Project Highrise: Architects Edition

Genre: Management Sim

Players: 1

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Review:

Project Highrise is a Management Sim much in the same vein as the classic game Sim Tower, where players manage a building, choosing the tenants to take in and where to place them, what amenities to build, and trying to balance the needs of those tenants against your own resource limitations. Originally released on PC in 2016, Project Highrise received five expansions and ports to other platforms, with the Nintendo Switch receiving the Architects Edition of the game in 2018, containing all of the game’s expansions.

In terms of presentation, Project Highrise is decent but unimpressive. The game’s 2D visuals get the job done, but don’t have much in the way of personality or detail. The music is pleasant but not especially memorable, and the game’s tutorials don’t feature any sort of voice over. It’s not bad, but there’s nothing here that really catches the eye or the ear, and I’d even go as far as to say the lack of personality in the visuals even affects the gameplay a bit, as it’s not easy to tell at a glance what specific rooms are sometimes.

However, what this game lacks in presentation, it makes up for by being a solid simulation. Players are given a good variety of options in the development of their tower, with different types of facilities each having their own requirements, many tying into each other. For example, I started out aiming for a straightforward apartment building, but soon found that expanding to fancier (and more lucrative) apartments would require the on-site presence of restaurants and shops. And while residents wanted their homes to be spaced away from offending noises and smells, restaurants and shops craved to be in the midst of as much foot traffic as possible. Plus, upgrading to better shops would require increasing my building’s prestige level, which meant hiring on consultants who could hook me up with art dealers… you get the idea.

There are a few things that could do with improvement, though. When tenants are unhappy, it’s not always clear what the cause of their frustration is. Sometimes they’ll outright tell you they have an issue with too much noise or they’re not getting enough electricity, but other times all you have to go on is a red sad face. What’s more, when you have a new expense or new source of revenue, your net income isn’t refreshed until the end of the day, making it hard to manage funds, especially if you’re cutting it close to the wire.

Also, I have to point out that this game does not have any sort of touchscreen controls at all, despite that it seems like it would be a perfect candidate for them. And there’s one other issue the Nintendo Switch version of the game has that I’m not particularly pleased with – the price. The $40 asking price for this game is a bit steep when it’s not pushing any technological envelopes.

However, despite all of these complaints, I still can’t deny that Project Highrise is an excellent, compelling Management Sim that manages to be one of the better games in its genre on the Nintendo Switch. The presentation may be a bit bland, and there are certainly areas where the game could do a better job conveying information to the player, but overall this is a solid game that anyone who enjoys the genre would do well to give a look.

tl;dr – Project Highrise is a Management Sim along the same lines as Sim Tower, that has you supervising a building as you grow it and manage its tenants. The presentation here is a bit bland, and there are areas where it could do with improvement, but all told this is still an excellent entry in the genre with a lot of depth and variety to pursue, and it’s well worth trying out.

Grade: B

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