Tropico 6 publisher delays game to March to give it more polish

Tropico 6, the latest in Kalypso Media’s autocrat simulator, has been delayed to March 29, the publisher announced yesterday.

The city-builder had been slated for a January release, but following a closed beta last fall, Kalypso took a look at the feedback and their own experiences with the game and decided more development time was needed.

“We know this is short notice and many of you, especially the ones who have pre-ordered, played the beta and gave such comprehensive and valued feedback, might be disappointed,” wrote Simon Hellwig, Kalypso’s owner, “but we think we can make the game better by adding some more icing on the Tropican cake.”

Hellwig specifically said that the game’s pathfinding, multiplayer components, and the simulation running the individual lives of Tropicans as well as the island’s overall economy, “could benefit from more balancing, testing and enhancement.” Developers are also trying to implement many community requests for enhanced features and gameplay, “but we cannot do this overnight.”

Hellwig told fans that he’d played Tropico 6 for many hours over the holiday break, but came away with the feeling that the game “is good, but not very good, or outstanding. Yet.” Thus the delay.

To assuage those who pre-ordered Tropico 6, those who have done so by 1 p.m. ET tomorrow will receive the game’s first DLC extension for free. That DLC is planned for sometime between April and June.

We toured Tropico 6’s beta back in September and found it to be quite a familiar and steady experience — though not a huge departure from previous entries, distinguished more by its return to certain features Tropico 5 had skipped. It’ll be the first in the series to use a series of islands, adding bridge-building and terrain elevation changes to the mix.