Skyhill | PS4 Review

2018 has opened my eyes to the world of roguelikes. Both Moonlighter and Dead Cells are currently in my personal top ten games of the year thus far. Mandragora Games‘ recent title, Skyhill, immediately caught my eye because of its clever twist on the formula. Although the pacing of the game won’t be for everyone, this title is worth a look for fans of the genre. Its difficulty offers a sense of satisfaction along with the “just one more run” mentality quite well.

A Turn-Based Roguelike

Perry Jason has holed himself up in a penthouse suite at the top of Skyhill apartments after the start of World War III. A nuclear attack has turned everyone in the city into mutants, including the inhabitants of the apartment building. After running out of food, Perry decides to brave the world and attempt his escape. Thus begins his downward climb of all 100 stories. Along the way, he battles mutants and starvation in an attempt to survive the apocalypse.

Where most roguelikes are action-oriented, Skyhill takes a point-and-click approach. It even adds turn-based combat to the mix, complete with dice roll percentages to determine damage dealt. It’s quite an interesting take on a roguelike, but don’t expect a quick-paced gameplay experience. This is a game that requires a high level of patience. You’ll die often before reaching the bottom floor, but once you do, it feels like a great sense of accomplishment.

Our hero has two stats to manage: a health meter, and a hunger meter. Every click into a new room depletes your hunger meter by one. As soon as that number reaches zero, your health meter starts to drain as well. Once that reaches zero, it’s game over.

Each floor has a stairwell in the middle and a room on either side of it. Your goal is to get to the bottom floor before hunger or enemies overtake you. Each room could contain helpful items such as food or health regeneration, a more powerful melee weapon, an enemy mutant, or even nothing at all. It’s up to you to decide your path. Although exploration is often risky, it comes with experience rewards when you successfully slay enemies. This allows you to boost your damage or even increase your chance of actually landing hits.

Upgrades, Upgrades, Upgrades

In true roguelike fashion, Perry has various methods of increasing his chances of survival. The most complex mechanic is keeping him fed in order to stave hunger. Sure, you can find food lying around in various rooms, but consuming on the spot might not be the best option. The penthouse suite unlocks a kitchen, amongst other helpful tools for crafting. Combining food items provides healthier meals that last longer and, in turn, increase survival. The trick is to learn the proper combinations to help your chances.

This is one element of the game that I wish had been improved since the PC release. It’s very difficult to tell which items you are able to upgrade. While they are highlighted, it’s very subtle. I spent a good amount of time just shuffling through possible upgrades seeing if I had enough resources to upgrade. A green check mark or something would have stood out much better.

The same goes for weapons. Towards the beginning, you might find a knife or a pipe, but they offer very little damage. The fun comes in combining items together in true Fallout fashion. It’s incredibly cool to see Perry wield brass knuckles with a sickle and spikes attached to it with duct tape. Especially when said item drains a satisfying amount of hit points from your enemies.

There’s also a very basic skill tree buried in the menu with four stats to choose from. I wish this had been explained a bit better, as I had no clue it even existed until my third or fourth run of the game. The only reason I discovered it was because I randomly stumbled across it by mistake. By that time, I had dropped the difficulty to easy out of frustration.

Not For Everyone, But Solid

Skyhill is a very unique and well-thought out game, but I fear many will be turned off by it’s deliberate nature. You won’t find yourself platforming or hack-and-slashing your way through enemies. This is more survival horror than action, and it’s a game where every step is an important decision. There’s even a drive for replay, as each difficulty level offers a different conclusion to the story. Completing a run unlocks perks to make your next run a bit easier as well, and each time you play, you’ll have a different experience. If you’ve got the patience, this one is definitely worth a look.

This article is based on a PS4 review copy provided by Daedalic Entertainment HmbH for coverage purposes and is also available on Steam, Xbox One, Steam, iOS, and GOG.