Is Big Ambitions Worth It in 2026?
8/10
Three and a half years of Early Access turned a scrappy shop-management sim into a genuinely deep New York business RPG. The 1.0 build finally fills the late game with the Hamptons, a private driver and a rebuilt banking layer — but the first hour is still a rent-and-bus-fare grind that filters people out before the good part.
Pros
- ✅ 21 business types that actually play differently — retail, office, warehouse and factory each want different staff
- ✅ Supply chains are real: wholesalers, importers, an import price index and factories you build machine by machine
- ✅ 1.0 removed the most-complained-about systems (negative interest is gone) and added a Pricing Manager who reprices a whole neighborhood
- ✅ 13,571 Steam reviews sit at 93% positive, and Hovgaard shipped patch builds within days of every major update through Early Access
Cons
- ❌ Opening hours are a job simulator: you take a wage job, ride the bus and watch rent before any business is affordable
- ❌ Single-player only — multiplayer exists solely as an unofficial mod
- ❌ Hovgaard has never published profit tables, so 'which business earns most' is still community folklore rather than documented numbers
- ❌ The community wiki is largely stuck at Early Access 0.9, so a lot of the guidance you find online predates 1.0
Ready to jump in? Check the system requirements and the current player count first.