Info about Vertical Kingdom:

Official game description:
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 an Empire, not through force of arms or devious politics, but brick and mortar!
Raise towering cities using a card-based system. Pick five decks each turn, then play the cards to build upwards. Manage resources like food, water, bricks, wood, stone, and metal, all needed to ensure the city has room to grow and play new cards.
As the Great Architect, it's your job to rebuild the Empire, one building and one region at a time. Undertake great expeditions to raise new cities in the Emperor's name and deal with the challenges of each region: Treacherous terrain, resource shortages, and ever-limited building space.
Take ownership of every decision and every card played as all buildings are permanent, no redos. Plan around and synergize with imperial citizen’s homes and workshops. Produce more taxes, resources, and maintain loyalty to the Empire - and just maybe the locals will help you with the great evil that lurks among the ruins...

Release date: 15 Apr, 2024

Categories: Resource Management, Card-based Gameplay, City Builder, Single-player, Roguelike, Vertical City Building


- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price: No data
- Playtime Metrics: No data
- Time-to-fun: No data
- Player Archetypes: No data


Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category.
Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews.
What players like:
- Fun, engaging, and rewarding gameplay (weight 0.95): The game is praised for its engaging and fun gameplay loop, combining city-building with puzzle and strategy elements. Players find the game relaxing, addictive, and rewarding, with a good balance of luck and strategy. Many reviewers highlight the game's ability to make time fly by and provide a sense of accomplishment.
- Beautiful and appealing pixel art (weight 0.53): The game's visuals are consistently praised, with reviewers highlighting the beautiful pixel art style and aesthetically pleasing building designs. The changing shapes of buildings and cute details like flags add to the atmosphere and visual appeal. The high quality of the dot art further enhances the overall visual experience.
- Strategic deck-building mechanics (weight 0.16): The game features well-designed deck-building mechanics that allow players to discover new cards and strategies. Players have strong control over card draws, reducing frustration and adding to the strategic depth. Cards and artifacts can significantly impact gameplay, even allowing players to break core rules for unique building placements.
- Simple interface, clear goals (weight 0.11): The game features a simple and intuitive interface, making it easy for players to understand the goals and progress at their own pace. The resource management is not overly difficult, lowering the barrier to entry. The UI is well-organized, and the developer is responsive to feedback and bug reports, further enhancing the user experience.
- Relaxing and immersive audio (weight 0.1): The game's music is consistently described as beautiful, chill, and soothing, creating a relaxing and immersive atmosphere. The sound effects, such as clinking coins and flipping cards, are also pleasing and enhance the overall gameplay experience. The music complements the game perfectly, contributing to the positive experience.
- Encourages creative vertical construction (weight 0.08): The game encourages vertical construction due to limited horizontal space, leading to a unique and enjoyable building experience. Optimizing space by building upwards and arranging structures in the air is fun, with a Tetris-like aspect to the gameplay. Constructing residential housing is challenging but visually appealing and therapeutic.
- Active and responsive developer (weight 0.08): The developer is actively involved in updating the game with feedback in mind and is very responsive to bug reports. The game is described as a labor of love from a small team, indicating a commitment to improving the player experience. This active development contributes positively to the game's overall quality.
- Progression with new discoveries (weight 0.08): The game offers decent variety in level design and gains more depth as the player progresses. There are always new things to discover, and players can unlock newer content to build more structures. The game is full of surprises, keeping the gameplay fresh and engaging as players advance.
- Similar to other popular games (weight 0.07): The game is compared to other titles like Kingdom Two Crowns, Islanders, Against the Storm, and Slay the Spire, providing a familiar yet unique experience. It's also described as a simplified version of Frostpunk but with less pressure, suggesting a more relaxed and accessible gameplay style. These comparisons help players understand the game's mechanics and overall feel.
