Pile Up!

About

Pile Up! is a single player casual strategy game. It was developed by Remoob and was released on June 2, 2023. It received mostly positive reviews from players.

"Pile Up!" is a cooperative 3D platformer game that encourages teamwork and communication. Players control a team of adorable box-shaped characters, working together to navigate through various levels filled with puzzles and challenges. The goal is to stack your team members to reach new heights and complete objectives, promoting strategic thinking and collaboration.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

+14

Skip User Reviews

74%

Audience ScoreBased on 401 reviews

gameplay22 positive mentions

stability18 negative mentions

The game features beautiful graphics and a charming art style that enhances the overall experience.
It offers a unique blend of city-building and puzzle mechanics, providing a satisfying challenge as players strategize their building placements.
The game is relaxing and engaging, making it a great choice for casual gaming sessions.

The game is plagued by numerous bugs and performance issues, which can significantly hinder gameplay.
The tutorial lacks clarity and essential information, leaving players confused about game mechanics and objectives.
There is a frustrating lack of an undo feature, making it easy to make mistakes that can derail progress.

gameplay
74 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
30%
63%
7%
The gameplay of "Pile Up!" is visually appealing and offers a unique city-building experience, but it suffers from unclear mechanics, a lack of depth in its tutorial, and performance issues, particularly as the population grows. While the core mechanics are satisfying and the game has potential for replayability, many players find the gameplay tedious and frustrating due to bugs and a lack of clarity in progression. Overall, the game shows promise but requires significant improvements to its mechanics and optimization to fully realize its potential.
- “I like the random buildings you get dealt, and mixed with the height/building out mechanics, it really gives a twist to a typical city builder.”
- “With delightful cardboard-style graphics, creative gameplay, and a well-balanced difficulty curve, the game captivates players from the start.”
- “For a game of its size, it has shown a scope for many hours of gameplay and at no point will you feel sluggish as it keeps getting linearly more challenging and engaging.”
- “Pile Up is a beautiful city builder, but it lacks clarity in its mechanics and has failed at basic quality control for a 1.0 release after time in early access.”
- “The tutorial does not cover in-depth enough to teach players about the game mechanics, and with it being such a minimalist style, I just find myself confused.”
- “The controls, hard gameplay, bad optimization, lighting issues, and even broken achievements that you get by starting up the game for the first time indicate the ridiculous problems you will face.”
graphics
69 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
42%
54%
4%
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with many players praising the beautiful art style, colorful aesthetics, and relaxing visuals that enhance the gameplay experience. However, some users report technical issues, such as performance problems and unfinished graphical elements, which detract from the overall enjoyment. While the visuals are often described as charming and unique, the game's mechanics and performance may require further updates to fully realize their potential.
- “The game is beautiful -- holy cow the visuals are amazing and the builds that come to fruition are excellent and unique (the day and night cycle is lovely), but I feel that I didn't have a connection to any of my cities beyond a simple 'damn, how much longer till I win?'”
- “Beautiful graphics with procedurally generated details makes every playthrough screenshot worthy.”
- “The graphics and aesthetic are beautiful!”
- “The placement mechanic is way inferior to Islander, and the graphics are not as refined as Tiny Glade.”
- “Graphically it is also not finished, as the pillars of my first island didn't even touch the ground, but worse, the game lacks VSync!”
- “It is a slow and agonizing play; though throttling down the graphics quality does improve play some, it is still a jerky mess.”
music
23 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
43%
44%
13%
The music in the game is generally praised for its relaxing and whimsical qualities, effectively complementing the visuals and creating a soothing atmosphere. However, some players find the soundtrack repetitive and quiet, suggesting that it may not enhance the overall experience significantly. While the audio contributes to the game's cozy ambiance, a few users preferred to listen to their own playlists instead.
- “The art is great, the music is perfect for the aesthetic, and the space you build is unique and interesting - and there's a surprisingly deep level of strategy you'll need to get things perfect.”
- “It is visually stunning with background music that creates a relaxing atmosphere, as you start stacking building upon building upon building.”
- “Very relaxing, and the soundtrack is very soothing... could sit for hours just listening to the tune.”
- “Music and sounds are very quiet, even on max in-game volume.”
- “Background music makes you feel like sleeping.”
- “Only things I don’t like are that there are a few typos, and the music is nothing exciting.”
stability
18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's stability is heavily criticized, with users reporting frequent frame rate drops, major freezes, and numerous bugs that hinder gameplay. Many players describe it as unpolished and frustratingly buggy, with issues affecting controls, camera functionality, and overall performance. While some acknowledge minor glitches typical of early access, the consensus is that the game is currently too unstable for a smooth experience.
