Why is UNHOLY HEIGHTS so Unusual and Fun?

I’ve played various management games, and Unholy Heights is pretty unique. You are a new landlord of a block of apartments and your mission is to become a respected devil. It was released back in 2013 and is available on Nintendo Switch, Nintendo 3DS, Sony PlayStation 4 and PC. It was developed by Mebius and Petit Depotto.

Becoming the Devil of Unholy Heights

The plot is rather simple. You are the devil and your mission is to lure in new residents of your apartment block. Then send them into battle with courageous but dumb adventurers. In return, you receive funds that can then be used to improve the dwellings. Eventually, you are able to add more levels to your apartment which means more residents and more funds.

To begin with, your only troubles come from external threats such as random adventurers and mission enemies. But as you unlock more monsters, they become more particular than their neighbors. Some of them hate living next to a specific type. Let their unhappiness continue to grow and they will leave. Taking with them their attack power, but at least they leave the belongings you bought.

You have to be tactical when inviting new residents into your apartments. If you make sure you have an even number of ranged and melee monsters they can all attack enemies at the same time. Some of the monsters make really great tanks that can soak up a lot of damage, while your ranged fighters can pick the enemies off one by one.

It makes the combat more interesting even though battles play out automatically. The only control you have is knocking on the door of residents who will then attack your intruders. So it is a great game to have running in the background while doing other tasks.

Unholy Heights, From a Dump to a Palace

The developers made the monsters and characters all have a very cutesy design. Each monster has a distinct look, yet you can mostly tell which type they fall under. Even the enemies are many and varied. Unholy Heights is very easy on the eye and especially suited to short bursts of play. Due to the presentation style, there is no drop in performance in the Switch version. There is a weather and day/night cycle which makes the game play feel more dynamic. Some of the monsters also benefit depending on the weather which is a great feature.

The sound effects are pretty good and match the tone of the game. But, when you fast forward the time, it increases the tempo of any other noises playing. This can be really annoying especially when a singular sound effect starts ringing in your ears to the point where you have to either mute the game or go back to normal speed. But that is the only negative I can think of for this title.

Is It Worth Playing?

Unholy Heights can be a time-sink over an extended length of time. You won’t be playing long consecutive hours playing, just small bursts throughout the time you play it. Having it run in the background while you are doing something else is where this title shines. The loud beeping noises alert you to anything that you need to pay attention to. Now that I understand the mechanics of the game better, I’m finding it far more enjoyable but I still won’t be focusing all my attention on the game play. It will help with the long load times of other games. There is also no micro-transactions or DLC which is a blessing.

Final Thoughts

It’s a great little game, but don’t expect much in the way of complicated mechanics. Once you’ve mastered them, it just takes time to progress, time that you can devote to other tasks while it is running in the background. For that reason, I’ll be giving Unholy Heights a 3/5.

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