Skyhill (PC) Review

Billionaire Perry Jason watches the aftermath of World War 3 from the top of his tower, the penthouse of the Skyhill hotel. Tucked away in the safety of his expensive suite, he soon starts to feel that his bio-secure castle is more like a cell; a cell that will soon be his grave since there is nothing left to eat; therefore, he must now exit his cosy room, and go down 100 floors filled with all kinds of hostile, mutated abominations. What can a single, feeble human do against a legion of monsters, though? Not much, to say the truth.

Before delving into the mechanics of this concept, however, a couple of words about the overall design and atmosphere of the whole thing. From the rooms to the characters, Skyhill uses a great, minimalist style, with simple shapes and just a few colours. It is somewhat disappointing, though, that the horror aspect of the game has been thrown out of the window. The monsters, for example, while grotesque, have a somewhat cartoonish appearance, and the music is more moody than frightening.

Of course, the pleasure here is not the setting, but the thrill of trying to survive the odds, and boy, are these odds stacked high. Perry, like most Homo sapiens, is a weakling, meaning that he can't fight very well, and constantly needs some sort of energy (also known as food), to remain on his two feet, because each time he enters a room he loses a portion of it. Food, as well as weapons, can be found by scavenging the various deserted apartments, or the bodies of the enemies - just don't expect to find a plasma rifle in there, though.

The controls are extremely simple, with everything from fighting to item gathering being done with a simple mouse click. The whole ordeal, however, turns out to be quite the tough nut to crack. For the majority of each play-through, health and energy will probably be around 20 to 50%, the weapons that he'll find will be simple kitchen knives and pipes, and the food and med-kits will only be able to raise their respective gauges by 5 to 10 points or so. The worse thing, however, are battles, where Perry will constantly miss his target, or lose an impressive amount of health before killing his foe.

Fighting is, undoubtedly, the worse aspect here. Not because it's an unpredictable game of dice (since it is stats-based), but because it feels largely uninvolving, slow, and repetitive. Furthermore, while it's possible to target a specific part of a monster's body to raise the damage, the trade-off is a loss in accuracy. Battles are nothing more than point-and-click and greatly non-strategic borefests, but the good thing is that what matters the most in here is what the player can do before actually encountering something hungry for human chow.

Being a rogue-like, every session is 100% unique, both in terms of monster and item placing, and dying means that the whole adventure has to begin anew. This raises the thrill of trying to survive with what little resources can be found - and that's where Skyhill really starts to show what it is made of. The innovation is that items can be combined in order to craft something even better. For example, a hammer needs some scrap metal, a stick, and some duct tape, while a med-kit needs a roll of bandages, a bottle of painkillers, and a bottle of alcohol.

Expanding on that system of crafting, more recipes can be unlocked by upgrading the kitchen and workbench that exist in the top of this fancy tower, enabling the creation of far better tools, medics, weapons, and meals. The penthouse is also a great place to sleep and heal, in exchange for a little bit of energy, although this can also lead to some unpleasant surprises from time to time. Is that all there is to do here? It's possible to find torn newspapers, half-written notes, and photos that add to the "lore" in one way or another (with some nice twists included), but, yeah, for the most part it's all about searching, crafting, fighting.

Skyhill can soon become boring, repetitive, and even annoying - plus it won't really make anyone keep on playing till the sun sets, since it is much better in smaller doses, like three to five play-throughs per day or something. The most important thing about it, and the one that everyone willing to try it out should bear in mind, though, is that the fun here stems from the feeling of hopelessness and the unpredictable nature of this quest - something that isn't everyone's cup of tea. Take the passive perks that can be unlocked, for example. Bulimia reduces the need for food, but raises the chance to lose health from eating; Climacophobia makes battles easier inside apartments, but much harder when in the stairways, and so on. Lady Luck is God here.