Marijuana is a controversial topic here in the US. People are up in arms over whether or not it should be legal for medical use, recreationally, or both; whether or not it’s addictive, and whether or not it’s a “Gateway” to other drugs. Personally, I think it should be legal across the board. I think legalizing it would help many people with chronic pain, seizures, and other disorders. I don’t believe it’s a “Gateway Drug” or addicting. No matter which side of the argument you fall on, you can’t throw a stick on any social media platform without hitting a post about it.

It’s such a hot topic right now that I was concerned when Phenixx Gaming’s Editor-In-Chief asked if I wanted to review Vile Monarch’s Management Sim, Weedcraft Inc. Was this developer, with 3 games under its belt, trying to cash in on the controversy by throwing together a game on the Marijuana debate or did they see an unexplored topic and work hard to create a great game around it? Either way, I decided I’d check it out.

Weedcraft Inc seems pretty simple and it is, on the surface. Once you dive in, however, you’ll find it’s quite complicated, and there’s a lot to juggle. The mechanics themselves are really easy to use, but at the same time very intricate, with a lot of things to remember and manage.

Your goal is to start and run a successful legal marijuana business. When you start up the game you are greeted with a choice between 2 scenarios. In the first scenario, “Growing Up”, you are a young man who has just finished his first year of business school. Your father (who was paying your tuition) has just died of cancer, forcing you to drop out.

Your brother tells you how marijuana helped your dad in his last days and suggests that the two of you start a business growing and selling it to others it might help. Of course, you’ll have to make some money dealing it illegally before you can get the licenses and facilities to sell it legally, so you’re reluctant but finally agree. “Growing Up” is basically the tutorial, teaching you the mechanics of the game. You start with a little money, some Reggie seeds, and a basement to grow them in.

In Weedcraft Inc’s second scenario, “Highs and Laws”, you’re a 50-year-old man just released from prison, who wants to stay out of trouble while making your dreams come true. You decide the way to accomplish both is to start a legal marijuana business. You meet up with your good friend, Matty, to do just that. “Highs and Laws” is more difficult than “Growing Up” even though you start with more money and a large amount of product to sell.

I played “Growing Up” which starts you in your hometown of Flint, Michigan. As you progress and grow your business, more cities will be added for you to expand and grow your empire. Of course, you won’t be managing all these cities alone; you’ll have employees to help you, but we’ll get to employees in a minute.

Cities consist of Public and Private Spaces. You can sell your product in Public Spaces for a one-time payment, but you can’t grow your product there. However, Public Spaces draw more customers, making you more money. In Private Spaces, you can grow your plants and sell them. However, you’ll have to pay monthly rent and utilities on Private Spaces. You’ll also need a cover story or “front” for Private Spaces to reduce Police interest and lower your chances of being arrested in cities where marijuana is illegal.

In the beginning, you’ll spend most of your time growing your plants. There are 21 different strains of herb in Weedcraft Inc, each with different their own nutritional and environmental requirements. The closer you come to meeting the requirements of the strain you are growing, the better the quality of the herb and the higher the yield. You’ll need to tune the Potassium, Phosphorus, and Nitrogen in the soil to just the right balance, as well as adjust the temperature and humidity, to get the best quality and highest volume of production.

That’s not all though. Keeping your plants watered also affects their quality, as does the lighting in your grow room. You’ll need to upgrade your lights as you go and make sure you water the Ganja whenever you’re given the option if you want the highest quality products. It’s a lot of trial and error, but it’s very satisfying when you harvest that blue ribbon weed. You can train your plants to speed the growing time if you want, but it doesn’t affect the quality.

Tweaking all these factors, staying on top of the watering, and waiting for the plants to be ready to harvest, can become tedious. Personally, I enjoy the micromanagement and tweaking, but not everyone does. Luckily, employees can help you care for your crop, relieving some of the tedium. You can hire 3 employees in each city, and each employee can have up to 5 tasks assigned to them.

Each potential employee has 3 important parameters: Sales, Cultivation, and Sociability. The Sales parameter affects how well they sell the product and interact with customers. The Cultivation parameter affects their ability to grow marijuana. The Sociability parameter affects how good they are at smuggling product and getting information. As your employees perform their duties, they earn experience points which you can assign to the parameters of your choice. This improves their speed and performance.

Of course, employees must be paid and your employees are no exception. Each employee has a salary expectation and with each promotion will expect a raise. They do not, however, tell you their salary expectation or what amount of a raise they will be happy with. While a high salary or big raise will make them happy and increase your relationship level, a low salary or small raise might piss them off and lower your relationship level.

Your relationship with your employees is important. Employees that you have a high relationship level with are unlikely to rat you out to the cops or bail on you when they receive an offer from one of your competitors. You can increase your relationship level with them by talking to them about their interests, work, or just chatting. Each option works differently on each person (or not at all), so this takes some trial and error. Sometimes, I’d spend 15 or 20 minutes building up my relationship with an employee, only to choose the wrong topic and watch the relationship level plummet. I found this to be incredibly frustrating.

As you advance on your journey in Weedcraft Inc, you’ll unlock Marketing. Marketing is tricky but can be very helpful in attracting new customers, increasing the popularity of a particular strain, and stealing customers from your competitors. There are 3 campaigns you can run: a Social Campaign, an Advertising Campaign, and an Anti-advertising Campaign.

Not everyone approves of marijuana, but running a Social Campaign can change their mind. If it succeeds, they will start to purchase your product, thus creating a new market. Advertising Campaigns can raise the popularity of an under-performing strain and increase its sales. Anti-advertising campaigns can damage your competitor’s reputation, lowering their sales and increasing yours.

This is just the highlights of what is involved in having a successful weed empire. There’s also Legislation, Competition, the Police, Research, and Influence. These are equally important as what I’ve already discussed above. However, this review is just to give you a taste of what Weedcraft Inc has in store for you.

Weedcraft Inc is very intricate and has a lot of moving parts but it is done very, very well. While there is a lot to manage and juggle, it’s loads of fun and isn’t overly difficult. I found myself sucked in rather quickly, and before I knew it, hours had passed. I know I will keep going back to it over and over because, with so much to do and manage, it won’t get boring.

If you like Management Sims, you’ll enjoy Weedcraft Inc. If you’ve never played a Management Sim, Weedcraft Inc’s tutorial will get you started and the help library will give you the info you need. I hope everyone gives Weedcraft Inc a whirl. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go water my Super Lemon Haze.

A PC review copy of Weedcraft Inc was provided by Devolver Digital for this review.

Phenixx Gaming is everywhere you are. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Weedcraft Inc

8

Score

8.0/10

Pros

• Very Indepth Management Sim
• Great Hip-Hop Music
• Mouse Only Controls
• Lots of Hours of Fun
• High Replayability

Cons

• Relationship Management Gets Tedious