Vertical Kingdom

About

Vertical Kingdom is a single player strategy game. It was developed by Farlight Games Industry and was released on April 15, 2024. It received mostly positive reviews from players.

Vertical Kingdom is set in a world devastated by a war that lasted for an entire generation. The once great Empire is in shambles and it's up to the Great Architect to rebuild toward its former glory brick by brick. Travel the land, embark on randomized, roguelite-style expeditions, and build new cities with a fresh card-based building system combined with an intricate resource economy. Rebuild…

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

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79%

Audience ScoreBased on 53 reviews

music5 positive mentions

graphics3 negative mentions

The game offers a unique blend of deck-building and city-building mechanics, providing a fun and engaging experience.
Beautiful pixel art and soothing music create a charming atmosphere that enhances gameplay.
The game is challenging and encourages strategic thinking, making it enjoyable for fans of rogue-like and city management genres.

The game feels incomplete, with limited content and repetitive gameplay that doesn't fully utilize its systems.
The user interface is clunky and buggy, leading to frustrating experiences with saving and navigating menus.
There are significant balance issues, with random card draws sometimes leading to unfair situations that can ruin progress.

gameplay
20 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
15%
70%
15%
The gameplay is characterized by a mix of engaging mechanics, including card game elements and resource management, which can be fun and immersive, though some players feel that many mechanics lack significance in the overall experience. While the game offers a satisfying loop of planning and construction, it suffers from a lack of evolution in its mechanics, leading to repetitive gameplay as players progress. Additionally, some mechanics require better explanations and redesign, indicating a need for further testing and refinement.
- “Fun gameplay that made me lose track of time.”
- “The mechanics for how you are forced to construct your city are super fun, and reward building the city in pretty ways.”
- “The gameplay itself is a satisfying loop of balancing various resources against one another, and planning ahead to make sure your city’s morale doesn’t plummet.”
- “There's many mechanics and 'things to do', but in the grand scheme of things, they kind of don't matter.”
- “It's not actually a city builder; there are no mechanics besides just building structures.”
- “It does not evolve; quite the opposite really - the exact same mechanics you used in your first hour of playing you will use in your 10th, except they keep working worse and worse.”
story
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
43%
14%
43%
The game's story and campaign are noted as interesting, providing a narrative to follow, but the overall experience is marred by a clunky user interface and a problematic save system that can lead to lost progress. Players express a desire for more unique challenges in the missions, as well as frustration with resource management during expeditions. Despite these issues, the plot adds a layer of engagement to the gameplay.
- “But it does have a kind of plot and story and campaign to follow which was interesting plus other mechanics that make the game interesting.”
- “There are city levels in this game, I was able to complete all maps from the main story without going past level 3 (there are 5).”
- “If they posed unique challenges, like some take way more of a particular resource, that could spice things up and make those final missions more challenging.”
- “There are city levels in this game; I was able to complete all maps from the main story without going past level 3 (there are 5).”
- “One thing that puts me off is that there isn't really a regular save/load menu where you can find your game, and that part feels very clunky. Also, be sure to quit while doing a mission and not in the throne room, or it will bug out.”
- “Also not receiving any imperial resource from a whole 2+ hour expedition chain if you fail on the last mission (instead of ending it yourself a turn before defeat) is just table-flipping stupid.”
music
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
83%
17%
The music in the game is consistently praised for being beautiful, soothing, and relaxing, perfectly complementing the puzzle-solving and city-building gameplay. Reviewers appreciate the calming background music, which enhances the overall experience, despite some critiques of the UI design. Overall, the soundtrack contributes significantly to the game's atmosphere and enjoyment.
- “Beautiful, chill, soothing music, puzzle-solving city builder.”
- “Relaxing music, great art.”
- “It's an entertaining game, with incredible music, a good design and it never ceases to surprise you.”
graphics
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
17%
50%
The graphics of the game are widely praised for their charming pixel art style, contributing to a nostalgic and aesthetic experience. However, some players express a desire for clearer visual indicators, particularly regarding resource management and loyalty metrics. Overall, the visuals enhance the gameplay, making it an appealing city builder.
- “[i]tl;dr: Vertical Kingdom is a charming city builder with gorgeous pixel art graphics and a unique premise.”
- “First of all, the pixel art visuals are amazing.”
- “If your army was graphically represented on the map, that would be awesome (even if they only come out during invasions).”
- “A very aesthetic game, though with a slightly frustrating resource management system and metagame.”
- “I would have liked to see a slightly clearer visualization showing how much loyalty you are losing each turn, maybe with some bright flashing graphics for dunces like me.”
grinding
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game tedious and unbalanced, detracting from the overall enjoyment despite its appealing visuals and content.
- “I wanted to like this one, as it looks nice and has a decent amount of content, but it is just too tedious and unbalanced to be fun.”
- “The grinding feels endless and repetitive, making it hard to stay engaged with the game.”
- “I found myself spending more time grinding than actually enjoying the gameplay, which really dampened my experience.”
replayability
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
100%
Players highlight the game's strong replayability, noting that after several hours, they've only explored a fraction of the content. The roguelike elements further enhance this aspect by providing diverse playstyles and experiences with each playthrough.
- “I played for 6 hours and it feels like I've only seen about 30% of the game. It's a roguelike that offers vastly different playstyles when replaying regions, enhancing its replayability.”
- “The game is packed with content, and every playthrough feels unique. I love how the choices I make lead to different outcomes, making me want to dive back in again and again.”
- “With multiple character classes and random events, each run feels fresh and exciting. The replayability is off the charts!”
- “I played for 6 hours and it only feels like I've seen about 30% of the game. It's a roguelike, but the replayability doesn't offer vastly different playstyles when revisiting regions.”
- “After completing the game, I found little incentive to replay it. The lack of meaningful choices and variety made each run feel repetitive.”
- “While the game has a lot of content, the replayability is hindered by the predictable mechanics and lack of significant changes in subsequent playthroughs.”
stability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's stability is heavily criticized due to a buggy user interface, including overlapping menus and unresponsiveness, as well as issues with the save system that can lead to lost progress. Players have also reported fatal crashes, indicating significant stability concerns that detract from the overall experience.
- “The UI is really bad and buggy, with menus overlapping one another, being unresponsive, and generally unclear. The save system also bugged out and lost my mission progression.”
- “The UI is buggy, leading to fatal crashes, and the design is poor, especially while still in the tutorial.”
atmosphere
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's atmosphere is characterized by charming details that enhance its visual appeal, creating a calming environment that allows players to easily immerse themselves in the experience.
- “In short, there are a lot of cute little details that make the game a feast for the eyes and provide it with a lot of atmosphere.”
- “The atmosphere is calming, and it's easy to get immersed in.”