With a portfolio that contains titles like Tropico (the 6th edition of that game has just entered beta), Railway Empire, Rise of Industry and Project Highrise, Kalypso publishes quite a lot of games that fit the Tycoon bill. Time for a deeper look into that publisher.
First of, some facts: Kalypso Media was founded in 2006 in Worms in Germany. Besides publishing games developed by others, the company owns two development studios. Realmforge Studios, based in Munich and Gaming Minds Studios in Gütersloh. Kalypso also has a mobile subsidiary called Kalypso Mobile and owns “digital-first” publisher Kasedo Games. Let’s take a look at what they have released over the years.
Tropico
Easily the best-known series that is published by Kalypso is the Tropico series. In Tropico, you play a dictator, benevolent or not, in charge of a tropical island. Through construction, cunning management of funds and the occasional embezzlement, you make sure your nation prospers.
Tropico 3
Kalypso picked up the Tropico IP in 2009 from Take Two and has been steadily building out the series. For Tropico 3 they hired Bulgarian Studio Haemimont Games. They successfully transitioned the series into 3D and added the option to customize your dictator and the much-beloved function to create speeches. The excellent idea of adding a campaign backfired, it felt thrown together and featured lacklustre missions with little connection between the missions and no story. The game got an add-on in May 2010, called Absolute Power. Here the campaign idea was executed a bit better, giving hope for the next instalment in this series.
Tropico 4
Two years after Tropico 3, Kalypso released Tropico 4. This new release built upon the foundations of its predecessor but felt a bit like the same game with some new stuff to play with. Nothing wrong with that, but many players hoped for more. The improvements were not bad, the campaign added a more connected story and in general, more time to build and manage your islands was a good thing. Tropico 4 then got the Modern Times expansion. 
It added a completely new era, taking the game beyond the cold war into the 21st century. The economy was expanded by adding things like banks and other services. It added value for fans of the series, but stranded a bit on the same issues the game had before, the new missions featuring the Conclave lacked coherence and felt at times like they were stretched artificially by adding busywork. Even for me, as a fan of the series, that was a bit disappointing. I did finish the campaign because I nearly always do, but it wasn’t the stellar experience I hoped for. But the game did add one thing very dear to me. Penultimo.
Tropico 5
My hopes for this game were not high at first. But as its development progressed and more and more features were revealed, I couldn’t help myself. When the game was released in 2014 I immediately bought it, and I was not disappointed. A new engine freshened up the look of the game and the progression through the eras was an excellent addition. 
I also liked the new dynasty feature where you could use members of your dynasty to manage businesses or perform other tasks for you. I was not so happy that speeches were slashed from the game, I had hope that they would be added later via DLC, but even that hope was in vain.
Tropico 5 was expanded quite a bit through various DLC’s, some smaller, some larger, but in general, they all added something interesting to the game. Despite the loss of the speeches, I sunk a lot of hours in this one, and at times I hear Penultimo call for me to come back and take care of my Tropicans.
Tropico 6
Tropico 6 will not be created by Haemimont. Kalypso has given this task to Limbic Entertainment. The big addition they have announced is the ability to play at multiple islands at once. You now can rule an archipelago, forcing you to think a lot about transport between islands using ships or even bridges. Besides that, speeches are back and you can now steal wonders from other nations. I am sure the Statue of Liberty looks way better in the Palace grounds than it does in New York. A beta has just been released and I will take a look at that early next week.
Patrician & Port Royale
In 2009 Kalypso acquired several IP’s from the insolvent company Ascaron. Amongst those were the rights to the Patrician series. An acclaimed series of trading sims where you built your empire in the times of the Hansa. Kalypso announced Patrician IV for late 2010. They formed Gaming Minds Studios out of several former Ascaron employees and gave the development of Patrician IV to this team.
Patrician IV
The game was released in September 2010 and met with mixed feelings. Fans of the series (like me) were glad a new game in the series was available, but the game did not really deliver. Yes you could trade, expand your empire and try your hand at politics, but it felt very much the same, with a not so great 3d look slapped on it. 
Die-hards still could tweak trade and production meticulously but the game felt like it lacked ambition. It was redeemed a bit with its expansion Rise of a Dynasty, that added land-based trading and some challenging scenario’s, but the game never was the success one would hope from this great series. I still hope for a new and improved Patrician V, but for nearly 8 years now, that hope has been in vain.
