Ski-E-O!: building a ski resort on real mountains, and watching beginners get lost on black runs

The patch notes published the day after launch open with this line: upgrading a lift no longer tips its riders off.

That is Ski-E-O! in a nutshell: a serious management game, with thousands of little skiers living their lives, and enough humour to laugh when things go sideways. The developer built it alone after losing their job in a wave of industry layoffs, and the game feels like the passion project of a skier who knows what they are talking about.

No grid, real mountains

That is the big selling point, and it delivers. The terrain comes from real LiDAR data of mountains around the world, with their ridgelines and fall lines. And you do not lay runs on a grid: you draw them straight onto the mountain, freehand. Green circles for beginners, black diamonds for the daring, like on North American trail maps.

The result is a resort unlike any other, because the mountain imposes its constraints. You look for the right slope, work around a cliff band, wonder where the chairlift should top out.

And down below, the village

A resort is not just runs. You need a village: chalets, restaurants, après-ski bars, shops, waffle stands, spas, warming huts, all the way to five-star hotels. Every visitor has their own wishes, and not everyone comes to ski.

The moment everyone eventually sees is the Sunday skier heading down an expert run they had no business being on. The game even reminds you to hire enough ski patrol, once you have finished laughing.

Early Access shows in the menus, still a bit rough, and in the economic depth, which needs digging. But the first 70 reviews are all positive, nearly 700 players were online the day after launch, and at 17.54 euros it is the best ski resort management game you can buy today.

Show us your ski area on the InsertCoins Discord, especially if it has a black run that ends in a car park.