- Chill and nostalgic retro feel (weight 0.05): The game evokes nostalgia for old 8-bit games, providing a retro feel that appeals to players who grew up with classic titles. The chill and nostalgic graphics contribute to this retro aesthetic, enhancing the overall experience for those who appreciate vintage gaming. This nostalgic element adds a unique charm to the game.
- Enjoyable free-building sandbox mode (weight 0.04): The ability to freely build and experiment in the sandbox mode is a fantastic feature, allowing players to explore the game's mechanics without restrictions. This free-building aspect is very fun and enjoyable, providing a creative outlet for players to design and construct their cities as they see fit.
- Gorgeous and detailed environments (weight 0.04): The environments are visually appealing, with details like airships and boats adding to the overall aesthetic. The high quality of the pixel art further enhances the visual experience, making the game a pleasure to look at. These visual elements contribute to the game's immersive atmosphere.
- Good for killing time (weight 0.03): The game is good for killing time, indicating that it's an engaging and enjoyable way to pass the time. Time flies by while playing, suggesting that the gameplay is captivating and keeps players entertained. This makes the game a suitable option for casual gaming sessions.
- Absence of noticeable bugs (weight 0.02): Reviewers noted the absence of noticeable bugs, indicating a stable and polished game experience. This lack of technical issues contributes to a smoother and more enjoyable gameplay session. The game's stability is a positive aspect that enhances the overall quality.
- Enjoyable empire upgrade system (weight 0.02): The empire and territory upgrade system is enjoyable, adding another layer of progression and strategy to the game. This system allows players to expand their influence and unlock new abilities, enhancing the overall gameplay experience. The upgrade system provides a sense of accomplishment and encourages players to continue exploring the game's content.
- Automated score calculation (PC) (weight 0.02): The PC version automates score calculation, enhancing the user experience by streamlining the process. This automation saves players time and effort, allowing them to focus on the core gameplay. The automated score calculation is a convenient feature that improves the overall quality of the PC version.
- Calming and immersive atmosphere (weight 0.02): The atmosphere is calming and immersive, creating a relaxing and enjoyable experience for players. This immersive atmosphere helps players to get lost in the game and forget about their worries. The calming atmosphere contributes to the overall positive experience.
- Refreshing and unique experience (weight 0.02): The combination of mechanics creates a refreshing experience unlike anything else on the market, suggesting that the game offers a unique and innovative gameplay style. This originality sets the game apart from other titles and makes it stand out in the genre. The refreshing experience is a key selling point for the game.
- Proper Japanese localization (weight 0.02): The Japanese localization is properly done, indicating attention to detail and a commitment to providing a quality experience for Japanese-speaking players. This accurate localization ensures that the game is accessible and enjoyable for a wider audience. The properly done localization is a positive aspect that enhances the overall quality.
- Inexpensive upgrades for playthroughs (weight 0.02): The Emperor provides relatively inexpensive upgrades for repeated playthroughs, encouraging players to continue playing and exploring the game. These upgrades enhance the gameplay experience and provide a sense of progression. The inexpensive upgrades make it easier for players to improve their cities and achieve their goals.
- Manageable difficulty (weight 0.02): The difficulty is currently manageable, indicating that the game is well-balanced and provides a fair challenge for players. This manageable difficulty makes the game accessible to a wider audience and ensures that players are not overly frustrated. The balanced difficulty is a positive aspect that enhances the overall enjoyment of the game.
- Entertaining runs (weight 0.02): The runs are very entertaining, indicating that the game provides an engaging and enjoyable experience for players. This positive feedback suggests that the game is well-designed and provides a satisfying experience for players. The entertaining runs enhance the overall quality and enjoyment of the game.
- Possible to 'Spiffing-Brit' game (weight 0.01): It is possible to 'Spiffing-Brit' the game, which is amusing. This point is a cultural reference and doesn't provide specific feedback on the game's mechanics or features. Therefore, it has a low importance score.

