Startup Panic Image
Metascore
65

Mixed or average reviews - based on 4 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
3.7

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 6 Ratings

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  • Summary: Quit your job and build an exciting startup! Survive the tech bubble, compete with rival CEOs and expand your office from bedroom programmer up to the heights of global corporate sabotage! As long as you don't get hacked... or kidnapped...
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 4
  2. Negative: 0 out of 4
  1. Jan 20, 2022
    80
    Startup Panic is a smart, fun game that’s almost dangerously engaging. When business is booming, it’s difficult to pull away, especially as the revenue starts to creep up. When business is bad, there’s that “one more game” mentality as the player endlessly crafts more features, completes contracts and makes marketing decisions to boost revenue and user numbers. It’s not a one-to-one comparison of what it’s like to be the CEO of a new tech company by any means, but it is a glimpse into that lifestyle - just pixelated and much, much less stressful.
  2. Feb 1, 2022
    65
    For the most part, Startup Panic is clean, competent, and amusing. I wish I could say more than that about it, but I don’t feel like the game goes in hard enough on its premise. It’s fine if you’ve been looking for a new company-tycoon title (particularly one that does not involve you developing video games), but if what you’re looking for is biting satire of capitalism, it doesn’t commit hard enough to being that, and that wasted potential is what’s left me struggling to find anything to say about it.
  3. Jan 24, 2022
    60
    An endearing and smartly written business management sim with depth that transcends its mobile origins, but pacing issues that betray them.
  4. Jan 25, 2021
    55
    Startup Panic is fun for its first few hours, but tails off quickly. It’s cute art and music will keep you interested, but once you stop playing you are unlikely to return to this office.
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 4
  2. Negative: 3 out of 4
  1. Jun 6, 2021
    5
    It's fun and interesting for a while, then to me just turned into a 'send your employees on vacation' simulator. You end up spending more timeIt's fun and interesting for a while, then to me just turned into a 'send your employees on vacation' simulator. You end up spending more time on vacation than working it seems. So I wanted to play further, but it just got too tedious / boring because literally you're just making money to send people on vaca. The idea is interesting but follow-thru in reality was a miss for me. Expand
  2. Dec 19, 2020
    2
    tl;dr: Decent game but needs polish and has game-breaking bugs.

    Its a cute game and you can tell it is a labor of love. It has many great
    tl;dr: Decent game but needs polish and has game-breaking bugs.

    Its a cute game and you can tell it is a labor of love. It has many great features that other similar games do not. There are also certain aspects of the game that need to be balanced and polished. For example, negative events seem to appear right when the game knows you are doing good financially. These aspects seem unfairly punitive and not random at all like they would be in real life. What if instead you made them rarer and more random to appear genuine; and you make the economics and management aspects of the game harder to balance the game's difficulty?

    Overall I would say it is fun, however, that is until you run into the game breaking bugs. For example, there is a quest (non-optional "objective") that is forced on you. You have to get all of your feature ratings above 7, which I did. However, the game still ended for me. Why?! All those hours I put into my startup up until that point are now gone! These sort of game-ending events remind me of a time when games had no 'save' functionality and should have no place on the management/simulation genre today. At least make game-ending objectives optional and disclose that failure will result in a game over. Or here is a noble idea.. make it so that when you DO fulfill the requirements of said objectives your game doesn't end!

    Its almost as if I'm playing the DEMO version of the game and that is the point at which you are kicked off and prompted to buy the full version. But guess what? I paid full price.
    Expand
  3. Dec 9, 2020
    2
    Game is full of bugs. There is a part where you have to achieve a 7 rating at least on all your features otherwise it's Game Over. I made sureGame is full of bugs. There is a part where you have to achieve a 7 rating at least on all your features otherwise it's Game Over. I made sure everything was well above 7. But still got a Game Over. No communication from the devs, they completely ignored this bug report. Expand
  4. Jan 28, 2021
    1
    was fun at first but this game constantly punishes your for playing. Every time you make progress the game throws 10 more problems at you andwas fun at first but this game constantly punishes your for playing. Every time you make progress the game throws 10 more problems at you and put you into a death spiral. Clearly an unfinished game and not balanced well at all. Expand