Port Royale 3
With the Ascaron titles, the rights to Port Royale came into Kalypso’s possession. They released Port Royale 3 in 2012. The game was made by Gaming Minds as well and in essence, this game is Patrician, set in the Carribean. 
The game looked slightly better than Patrician IV but had the same somewhat lacklustre feeling to it. Redeeming feature, for me at least, was the ability to play as a trader or a pirate. That added a lot of replay value to the game and was quite fun. Port Royale 3 got the same mixed reviews Patrician got.
Rise of Venice
The third game in this same vein was Rise of Venice. Released in 2013 it looked a little better and added the option to interact with family members, having them perform tasks for you. The game also gave you some extra political options and some more direct influence on political decisions. All in all, it was a little bit of fresh air to a stale franchise. 
It’s expansion added some extra cities and challenges. I still pick it up now and then and have fun playing it, whilst wishing that one of the games in the series got the Tropico 5 treatment, really drawing me back in.
Railway Empire
Early 2017, Kalypso announced a new game by Gaming Minds. This time, the studio set out to create a railway tycoon game. Railway Empire was released in January 2018. Personally, I had gotten a bit wary of the Gaming Minds titles, but the game turned out to be very good. A beta was set up, where players got the chance to give feedback to the developers. Feedback that was used to add or change features, a very nice change from the somewhat less approachable studio Gaming Minds was in the past. 
In Railway Empire you essentially create the railways in the USA. The game features a quite challenging campaign and several great scenarios. You can also go all-out in a sandbox. At first, the game looked a bit as if it fell into the same trap as previous Gaming Minds titles, but this game went into the deeper layers of management quite quickly and captivated a large audience with that. It is heartening to see that the game is updated regularly with both free and paid DLC. I still play it quite a lot and am curious where the game is going in the years to come.
Rise of Industry
Under the Kasedo label, Kalypso publishes (among others) Rise of Industry. This is a new take on the gameplay Industry Giant offered. You are in charge of manufacturing, transporting and selling goods, to create a vast industrial empire. 
The game has been in early access for a while now and it is great! I absolutely love the game and the way the developers keep adding good stuff and how they are very responsive to the community. Kalypso has a potential hit in their hands here, and until now they are handling that very well. The game is in my queue for a preview, I hope to put that article up here soon.
Project Highrise
The second gem in the Kasedo crown is Project Highrise. SomaSim (of 1869 fame) basically created its own take on the classic Sim Tower. And what an excellent take it is. You build, rebuild and revamp building in cities like London, Berlin and Tokyo, all wit
h a distinct feel and their very own demands for real estate. The game keeps getting small updates and the developers feel very involved. SomaSim has been teasing a new game for a few days now. I can only hope it lives up to this successful project.
The Rest
Over the years Kalypso released some more or less successful tycoons that we will take a quick peek at here.
M.U.D. TV
2010 saw the release of M.U.D. TV. A 3d game that leaned heavily toward the iconic MAD TV, but failed to live up to that legacy. 
Not a bad game in itself, there were some annoying bugs and a lack of communication from the developers. This lead to rather mixed feelings among its players.
Airline Tycoon 2
Kalypso picked up the rights to Spellbound Airline Tycoon. They released their sequel to the cult-classic in 2011. Developed by b-Alive software, the game failed to meet the expectations of the community. To me, 
it felt like they had quickly created a 3D game that aimed to emulate the previous game, but forgot to add in the fun bits. They managed to redeem themselves a bit with the release of two DLC’s, but I personally felt a bit cheated that necessary fixes (not to mention two of the original airlines from the first game) were added via paid updates.
Dungeons Series
A game that is heavily inspired by Dungeon Keeper, and somehow a game I never really got into, is Dungeons. The series currently is at its third instalment and gets positive reviews. I tried to get into the series a few times and never really found my way into it. From what I have seen and read, that is my fault and not the games. So I do wish to mention the series in this article, hoping you will enjoy it, where I seem to be unable to.
Conclusion
In general, I like what Kalypso makes when it comes to Tycoon games. At times it feels a bit like the games just don’t really live up to their potential but recent projects like Railway Empire, Rise of Industry, Tropico 5 and Project Highrise do live up to their ambitions. All in all, the games are fun to play for a while and there seems to be a positive trend, making me excited for the things to come.
