Vertical Kingdom

About

Vertical Kingdom is a single player survival city builder game. It was developed by Farlight Games Industry and was released on April 15, 2024. It received 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…

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81%

Audience ScoreBased on 80 reviews

gameplay7 positive mentions

story3 negative mentions

Unique blend of city-building and deck-building mechanics that offers a fresh gameplay experience.
Beautiful pixel art and charming atmospheric details, accompanied by soothing and fitting music.
Relaxing and engaging gameplay loop that encourages planning, strategic resource management, and creative building.

Roguelite elements and RNG card draws can be frustrating, leading to a perceived lack of control and repetitiveness.
UI issues including bugs, unclear design, and awkward controls hamper the overall user experience.
Limited depth in city-building mechanics and campaign progression, with some players finding it lacking complexity and variety.

gameplay
32 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
22%
69%
9%
The gameplay offers a relaxing and visually appealing city-building experience with straightforward mechanics and light card-based strategies, suitable for casual play. However, many find the core loop repetitive and lacking depth or meaningful progression, as new mechanics rarely emerge and challenges feel shallow. While some enjoy the puzzle-like aspects and balance of resources, the gameplay may feel unengaging or too simple for those seeking a fully fleshed-out, evolving city builder.
- “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.”
- “The mechanics for how you are forced to construct your city are super fun, and reward building the city in pretty ways.”
- “It really is a game that I recommend, with which you can have a good time of entertainment, discovering new cards and trying different strategies while enjoying a gameplay and environment designed to enjoy.”
- “It does not evolve; quite the opposite really - the exact same mechanics you used in your first hour of playing you will use on your 10th, except they keep working worse and worse.”
- “The storyline is fairly short, and after playing through each region, it feels like there is little progression other than small buffs to your starting resources and minor boosts to gameplay physics.”
- “There's many mechanics and "things to do," but in the grand scheme of things, they kind of don't matter.”
graphics
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
58%
25%
17%
The game features gorgeous pixel art with a charming and aesthetically pleasing city-building style, enhanced by unique visual details like buildings changing appearance when stacked. Its nostalgic and vibrant graphics create a relaxing atmosphere, though some players wished for clearer visual cues regarding gameplay elements. Overall, the visuals strongly contribute to the game's appeal and immersive experience.
- “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.”
- “It hooks you with its stunning graphics and a soundtrack.”
- “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.”
- “If your army was graphically represented on the map that would be awesome (even if they only come out during invasions).”
story
11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
9%
64%
27%
The story offers a basic, short campaign that introduces game mechanics and provides some progression, but it lacks depth and complexity, which may leave players wanting more. While the plot and campaign add interest, the storytelling feels limited and repetitive, with minimal impact on gameplay. Additionally, technical issues like clunky UI and save system bugs somewhat detract from the overall experience.
- “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.”
- “The storyline is fairly short, and after a playthrough of each region, it feels like there is little progression other than small buffs to your starting resources and minor boosts to gameplay physics.”
- “The pseudo-story roguelite mode somehow felt both like an eternity yet disappointingly short.”
- “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).”
music
11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
82%
18%
The music in the game is widely praised for being calm, soothing, and perfectly complementing the relaxing, puzzle-solving city builder gameplay. Alongside stunning visuals, the evocative soundtrack enhances immersion and enjoyment, creating a captivating and serene atmosphere for players.
- “Beautiful, chill, soothing music, puzzle-solving city builder.”
- “A lovingly designed strategy game that you can spend hours enjoying its gameplay, its art and its magnificent and evocative soundtrack that awakens a feeling of wonder and immersion.”
- “It's an entertaining game, with incredible music, a good design and it never ceases to surprise you.”
atmosphere
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The atmosphere is calming and highly immersive, enriched by numerous charming details that create a visually delightful and engaging experience.
- “The atmosphere is calming and it's easy to get immersed in.”
- “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.”
stability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game suffers from significant stability issues, including frequent crashes and a buggy, poorly designed UI with overlapping menus and unresponsiveness. Additionally, the save system is unreliable, causing loss of mission progress.
- “Buggy UI, fatal crashes, bad UI design, still stuck in tutorial.”
- “UI is really bad and buggy (menus overlapping with one another, unresponsive, and generally unclear), and the save system also bugged out and lost my mission progression.”
replayability
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game offers strong replayability, with varied playstyles and content that encourage multiple playthroughs, as players have noted experiencing only a fraction of the game after extended play. Its roguelike elements further enhance the diversity of each run.
- “Played for 6 hours and it only looks like I've seen about 30% of the game, not to mention it's a roguelike with some replayability offering vastly different playstyles when replaying regions.”
grinding
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Users find the grinding in the game tedious and unbalanced, making it feel more like a chore than an enjoyable part of the experience.
- “I wanted to like this one, as it looks nice and with a decent amount of content, but it is just too tedious and unbalanced to be fun.”