Highrisers is an indie RPG adventure game that combines urban survival mechanics with pixel art exploration on PC. Players guide a team of four survivors through procedurally generated skyscrapers in a city overrun by dreamers, mutated humans affected by a prion disease that traps victims in an endless sleep. The core loop centers on scavenging resources during the day, crafting equipment and defenses, and surviving nightly attacks while repairing a crashed helicopter to escape the metropolis.
Gameplay
The gameplay revolves around exploration inside high rise buildings filled with loot and hazards. Survivors search floors for spare parts, tools, food, and materials that fuel a deep crafting system. Basic items like clubs evolve into crossbows, improvised firearms, and explosives through research and skill unlocks. Barricades, workbenches, medicine, and machinery round out the options, allowing players to prepare for the dreamers that emerge after dark.
Each of the four characters brings individual skill trees that unlock recipes, perks, and unique interactions. Pooling knowledge across the team proves essential because no single survivor can master every craft. Procedural generation creates varied building layouts and challenges, ensuring each skyscraper presents fresh scavenging opportunities and defensive puzzles. The crashed helicopter on the roof serves as the ultimate goal, requiring incremental repairs and upgrades to enable rooftop jumps and longer flights as the team progresses outward.
Game Modes
Highrisers delivers its experience through a single player survival structure without separate multiplayer or competitive modes. The entire campaign focuses on managing the fixed team of four survivors across a sequence of buildings. Daytime phases emphasize careful planning, resource allocation, and skill development while nighttime phases test combat, evasion, and defensive setups against the dreamers. Special floors occasionally appear with higher value loot or unique interactions that reward thorough exploration.
Exploration and Progression
Procedural skyscrapers offer seemingly endless variety in layout and difficulty. Players must balance immediate survival needs against long term goals like helicopter modifications that increase carrying capacity and flight range. Research trees gate advanced items behind specific character skills, encouraging thoughtful team assignments and repeated runs through different buildings. The system rewards ingenuity in combining scavenged parts into functional gear while the threat of starvation or dreamer incursions adds constant pressure.
Is It Worth Playing?
Highrisers appeals most to players who enjoy retro pixel art survival games with heavy emphasis on crafting and base defense. The atmosphere of dimly lit urban environments and the tension of nightly dreamer assaults create a distinctive mood that stands out in the indie space. However, the game carries a mostly negative reception on Steam, with roughly 35 percent positive reviews from a modest number of users. Common feedback highlights inventory management frustrations and control issues that can disrupt the otherwise solid scavenging and crafting loop.
Those drawn to methodical resource gathering, character skill customization, and procedural building crawls may still find value in its focused single player design. The title receives no ongoing seasonal updates or expansions, so its current state reflects the original release. Prospective players should weigh the niche appeal against the documented technical and interface shortcomings before committing.
