A lot of management games, whether they are as large in scale as SimCity or as small as Two Point Hospital, often operate on the premise that the only thing holding back the capitalist system is efficiency. With the right management (that’s you), everything can run perfectly. It’s an appealing fantasy but neglects the contradictions inherent in the pursuit of profit. The corners that must be cut and sacrifices that must be made to ensure the numbers keep going up. Flat Eye isn’t an especially great management game, but it is more interesting than many of its peers. It centres the tension between the desire for a perfect system and the contradictory needs of that system, producing something more than the sum of its parts.Â
