Academia: School Simulator is basically what would result from Prison Architect being in a school setting rather than a prison. In fact, the reason they look so alike is because they are both by the same artist. That is not a bad thing either, as I quite enjoy this art style.

So this game is set up like any other “tycoon”-esque game, slowly building up one’s school from a single classroom to a large campus of dozens of classrooms. As this is in early access, there is not a whole lot to do once all of the grants have been achieved, with the last one I earned being the 300-student grant, earned for having at least 300 students. At that point I had been playing for about three hours, so it takes about that much time to clear all of the goals the game provides. Once past that point, it is just a cycle of adding the same facilities over and over to increase the school’s size.

As such, I would definitely wait for more content to be added to the game, as I cannot see myself returning until there is substantially more content, more goals to look forward to past the 300 student mark. It was fun designing the school, adding decor, hiring staff, etc. but there is not much beyond that. So while I do like the game, I would still recommend waiting.

You can buy Academia: School Simulator here on Steam.

I was provided a free review copy of the game. Read more about how I do my game reviews here.