distinct tourist archetypes: Family Fun, Adventure, First Class, Religious Retreat, and Forced Relaxation. Each group arrives with its own wishlist of attractions, services, and atmosphere, pushing you to strike a balance between thrill rides, luxury accommodations, spiritual retreats, and relaxation zones.

The expansion adds over 100 new buildings that broaden your toolkit for city planning. From whimsical theme-park rides and serene meditation gardens to upscale resorts and adrenaline-pumping zip lines, every structure plays into the needs of a particular tourist class. You’ll need to monitor satisfaction meters, fine-tune placement for maximum effect, and invest in policies—such as marketing campaigns or eco-friendly certifications—to boost your appeal across multiple demographics.

Special Sims make a comeback in this expansion, each offering unique boosts or challenges for your budding vacation hub. Whether it’s a celebrity chef demanding a gourmet district or a renowned yogi seeking a quiet sanctuary, these characters add unpredictable twists that keep the gameplay dynamic. Achievements and a brand-new scenario provide clear goals, guiding you from an unremarkable getaway to a world-renowned five-star destination.

Graphics

While SimCity Societies has always favored a colorful, accessible art style over photo-realism, Destinations takes visual flair to a new level. Tourist buildings come alive with animated guests lounging by pools, families squealing on water slides, and luxury travelers sipping cocktails on rooftop terraces. These small touches create an immersive sense of place that reinforces the city’s role as an entertainment mecca.

The five tourism archetypes each carry a distinct visual identity: candy-colored rides for Family Fun, rugged stone pathways and rope bridges for Adventure, sleek glass facades and gold-trimmed balconies for First Class, tranquil gardens for Religious Retreat, and floating pods for Forced Relaxation. This diversity ensures that your city never feels monotonous, encouraging you to explore new layouts and combinations of attractions.

Environmental effects—such as sunset glows over beachfront resorts, fog drifting through meditation parks, and dynamic lighting in nightclubs—add depth to the cityscape. Even the user interface receives a tourism-centric makeover, with intuitive icons and tooltips that streamline the process of managing visitor satisfaction and revenue streams.

Story

Although SimCity Societies isn’t driven by a linear narrative, Destinations introduces a thematic arc through its new scenario mode. You begin as the architect of a quiet, undiscovered town with humble amenities. As you satisfy early tourists, word-of-mouth publicity transforms your locale into a budding hotspot. From there, the story unfolds organically based on which archetypes you cater to most heavily.

Your city’s “story” is told through the evolving skyline, visitor demographics, and special events triggered by achievement milestones. For instance, drawing enough Family Fun tourists might unlock a summer music festival, while catering to Religious Retreat seekers can bring a high-profile spiritual leader to town. These narrative beats provide satisfying milestones that motivate continued growth.

Special Sims also contribute to the storyline by presenting mini-quests or moral dilemmas—should you build a high-speed roller coaster that compromises green space, or preserve an urban forest to maintain your eco-friendly reputation? These decisions echo throughout your city’s development, giving each playthrough a unique trajectory.

Overall Experience

SimCity Societies: Destinations feels like a natural evolution of the base game, offering both depth and variety for veteran players while remaining accessible to newcomers. The emphasis on tourism injects new life into familiar city-building mechanics, encouraging you to rethink zoning, resource management, and citizen satisfaction through the lens of hospitality and entertainment.

Despite the expansion’s focus on leisure and luxury, there’s a satisfying strategic core at play. Balancing budgets, satisfying multiple tourist needs, and optimizing land use demand thoughtful planning. The inclusion of policies, achievements, and Special Sims ensures that you’re always presented with fresh challenges and rewards.

In the end, Destinations succeeds at transforming your sandbox city into a dynamic vacation playground. Whether you dream of running a glittering seaside resort, an adrenaline-fueled mountain retreat, or a serene spiritual sanctuary, this expansion provides the tools and motivation to bring that vision to life. For anyone looking to add a colorful, goal-driven twist to SimCity Societies, Destinations is a compelling and rewarding choice.