I was randomly browsing Steam games one fine sale weekend and this game popped up in my recos. And for only P29.99, it was stupid not to snag it quick.
Skyhill is a point and click roguelike survival game from Mandragora and Daedalic Entertainment that drops you into the top this penthouse suite named “SkyHill”. Yes, it’s not subtle. I was like “Woah, dude” when the intro started.
Your main objective is to descend 100 floors full of zombie abominations that used to be residents. It’s not going to be easy because every descent consumes energy and resources, and everything depends on luck.
I remember playing this game for what feels like more than 20 runs. There’s something oddly compelling about roguelike games. The thrill of scarcity, the feel of rolling the dice with every run and not blaming yourself when you lose was addictive–well, until it wasn’t anymore. Here’s my honest review.
Table of Contents
Release date: October 6, 2015
Developer: Mandragora
Steam Price: P299.95 ($5) but I bought it for only P29.99 on steam sale
Tags: Survival, Roguelike, Adventure, Indie
Steam link: Slender Threads
Gupscore: 5/10
Things I love about this game
I am a sucker for zombie games. The eerie atmosphere, the musical score that keeps your butt clenched throughout the game and that satisfaction of defeating a huge fat one on your nth run. It is that roguelike charm about this game that keeps you coming back after dying a bunch of times. You want to be a master survivalist. And despite the game trying its best to work against you, somehow you’re drawn to try and try and try again.
➽ quick immersion, simple game mechanics
This game doesn’t really come with a complicated backstory or a lengthy tutorial for how to do anything. It’s a point and click game so you basically just need to point and click. Even the inventory management is a no-brainer. If you’ve played any game ever, this game will be so easy to pick up.
The premise is quite simple: You need to descend 100 floors and you win the game when you manage to get out of the hotel. Every floor offers two things: monster combat and an opportunity to scavenge for resources. However, you need to be smart about going up and down the stairs as well as going in and out rooms, because every move costs energy. And when you run out of resources and energy, or if you lose to a mutation, you die.
The resource management is pretty easy as well. You loot rooms and you combine items to craft better weapons and meals. You also get to upgrade your hotel room, kitchen and your workshop. Nothing complicated.
I was drawn to the simplicity of this game mechanic because I was trying to develop this skill of being more present in the game (I know, kumbaya and shit like that), and tone down my predilection to want to win as fast as possible. I needed to mind my steps and be more careful with my decisions–kind of like in real life.
➽ that cozy post apocalyptic vibe
I’m not entirely sure how to articulate this feeling of chill while playing something that is created to induce fear. Cozy may not be the appropriate word for it, but I’m sticking with it. That was how it felt playing this game.
The art direction is clean, moody and distinct without the depressive and disgusting post-apocalyptic vomit. It’s got that “you just got sucked in a comic book” feel to it and I live. The monsters are terrifying but are oddly cute, like that fat one who suddenly decides to wear clothes on some floors lol.
Things that could have been better
Two things about this game are both right: Roguelikes are addictive, and roguelikes suck ass. The game yawns at your little achievements and smiles mischievously when you reach a dead end. While it attempts to be the least bit helpful by introducing Perks, you still end up choosing between terrible combat skills or a significant lack of resources.
➽ that damn luck
Elaborating on this game’s hits and misses, I have to note that the same game mechanic that excited me soon became a drag. There’s no point trying to build a game strategy. I mean you could, if you know which perks to get and which monsters to avoid. But if you don’t get that knife at the first few floors, you’re doomed to fail, and not at your own folly.
Resource distribution is based on luck. Yes, some of my game runs ended when I didn’t get that knife at early game and I decided to ragequit. I think there’s a pattern, that the minute that knife doesn’t show up, you just know you’re not going to get decent resources anywhere else. The resources don’t respawn. Once you unlocked and consumed, it’s spent and gone. There are rooms where you need to click on furniture that don’t even contain anything. Makes you feel stupid on wasting that energy to get in and out of the room.
Combat outcome is based on luck. The game offers you three options to hit the mutation per turn and I guess the higher the chance to miss, the more damage you deal. This will either make you play safe, just keep hitting the body and save your resources or make you gamble at a few hard hits. There’s also no guarantee that defeating a creature will get you something. There were moments where I exhausted my resources to survive killing this mutation, and I GET NOTHING. It’s such a boner killer. A couple of times I tried to skip rooms and floors because I didn’t think it was worth it. That made surviving a little bit easier but at the cost of losing what made this game exciting at the start.
Sleep is based on luck. Game rolls a dice on whether you get a good night’s sleep or a nightmare, which affects how much HP you recover. I’d literally rather die and start fresh lol
There are perks that kind of amp up your chances at specific items like with getting resources or decreasing the energy spent with every movement, but you only get one at a time, and every perk has a downside to it so, “priorities.”
You can also level up your stats, but you won’t really feel it unless you got one bumped up ridiculously high, like Accuracy. Some Steam guides were like focus on Accuracy, and even if I did, I still got misses. Same with strength, there’s still that chance of getting a weaker hit but then double the chance of missing. Another thing: if you want to try crafting certain weapons, they would require a specific skill level. So again, “priorities.”
➽ no motivation to upgrade
The game has limited and non-respawning mutations and resources so you literally have zero bandwidth to want to upgrade anything at all. The bed, kitchen and workbench have available “levels” to upgrade. The same with the food and craftable weapons. There’s a ton of options dangled in your face but you don’t really have enough lootable resources to go “exploring” unless you die and keep trying stuff, one painful stuff at a time, which sort of felt like a pointless bit to kill time.
What even is the point of upgrading your hotel room when your objective is to get the heck out of the hotel? And why would you want to have an upgraded workshop if there’s literally no monster to beat anymore?
Unless there was a way to keep gathering resources and beating mutations, I see no point in lingering around. I guess the takeaway here is: If you want the player to keep dying and playing again, there must be something more. Which brings me to my last point.
➽ lackluster narrative
Zombie games portray a sense of despair within the ripples of its narration. The setting, the character and story direction–it needs to bring out a sense of desperation from the player without upsetting the motivation to survive.
In short, what sets zombie games apart are the stories. It’s how we couldn’t get enough of zombie literature. It’s not really about the zombies, it’s about the people and how they try to navigate this horrifying plight.
And when the story is bland, the game becomes yet another zombie game (and yes, Yet Another Zombie Game is an actual game). There’s simple, then there’s simple.
So okay, the apocalypse happened after World War III. The guy was out on a business trip, (after World War III, are you kidding?) and decided to check in SkyHill hotel when the shit hit the fan. Then somehow his wife and kid just happened to be in different rooms of the hotel. Right? Doesn’t really make sense. There’s also a serial killer on the loose, and I’m not sure I got enough newspaper clippings or voice recordings to piece together what is up with that. He defeats the serial killer, and… yeah.
Plot was an afterthought. And that was the most disappointing part.
Final Thoughts
SKYHILL is one of those games that makes a strong first impression. The teaser trailer has a definite kick to it. It’s atmospheric, tense, and wonderfully minimalist for a point and click game. It is addictive to play but once you dig beneath the surface, you start to notice the cracks. The repetitive design, shallow combat, and RNG-heavy survival mechanics can wear thin after a while.
Still, if you’re looking for a short, engaging survival game that you can pick up for a few runs at a time—and it’s always on sale—it’s definitely worth checking out.
