I was given a choice by @Naiboss to either play this game or be on the receiving end of a poke in the eye. Despite the fact that wearing glasses makes me fairly eye poke proof, I assumed there must be a reason for him to be so persuasive on the subject.  So keep reading to see what I thought!

About the game:
Game Dev Story is a mobile game about making games! It’s a 2D sim that has you as the player control a brand new game development company. To make cash you can either create content for others through contracts or your own original video games. Then you reinvest the money into more game development tools and skills for your employees. Ultimately the main objectives are to make fans, money and a super successful game franchise.

Game Dev Story is true to the real (ish) history of video games (1990-2010), so you can use your real world knowledge to know if a games console is going to flop or not!

What I liked:
Something that is often overlooked (and in fact is an option when developing games inside this game) is the simplicity of the game, you do not directly control the characters in the game, you just tell them what to do. This takes out the skill element but as this is a game that is on a phone you wouldn’t want it to be intense or else you might miss your bus stop… scratch that, you will miss your bus stop and before you know it you will be in the depot with the lights off – This game is incredibly addictive! It’s very hard to tear your self away once you get into your little CEO’s head. I lost an entire evening to it without even blinking and after speaking to some friends it seems that I am not alone.

What I didn’t like:
I was too engrossed at the time to note anything I didn’t like but looking back I want to say it’s very short? No, that’s ridiculous, I sank 16 hours into it and that’s more time than I spent on Dead Space 3...It just felt quick. What’s more important is that this game doesn’t “end” you just get a little message saying that its been 20 years since the company was founded and you are a rubbish/great CEO and that you can restart or continue to drift through faux reality…which isn’t a great payoff.

Overall:
Well..I wouldn’t recommend this game to anyone that is married, has children, commutes to work or feeds a cat. You can and will get sucked into the simple and addictive experience that is Game Dev Story and everything else will take a back seat. That said I will not be playing it again, not for a while anyway…

About Us

Welcome to Chaotic Good where we do our best to give you balanced and honest reviews, news and opinions of video, tabletop and RPG games, old and new.

We don't do this for fame or fortune, we do this because we have a passion for all sorts of gaming and like to share! Hopefully, somebody, somewhere, will find our content helpful or entertaining...

If you see anything you're unhappy about or have any questions about the site or the authors, please don't hesitate to get in touch.

Thanks for visiting!

~ Naiboss