Common complaints:
- Lacks depth, content, replayability (weight 0.41): The game lacks depth and complexity expected of city builders, with limited content, repetitive gameplay, and a short campaign. Many reviewers felt the game becomes boring quickly due to these limitations, and the price is too high for the amount of content.
- Poor UI, unintuitive mechanics (weight 0.41): The game suffers from a poorly designed and unintuitive user interface, construction restrictions, and unclear information, making it difficult for players to understand and enjoy the game. These issues hinder the player's ability to build and manage their city effectively.
- Balance issues, too easy (weight 0.34): The game's balance is flawed, leading to exploits, unfair situations, and a lack of challenge. Resource abundance trivializes the experience, and the game rarely presents hard choices or meaningful challenges.
- Excessive reliance on luck (weight 0.18): The game relies heavily on luck due to its roguelike and card-based elements, leading to frustrating situations where players lack essential resources or draw useless cards. This reliance on RNG can lead to unavoidable failure and hinders construction freedom.
- Useless cards, limited hand (weight 0.12): Increasing the city level adds more building types, increasing the chance of drawing unwanted cards. The game lacks a tool for players to remove unwanted cards from the drawing pile, leading to frustration when drawing useless cards. The hand size is extremely limited.
- Save issues, fatal crashes (weight 0.11): The game suffers from technical issues, including save data loss and fatal crashes, which can result in significant progress being reverted or the game becoming unplayable. These issues severely impact the player experience and can lead to frustration.
- Unclear cards, translation issues (weight 0.1): Some card descriptions are unclear, and the card selection interface is not ideal, making it difficult for players to understand the game's mechanics. Additionally, the game suffers from translation issues and grammar problems.
- Punishing loss, restart required (weight 0.07): Losing is quite punishing, requiring a complete restart of the region from scratch. Not receiving any imperial resource from a 2+ hour expedition chain if you fail on the last mission is frustrating, especially for a rogue-like game.
- Repetitive maps, lack diversity (weight 0.06): Maps become repetitive due to the same beginning sequence with minimal variation, suggesting a need for more diverse map designs such as resource scarcity or pre-built city layouts. FTL-like map paths are too random, sometimes offering choices that lead to identical pathways, making the choice feel meaningless.
- Late-game progression issues (weight 0.05): Several high-level service buildings are located at the top of the tech tree. High-level buildings are ineffective; a level 2 farm can only support fifteen people. The game ends prematurely because education and entertainment cannot be unlocked in time to meet the rising service needs.
- Limited assistant options (weight 0.03): There appears to be only one assistant to choose from, which is unfortunate. Only one assistant is available, despite a large menu suggesting more options; the architect assistant is unlocked after beating each area once.
- Price is too high (weight 0.03): The discounted price of 49 is a bit expensive. The price is a bit high.
- Missing achievements (weight 0.03): Steam Achievements are not implemented or synced. The game lacks achievements.
- Weak sense of accomplishment (weight 0.03): The sense of accomplishment from completing construction is weak. Completing tasks does not provide a sense of accomplishment, only exhaustion.

Gameplay feedback:
- Core resource management gameplay (weight 0.53): Resource management is a central mechanic, requiring players to balance resources like food, water, taxes, and building materials. Constructing facilities requires resources, and some facilities consume resources each turn. Players must carefully balance residential facilities with resource-generating buildings.
- Strategic card-based city-building (weight 0.5): The core gameplay loop blends city-building with deck-building and roguelite elements. Players strategically place building cards to manage resources, meet tier requirements, and optimize limited space. The game requires balancing building costs, adapting to random card draws, and planning for future development.
- Roguelite campaign progression (weight 0.18): The game incorporates roguelite elements, such as progressing through stages on a map and unlocking upgrades. This adds replayability and variety to the gameplay experience. However, some reviewers feel the game leans more towards economic management or a campaign game than a traditional city builder.
- City defense and combat (weight 0.08): The game features combat elements, including defending against enemy attacks. Increasing the town level triggers these attacks, necessitating military development. Fights at higher city levels are often resource checks based on military buildings.
- Managing citizen loyalty (weight 0.05): Players must manage 'Imperial Loyalty' (citizen happiness) by balancing needs, resources, and desires. Discarding cards lowers the city's loyalty, adding another layer of strategic consideration to card management.
- Limited early expansion (weight 0.04): Upgrades are unlocked when enough people are acquired, but more people require specific things from the upgrade tree, limiting early expansion. The game forces you to play the tutorial to unlock content, preventing early planning.
- Strategic terrain usage (weight 0.02): Terrain usage is important for resource acquisition. Players must strategically decide where and how large to build resource-gathering facilities based on the available terrain.
- Stage-based goals (weight 0.02): Each stage has a goal, such as reaching a population of 80, which allows the player to abandon the stage and move to the next with a certain amount of resources.
- Vertical building mechanics (weight 0.02): Some facilities, like towers, can be built horizontally in the air, allowing for strategic use of space.