- “The frame rate tanks and major freezes occur over simple actions or after events like explosions.”
- “I waited to purchase until full release, but it's clear that 1.0 was rushed and it's still very buggy and unpolished.”
- “Too buggy to play in its current state.”
optimization
11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
18%
18%
64%
The game's optimization is severely lacking, with users reporting significant performance issues such as drastic frame rate drops, crashes, and lag when placing buildings or specific platforms. Many players express frustration that the game struggles to run smoothly even on capable hardware, leading to an overall unplayable experience. Additionally, there are concerns about compatibility with devices like the Steam Deck, further highlighting the game's optimization shortcomings.
- “Once I have placed a certain number of buildings, my performance completely tanks to the point of it being unplayable.”
- “There are often performance issues where the framerate drops significantly.”
- “Once I have placed up to a certain amount of buildings, my performance completely tanks to the point of it being unplayable.”
- “For some reason, every time I place a specific type of platform, the game slows to a crawl and experiences performance issues that cause it to crash or run at a single-digit frame rate.”
- “The game advertises itself as a small relaxing game, so if it can't run well on a computer that is sufficient for most everyday needs and can run a notoriously badly-optimized, RAM-heavy voxel game... I don't get what's going on here, and I feel that I could reasonably expect slightly more.”
replayability
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
38%
24%
38%
Overall, Pileup offers a charming gameplay loop with notable replayability, particularly for fans of city builders. However, some players feel that the lack of polish and certain mechanics, like the clunky camera and upgrade system, limit its potential for varied playthroughs. Additional challenges and strategic options could further enhance its replayability.
- “Pileup is a charming lightweight city builder with surprising replayability and depth.”
- “On that matter, adding additional challenges that play into different strategies (e.g. destroy a minimum of 2500 Stacklandians, or add demand for jobs, aka factories in close proximity) would add tons of replayability as well.”
- “The game has a lot of replayability for people who enjoy the gameplay loop.”
- “The gameplay loop has solid replayability; however, the camera feels very clunky compared to similar city builder favorites of mine like Islanders and Dorfromantik.”
- “Wonderful idea and gameplay loop with decent replayability, but lacking the polish of competitors like Islanders.”
- “Limited replayability once mastered.”
atmosphere
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
12%
38%
The atmosphere of the game is widely praised for its visually stunning environments and relaxing background music, creating a serene experience as players engage in open-ended puzzle-solving. Many reviewers note the game's ambient quality, likening it to other titles like Dorfromantik, while some suggest that adding NPCs could enhance the overall atmosphere. Overall, the game's art style and immersive ambiance are highlighted as key selling points.
- “Love the atmosphere of time passing, mists gathering, and the whale surfacing in the ocean as you play.”
- “It is visually stunning with background music that creates a relaxing atmosphere as you start stacking building upon building.”
- “The atmosphere is so relaxing.”
- “One of the main selling points of the game is the atmosphere and the art style.”
grinding
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
75%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and time-consuming, often interrupting gameplay with delays for the day/night cycle. While the game starts off as relaxing, it quickly becomes tiresome, leading to frustration among users.
- “It's tedious and also involves a short delay in gameplay so that the day/night cycle can progress.”
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
- “The game is supposed to be relaxing and chill, and while it is in the beginning, it just increasingly grows tedious and tiresome.”
story
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
67%
The game's story is minimal, lacking a traditional narrative structure, and primarily focuses on gameplay progression as players ascend through levels, with only slight expansions on the initial plot.
- “The story builds up gradually, extending slightly beyond the limits of the original plot as you progress through each floor.”
- “The narrative unfolds beautifully, revealing deeper layers as you climb higher.”
- “Each level adds new dimensions to the story, making the journey feel both expansive and immersive.”
- “No story.”
- “The build-up is slow and extends slightly past the limits of the original plot as you progress through each floor.”
humor
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is appreciated for its lightheartedness and whimsical details, such as amusingly named locations like "Cengiz Casino" and "Soner Club." Players enjoy the comedic elements that enhance the experience while building quirky cities. Overall, the humor adds a fun layer to the gameplay.
- “I'd recommend it to anyone who just wants to sit back and place some buildings down to make some funny-looking cities :)”
- “Details in the game such as 'Cengiz Casino' and 'Soner Club' made me laugh.”
emotional
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players express frustration and emotional turmoil due to the game's imprecise mechanics, which can lead to catastrophic failures in their cities. This has resulted in feelings of disappointment and anger, highlighting the game's ability to evoke strong negative emotions.
- “Made me feel things I've never felt [not in a good way]”