Hollywood Animal
Last updated: 2026-01-10
- Highly engaging and addictive gameplay experience
- Unique film studio management concept
- Deep and diverse gameplay systems available
- Severe and frequent bugs disrupt gameplay
- Repetitive and boring gameplay loop over time
- Poor early-game balance and guidance issues
Emotions
Players experience frustration primarily due to technical issues like crashes, save file corruption, and stability problems, which disrupt gameplay and cause lost progress. Additionally, the game's steep learning curve, unbalanced mechanics, and lack of guidance exacerbate difficulty, particularly in the early game, leading to repetitive trial-and-error gameplay and financial struggles.
Disappointment stems from the game's failure to meet expectations in depth, polish, and creative freedom, particularly when compared to similar titles like 'The Movies.' Players criticize misleading marketing, repetitive late-game content, and persistent bugs, as well as unfulfilled promises from developers, such as lack of updates, shallow mechanics, and broken systems like the awards and economic models.
Players feel excitement due to the game's unique premise, immersive atmosphere, and engaging gameplay loop, particularly in the early stages. The dark tone, creative freedom in filmmaking, and potential for future updates or expansions contribute to its addictive and rewarding experience, especially once mechanics are understood.
Hope is driven by the belief that the game will improve through future updates, addressing current flaws like balancing issues, bugs, and lack of content. Players appreciate developer responsiveness and the potential for features like a sandbox mode, metagame progression, or deeper strategic elements to enhance the experience.
Enjoyment arises from the game's challenging yet rewarding mechanics, creative freedom in filmmaking, and immersive portrayal of the film industry. Players appreciate the humor, soundtrack, and depth of gameplay, which provide a vicarious and engaging experience despite its flaws.
Verdict
Mixed
Summary
Positive 56% · Negative 44%. Score: 44 / 100
Positives:
- Players consistently praise the game's addictive and engaging mechanics, noting its potential for long play sessions and replayability. The core gameplay loop is described as fun, immersive, and well-balanced, even in Early Access.
- Despite being in Early Access, the game is praised for its solid foundation, frequent updates, and value for money. Players note it avoids common Early Access pitfalls and already offers substantial content.
- The game offers complex, multi-layered mechanics with strategic decision-making, ethical dilemmas, and varied playstyles. Players highlight the depth of simulation, customization, and replayability due to branching outcomes and interlocking systems.
- The game stands out for its gritty, realistic portrayal of film studio management, blending business simulation with narrative depth. Players appreciate its authentic representation of the film industry, especially in historical settings like 1930s Hollywood.
- Frequent updates, bug fixes, and community feedback integration are widely praised. Players note significant improvements over time, with developers actively addressing issues and adding content, enhancing long-term engagement.
Negatives:
- Players report numerous bugs, including game-breaking issues, crashes, softlocks, and progress loss. These bugs persist despite patches and updates, significantly disrupting gameplay and immersion.
- The gameplay becomes repetitive and monotonous after a few in-game years, with scripted events, lack of replayability, and tedious mechanics like manual selections and repetitive animations.
- The early game is excessively difficult due to a lack of tutorials, unclear mechanics, and punishing difficulty spikes. New players struggle without external guides or prior knowledge.
- The game suffers from poor balancing, with difficulty settings making little difference. Early-game challenges are punishing, while late-game content becomes too easy or stale, undermining player engagement.
- The game feels incomplete, with many mechanics not fully implemented, poor optimization, and a lack of polish. Players describe it as an alpha or early access product that is not ready for release.
Gameplay:
- Core gameplay revolves around managing a Hollywood studio, including budgets, hiring staff, handling contracts, and overseeing departments like wardrobe and sets. Sandbox-style mechanics allow for deep customization.
- Players engage in detailed film creation processes, including scriptwriting, pre-production, shooting, and post-production. The system supports creative storytelling, genre combinations, and collaboration with specialists.
- Scriptwriting is a core mechanic, with options for manual creation, purchased scripts, or inspiration-based development. Tag-based systems and story workshops enhance creativity.
- Players hire actors, directors, writers, and other crew members, with mechanics for negotiations, contracts, and morale management. Talent scouting and retention add depth to the simulation.
- The game features a progression system with early-game challenges, mid-game unlocks, and tech advancements. However, some players note repetitive gameplay or unclear goals after initial progression.
Performance:
- Players report frequent UI freezes, unresponsive menus, and game-breaking bugs that disrupt gameplay, such as XP calculation freezes and inability to interact with elements. These issues often render the game unplayable or require restarts.
- The game lacks quick save functionality, and auto-save intervals are too long, increasing the risk of progress loss. Players also report issues with save/load performance and script deletion bugs.
- Players report performance drops, low FPS (under 100 on high-end hardware), and excessive resource usage (e.g., 13GB RAM, 11GB VRAM). Optimization is lacking across various hardware configurations.
- Bugs introduced at launch or via updates remain unresolved for extended periods (e.g., a year after release). While some improvements are noted, many issues persist despite developer claims of fixes.
- Softlocks require game restarts to resolve, and long loading times or infinite loading screens disrupt gameplay. These issues are particularly frustrating during critical moments (e.g., late first act).
Recommendations:
- Players acknowledge the game's potential and express hope that future updates will address current flaws, such as bugs, balancing, and missing mechanics. Many believe the game could improve significantly with time.
- The game's Early Access phase is criticized for being rough, unpolished, and difficult to enjoy without patience. Players suggest waiting for major updates or the full release to avoid frustration.
- Many players advise waiting for the full release to avoid Early Access issues like bugs, balancing problems, and unplayability. This sentiment is widespread among those disappointed with the current state of the game.
- The game is highly recommended for fans of tycoon, management, and cinema-themed games, as well as those who enjoy deep strategy and replayability. Its appeal is strongest among these specific groups.
- The game's difficulty is a polarizing factor, with some players enjoying the challenge while others request difficulty settings or balancing improvements to make it more accessible.
Miscellaneous:
- Players acknowledge the game is in Early Access and anticipate future updates, rebalancing, and improvements. Some note changes in the developer's approach to Early Access.
- Players highlight the developers' plan to extend the game's timeline up to the 1980s, suggesting a significant expansion of content or setting.
- Players provide specific suggestions for future updates, such as role changes in sequels, security missions, actor availability, and tech research improvements.
- Players report issues with background sound or music volume, indicating a need for better audio mixing or adjustable settings.
- Players express hope or expectation for future workshop support, indicating interest in modding or community-created content.
