Posted on: May 13, 2025
mdqp
Verified ownerGames: 1946 Reviews: 70
A Unique Blend
Vertical Kingdom is an odd beast: It's a deck-building (kinda) roguelite mixed with city management elements. You'll have to juggle the limited space you have with the needs of the city and the resources required to continue expanding. The story is barebone, but I find the overall concept and presentation flavorful. You'll embark on a journey as an Imperial architect, building cities in various areas of the Empire, each trip culminating in the creation of a giant structure to fight off a mysterious fog that is encroaching the borders. The gameplay is fun. Having to adapt to the luck of the draw as you pursue your plans for the city is very enjoyable. The extra "tags" the cards can randomly have also allow you some improvisation and experimentation. The game isn't too difficult, however you can encounter a few pitfalls if you don't pay attention to the effects of some cards or actions (rarely buildings and actions have an ongoing cost, which can be devastating if ignored). The deck-building part is a bit lucklustre, as you can only add cards and each hand drawn is randomized from the pool of available ones (although you can control which categories you'll be picking from, and there is a limited power to "ban" individual cards). This means you can "brick" very easily if you aren't careful with what you add and if it's your first experience, you might have trouble planning ahead. Past this hump, however, the game is easy. Certain unlocks you can gain also help with the difficulty and the repetitiveness (which is a bit of an issue by the end). Leveling up your city increases your rewards, but also creates new problems, so it's a balancing act (if you are just looking to finish the run, though, it's easy to abuse by never leveling up and avoiding the more dangerous drawbacks). All in all, it's a fun experience, if a bit narrow in scope. I finished it in 10 hours, and I wouldn't mind trying again for higher scores or to experiment with the sandbox, so I recommend it.
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