I've purchased it 5 times: Twice on PC, then on Switch, Android, and finally, iOS. All the extra times in a denial state of "latest patch was 4 months ago, I bet they're working on fixing this or that!". Well... time never stops, and now it's been 4 years since the last update. It's still filled with annoyances that should be easy to fix, but the radio silence from the devs on this game while releasing a new one feels like they are ashamed of Project Highrise. An incredibly promising game with one of the most annoying AI I've ever seen that drops the veil on what's the actual gameplay of this game: It's a waiting game. You'll experience first-hand how your well planned budget will turn into a huge debt because of the AI that instead of focusing on finishing one task at a time, it'll make your workers do one tile in one floor, then a tile at the basement, then again at floor 2 and so, until you end up bankrupt. The solution? Minimize the game, go watch a movie, go out to dinner, and then come back until your bank account is with thousands of dollars, so you can invest it and continue playing.
There's no doubt that this game is BEAUTIFULLY crafted, at least in the art department. The execution of pixel art is mesmerizing in SOME parts and I really want to remark that, but at the same time, there's a big difference between set stages and the procedurally generated ones which look incredibly repetitive and dull. Also, expect to get stuck and cornered onto the "details" of the walls at the worst times. My biggest issue is the heavy focus on storytelling this game has. I found it to be very cliché, cheesy and out of place, and the sleepy David Attenborough-like narrator amplifies those feelings to a whole new level. In my opinion, the intention from the devs to hit sentimental fibers with pace-breaking cutscenes and narrations about these characters you don't care was a huge miss. There are games like Darkest Dungeon and Bastion in which the narrator helps you get immersed, but this isn't one of them. The upgrading system: Every time you level up you get ONE skill point. Character Skill Trees have 2 initial skills, then 3 for the next tier and so on. Well, the third time you level up, you won't be able to afford anything (because the only two skills that you've unlocked now cost 2 skill points), also you can't afford any of the other skills because they're locked untill you level up further the two you already have. This is a thing you face in other RPGs once you're at the mid or late skills of the skill tree, not literally 1 hour in. The issue with this is that you'll have level ups where you don't actually get to upgrade anything at all so it's half an hour of grinding with the same stats before you get to change your skill damage from 120% to 125% which feels trivial once you do it, and the cycle resets. Performance: From terrible framepacing to audio glitching out, I don't understand why this game runs like it does when my PC runs RDR2 Ultra @4K at a solid 60FPS. Overall, it's a functional game with beautiful pixel art and a polished UI.
This game is awesome. It turns the mellow and laid back spirit and looks of Slay the Spire and turns the notch to eleven. What I like the most of this game is the art direction. Monsters looked hideous on the screenshots and well, they are... but it's the kind of "hideous" you'd see in weird Schoolastic books back in the 90's with oversaturated colors, or those obscure japanese games with overdone characters. The sounds are nothing but weird moans and gasps that cross the lines between sounding scary and lewd which remind me a lot of the old Shin Megami Tensei games and the music is a blend of rock and ethereal choirs, echoey pads. Overall, it's pleasant to see an oversaturation in all fronts in this era of premeditated, studied and clinically clean experiences. Then, the gameplay is great: It's not just a StS clone. It has some hints of planning and strategy of genres such as Tower Defense. You don't just commit to one champion at the beggining of a run, but two instead, which turns the game in something more akin to Legends of Runeterra's Path of Champions. It also has some PVP-type of game mode but I haven't bothered with it. Overall, I'd recommend this over the games that clearly inspired it. It's not only more pleasant to play, it also feels like you're able to succeed with what you're given as opposed to other games where you might as well restart the whole thing because the RNG f'd you.
