The Highrise

Most survival games offer the player an expanse locale to explore – but most survival titles aren't like The Highrise. This game pits you against an alien invasion, as you try to survive as long as you can inside a sealed-off high-rise building. Tensions run high as you try to make your way through tenebrous hallways and claustrophobia-inducing stairways.

The simple yet surprisingly effective horror formula on display in this title works amazingly well to keep you on your toes. The idea of depicting an alien invasion on a high-rise building also works amazingly well to deliver an experience that never relents, forcing you to always keep moving and improvising.

Deafening Silence

In a sense, The Highrise plays with the increasingly popular concept of liminal spaces. We've seen other recent horror games use the same concept recently, like Anemoiapolis: Chapter 1. The idea that a familiar but desolate locale could inspire some form of primal fear is used to great effect here, making you afraid of even the most common of rooms.

Of course, loneliness is the last thing you should be afraid of in The Highrise. Did I mention there's an alien invasion going on? Yeah, I bet the aliens can be a bit scarier than any liminal space. While the uncanny spaces might be a bit harder to tackle, there are some ways in which you can prevent the aliens from getting to you – and, if all else fails, you could always charge them head-on.

Vertical Descent

You begin your journey near the top of the building. As a runner, you're used to traveling around the edifice, which is why you know that the lower you go, the more dangers you'll face. However, as you might know from other survival games, more danger equals greater rewards.

The lower floors hold better equipment and resources, so you might want to venture going down from time to time. It's like Subnautica, where descending into the unknown eventually becomes your only hope of making it out alive.

Along the way, you'll have to keep a close eye on your surroundings. Things like broken glass or falling from heights can produce noise that can attract your killer neighbors, and you certainly don't want that to happen.

Manage Your Hunger

Like any survival game worth its salt, The Highrise forces you to keep in check your hunger and thirst levels. However, you can't just eat any hamburger you find inside trashcans or anything like that. The game features a "food poisoning" mechanic that forces you to search for viable food.

All in all, The Highrise is one of those games that forces you to learn every little mechanic the game has to offer if you hope to survive. The focus on raw survival over base-building or other common aspects of the genre is certainly refreshing, delivering a gaming experience that's tough to beat.

Pros

• Great setting for a survival game
• The enemies are formidable and genuinely terrifying
• Lots of fascinating survival mechanics keep the game engaging

Cons

• Despite its variety, the core formula can get repetitive after a while