Laysara: Summit Kingdom

About

Laysara: Summit Kingdom is a single player survival strategy game. It was developed by Quite OK Games and was released on April 10, 2024. It received positive reviews from players.

Build and expand your very own settlements in high mountains! Carefully plan production chains and satisfy various needs of your three-caste society while dealing with mountain hazards such as weather breakdowns and avalanches. Are you skilled enough to make your town thrive?

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

Skip User Reviews

84%

Audience ScoreBased on 756 reviews

gameplay70 positive mentions

grinding8 negative mentions

Beautiful graphics and charming art style create an immersive atmosphere.
Engaging gameplay that combines city building with puzzle elements, requiring strategic planning and resource management.
Polished for an early access title, with minimal bugs and a clear roadmap for future updates.

Limited building rotation and range mechanics can lead to frustrating gameplay and restrict creative freedom.
The game feels more like a puzzle than a traditional city builder, which may not appeal to all players.
Some players find the tutorial lacking and the mechanics unclear, leading to confusion and difficulty in progressing.

gameplay
232 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
30%
64%
6%
The gameplay of "Laysara: Summit Kingdom" combines traditional city-building mechanics with unique challenges, such as managing resources on a mountain and dealing with avalanches, creating a blend of strategy and puzzle elements. While the game features beautiful graphics and a charming atmosphere, some players find the gameplay loop repetitive and the mechanics occasionally shallow, particularly after extended play. Overall, it offers an engaging experience with room for improvement, especially in terms of tutorial clarity and depth of mechanics as it continues to develop in early access.
- “The gameplay is a delicate blend of established mechanics of the genre and original ideas.”
- “Absolutely love the art style and the whole mechanic of mountain top city building and preparing for avalanches is a lot of fun.”
- “Enjoyable gameplay loop, gorgeous graphics, enjoyably well themed, and even the advisor characters are fun and full of personality.”
- “Writing this review, I played for 15 hours and started getting overwhelmed by the gameplay loop becoming too visible to me, the lack of variation in the gameplay despite the huge amount of different buildings available.”
- “The gameplay key mechanics fell quite flat for me.”
- “While it is a beautiful game to look at with a highly attractive setting, the gameplay just didn't keep me engaged enough to want to continue playing in its current state.”
graphics
170 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
31%
2%
The graphics of the game have received widespread acclaim for their stunning beauty and unique art style, which effectively captures a vibrant and warm aesthetic inspired by Himalayan culture. Players appreciate the detailed visuals, smooth map design, and relaxing ambiance, although some note performance issues on integrated graphics. Overall, the game's visuals are described as a major highlight, enhancing the gameplay experience with their charm and creativity.
- “It's absolutely gorgeous, and full of so much rich, vibrant, and warm culture & aesthetics.”
- “The visuals and music are absolutely stunning, the game really sucked me in through both its gameplay and presentation.”
- “The graphics are stunning, and the theme is original and fun.”
- “Lastly, the game runs a bit slow on integrated graphics.”
- “Solid grey icons don't really match the spiritual/natural aesthetic of the game very well.”
- “Apparently, there are orientation challenges unique to the sloped building visuals that would require them to spend a bunch of time to basically redo every single building in the game.”
music
110 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
56%
41%
3%
The music in the game has received a largely positive reception, with many players praising its relaxing and immersive qualities that enhance the overall ambiance. While some found certain tracks to be synthetic or not fitting the setting perfectly, the majority appreciated the soundtrack's ability to maintain engagement without becoming repetitive. Overall, the music contributes significantly to the game's charming aesthetic and enjoyable gameplay experience.
- “The music is amazing, relaxing and not annoying or too repetitive - it really sells the vibe.”
- “The visuals and music are absolutely stunning, the game really sucked me in through both its gameplay and presentation.”
- “The game offers a delightful experience, particularly in terms of its music and visuals.”
- “The music alternates between bad and good.”
- “Could use a few more music tracks, just more of the same to add some variety.”
- “Only the in-game music is a bit too 'synthetic', but that's just me, turning the music off anyway in most games to relax with environmental sounds, which are very well done in Laysara.”
story
46 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
22%
71%
7%
The game's story is described as cute and engaging, with a fresh concept centered around building on a mountain, though it currently lacks a robust campaign mode. Players appreciate the charming art style and animations, but many express a desire for a richer narrative experience and more substantial goals beyond simple city-building mechanics. Overall, while the story is enjoyable, there is a consensus that it has potential for further development as the game progresses.
- “The concept of building on a mountain is fantastic, and the story along with it is just enough to make you smile; the animations are a callback to older city builders.”
- “The story is cute, and the art style, music, and general ambiance are very enjoyable.”
- “This is a really high standard for an early access game - things have a polish to them that you don't often see, the story is cute without being cringe, and the city-building gimmick has a lot of thought put into it.”
- “The story does not take itself seriously and is minimal.”
- “The only thing you miss is the final conclusion of the story.”