Performance notes:
- Janky user interface (weight 0.02): The game's user interface is unpolished and clunky. This can detract from the overall user experience, making navigation and interaction more difficult than necessary.
- Frame rate locked at 60 (weight 0.02): The game's frame rate is capped at 60 FPS. While this may be sufficient for some players, others with high-end hardware or a preference for smoother visuals may find it limiting.

Recommendations:
- Generally recommended, enjoyable experience (weight 0.52): Many reviewers recommend the game, citing its relaxing and charming gameplay, unique city-building mechanics, and the responsive developer. They find it enjoyable and are eager to continue playing, suggesting a positive overall experience.
- Not a long-term game (weight 0.34): The game is noted as not being a long-term, extensive experience like other city builders. It's more suited for casual play sessions rather than hundreds of hours of gameplay.
- Consider purchasing on sale (weight 0.29): Several reviewers suggest waiting for a sale before purchasing the game. This recommendation stems from concerns about the price point relative to the content currently offered.
- Not recommended by some (weight 0.15): Some reviewers do not recommend the game due to issues like data loss, lack of polish, and feeling incomplete. These negative sentiments lead to overall 'no' recommendations.
- Needs more gameplay testing (weight 0.03): The game needs more gameplay testing. This suggests potential issues with balance, bugs, or overall player experience that could be improved through further testing.
- Play on desktop/laptop (weight 0.02): One review recommends playing on desktop/laptop due to initial control issues experienced on the Steam Deck. This suggests potential platform-specific issues.
- City-building on flying turtle (weight 0.02): The game features a unique concept of building a city on the back of a flying turtle. This is a specific feature that sets it apart.
- Core gameplay loop is early (weight 0.02): The reviewer suggests that if you don't enjoy the game within the first two hours, you likely won't enjoy it later. This implies that the core gameplay loop is established early on.
- Time-consuming game (weight 0.02): The game requires several hours a day to spend. This suggests that the game is time-consuming.

Other player notes:
- City-builder, roguelike hybrid (weight 0.04): The game blends city-building with roguelike elements in a 2D format, featuring mini-campaigns where players construct multiple cities to achieve specific goals. However, some reviewers feel it leans more towards simply placing buildings rather than offering deep city-building mechanics.
- Progression unlocks resources/buildings (weight 0.02): Players accumulate progression points, which can then be used to unlock more starting resources and buildings. This system allows for a sense of advancement and customization as players progress through the game.
- Core issues persist (weight 0.02): Despite ongoing updates, core issues remain unaddressed. This suggests that while the developers are actively working on the game, the updates may not be targeting the most significant problems identified by players.
- Basic music and sound (weight 0.02): The music and sound design are considered functional but unremarkable. While they serve their purpose, they don't particularly stand out or enhance the overall gaming experience.
- Perk choices matter (weight 0.02): Players should carefully consider their perk selections. This suggests that perk choices have a meaningful impact on gameplay and require strategic decision-making.
- Popular among 'Architects' (weight 0.01): The reviewer mentions that many Architects want to play VK. This point is a cultural reference and doesn't provide specific feedback about the game itself, so it has a low importance score.

Emotions:
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