GAME REVIEW | A Hard Lesson on Management in "Let's School"
I’m a teacher, and as a teacher, you’ve got to manage your class. For me, that’s 16 groups of students to deal with, mostly middle school kids. Most of the time, I can handle it, with thanks to my assistant who keeps the rowdy ones in line. But there are days when the most problematic students take hold of the class, stealing the wind out of your sails, and forcing you to question your life choices. On those days, working at a school can be a challenge.
All of this is being said because if a mere teacher can be knocked down by the classes they teach, imagine what it must be like to run the whole school. That’s something that I only can get a taste of in a simulation, with the newly-released Let's School. Despite the fact that it’s sometimes bundled in a “Cozy Simulation Package” on Steam, there ain’t nothing “cozy” about this game! In fact, playing Pathea Games’s newest sim gives me plenty of reasons why I never want to be a headmaster or principal of any academy!
Let's School begins with you starting your new job as Headmaster. On the day you arrive, you’ll see the school is not up to code in many ways. There are walls with cracks and giant holes, loads of trash and construction junk lying around, and — worst of all — no teachers and students to call your own. But there is one person in your corner, who will go to bat for you and help with turning this South Harmon Institute of Technology into a true Ivy League academy.
To start things off, you gotta name your headmaster and academy, all of which can be customized to your liking. After creating a school emblem for the student uniform, it’s time to assess the damage that the last Headmaster left behind. And…it’ll certainly need work. Thankfully, a strong tutorial will aid in helping to demolish the bad parts, clean up the school yard, and even find your first handful of students to mold into geniuses.
But it’s not just about building an academy in Let's School; it’s everything that has to do with managing an educational establishment. Setting up school schedules, pairing students up with similar mentalities, making sure both kids and teachers are satisfied with their surroundings, and even feeding them are all on the table in this game. And it can get tough very fast, even on the easiest of settings. This is the type of game that requires a bountiful of multi-tasking to get things done properly.
You can’t just sit back and watch things happen naturally, as that’s a recipe for disaster. Instead, you must pay attention to signs of distress and worriment from your students and teachers. Sometimes a revised school schedule will take some of the struggles away, but other times you’ll have to literally start building trust to make everyone happy. Club rooms, bathrooms, tea rooms, and research facilities must be created in order to keep the school at the status quo. And even then, there may be one person on-campus that’s not happy.
And it’s at that point when you realize just how deep Let's School goes into creating a simulation. Not everyone in your academy will be happy with changes or curriculum, the same as those who work and go to school in real life. In those situations, you must focus more on the majority than the minority, and hope that a teacher or student will get used to it. If they don’t, then don’t be surprised if a teacher quits/gets fired, or a student wishes to be discharged.
For those who enjoy school life, you’ll see them grow to be better teachers or students. Getting involved with club activities, making friends, sharing gossip, and even some anime-styled love confessions will happens before your eyes. It’s in these moments when Let's School brims with life, delivering loads of fun — and often hilarious — situations for you to witness. Whether or not these moments will lead to them getting a diploma later on is up to the choices you make, and it’s not easy to figure out what decision will lead to the best outcome.
However, if you do manage to not be worse than the last Headmaster, then you can keep on building up your facility. What starts as a humble little rut of a school can one day transform into a prestigious academy with a waitlist. Let's School goes to great lengths to showcase how much work goes into making a strong educational establishment. And if you mange to get most of it right, it also presents the sorts of rewards a solid education can give to your staff and students.
PROS:
- Craft the school you want to make
- Lots of customizations
- Some surprising humor
CONS:
- Requires loads of multi-tasking
- Won’t please all your staff and students
- Can be tough to play with controller
FINAL THOUGHTS:
With all due respect to Pink Floyd, Let's School shows why we need an education. On top of that, it demonstrates the tough challenges that come with keeping a school up to code. But if you’ve got a good head on your shoulders, Let's School will get you to craft an academy that’ll deliver a bountiful amount of moments worthy of any yearbook.
FINAL GRADE:
Promotional consideration provided by PressEngine. Reviewed on the PS5.
