The original two Rollercoaster Tycoons might be the pinnacle of “indie” games - basically designed by one guy with a computer. What’s even more impressive about Chris Sawyer’s design is how layered and complex it is behind the scenes, but how simply it presents the player with the stats that they need to know. The sheer amount of variables playing into the ratings of the rides is deeply impressive, and by hiding those calculations the game is able to present itself as a true simulation of real-life physics and what people enjoy.

The original is still my favorite thanks to its progression system - having to play scenarios to unlock more scenarios would have greatly helped Rollercoaster Tycoon 2, which gives too many options straight away.

Perfect moment-to-moment gameplay and wonderful world design that is slightly held back by an inherently flawed progression system.

Shrines are mostly a mistake in the end - some very fun puzzles to be had, for sure, but by the end of the game (especially if trying to do every single one) you are so completely inured to the shrine aesthetics that it becomes rote and you’re ready to just be done with it all. The shrines also hurt the open world by providing far too many fast travel locations - all of this work went into designing a fully fleshed-out open Hyrule, but players are only going to see most of the world one time before finding the nearby shrine and just fast-traveling in and out for the rest of the run. This also renders horses fairly pointless (a common problem with the series).

A progression flaw that is more up to personal taste is how the weapons are breakable - I know this has its defenders but in my opinion it only has the effect of making the player avoid what would otherwise be fun combat encounters, or it prolongs easy encounters because the player does not want to use up a good weapon on some basic enemies.