- “Game has big potential, but... there is a catch... with no fighting and no random events (or some missions) it's almost all the time the same... build everything you can, if you do not produce something just import it and continue.”
optimization
28 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
36%
53%
11%
The game is praised for its strong optimization, running smoothly even on older systems, and balancing creativity with efficiency. Players appreciate the ability to move buildings freely, which enhances gameplay flexibility, although the lack of rotation can make grid placement challenging. Overall, it is seen as a hybrid of puzzle and city-building elements, with a focus on supply chain optimization and a visually appealing design.
- “Buildings can be moved for free, so it's a bit of a hybrid between puzzle-game and city-builder, where you constantly move things around to get a reasonably optimized setup going.”
- “This game gets the balance between optimization and creativity just right, and I'm having a blast with it.”
- “One big limitation on building is that nothing can be rotated, so the grid is extremely unforgiving, but it is possible to get everything you need in place to complete the scenario even if it's not optimized.”
- “This is more a supply chain optimization game than a city builder, but you can make aesthetically pleasing cities too.”
- “Workforce optimization is key and your distribution network has a massive impact on your workforce.”
atmosphere
22 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
82%
18%
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its charm, immersive visuals, and pleasant music, creating a unique and thematic experience that enhances gameplay. Players appreciate the beautiful atmospheric changes and the chill yet challenging environment, particularly in the context of building communities in a mountainous setting. Overall, it is considered an underrated indie gem that effectively combines engaging mechanics with a captivating atmosphere.
- “The devs have done such a great job even in early access to make an incredibly polished and atmospheric game.”
- “I also really enjoy the unique atmosphere, art style, and music of this game.”
- “The anno-like mechanics do not reinvent the genre, but the whole idea of building around a mountain is original and unique; the atmosphere is immersive, and the yaks are adorable.”
humor
18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game is praised for its lighthearted and quirky humor, featuring funny characters and witty writing that evoke nostalgia for classic city-building games. Players appreciate the unique interactions among the characters representing different social groups, as well as the cartoonish charm of elements like the merchant. Overall, the humor adds a delightful layer to the gameplay experience, complemented by pleasant music and beautiful landscapes.
- “I love this game, quirky and funny.”
- “The writing is quite funny.”
- “And I didn't expect a game like this to have genuinely funny interactions between the three characters that represent the different social groups present in the game, yet here we are.”
grinding
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
80%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be somewhat tedious, particularly when it comes to managing city layouts and resource farming across different height levels. However, the absence of waiting for resources to accumulate helps mitigate some of the frustration, making the grinding experience less burdensome overall.
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
- “Having to manually scoot my entire city down one building at a time when I need a bit more room is incredibly tedious.”
- “A bit tedious, but nothing game-breaking.”
replayability
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
30%
40%
30%
Overall, the game's replayability is mixed; while it offers varied economies and multiple starting points on each map that enhance replay value, its puzzle-like nature and lack of building rotation may limit long-term engagement. Players express a desire for features like a custom map editor or random map generators to further boost replayability. Additionally, beautiful atmospheric changes provide a unique experience, but the game is primarily played in a paused state, which could detract from replay incentives.
- “Each game/map has different economy and needs, which really ups the replayability, as does having multiple start points on each map.”
- “I think a custom map editor and/or random map generators are critical in the replayability of these games as well.”
- “Quite a lot of replay value is based around resource availability, space limitations for each mountain slope, and services required to upgrade residences, which change based on the map.”
- “The only arguments against the game I can imagine are no building rotation, the fact that 90% of the game is played paused, and low replayability.”
- “It's more 'puzzle' than sandbox, which might limit replayability.”
- “I think a custom map editor and/or random map generators are critical for the replayability of these games as well.”
stability
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
67%
Overall, players find the game to be surprisingly stable for an early access title, with minimal bugs or glitches reported. However, some users note that there are still missing tools and occasional glitches that need addressing, particularly for a building game.
- “While playing, it's been remarkably bug-free for an early access game.”
- “But it's not quite there; for a 'building' game, there are so many missing tools and glitches.”
- “For early access, this game is playable with no bugs or glitches (that I experienced).”
monetization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The monetization strategy is generally viewed as acceptable, though some users suggest that the advertising and descriptions could benefit from clearer phrasing to enhance understanding.
emotional
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players appreciate the game's emotional depth, highlighting its fun and wholesome writing that enhances the overall experience. The inclusion of diverse population types adds to the charm, creating a heartfelt and engaging atmosphere.