What Remains of Edith Finch
What Remains of Edith Finch
Game
Game2024Published by indie.io
Vertical Kingdom
Developer Farlight Games Industry
There's nowhere to go but up! Vertical Kingdom is a card-based city builder roguelite with a twist - you can only build vertically, literally reaching for the sky with each city. Lead expeditions to gather resources, construct metropolises, and build ever upwards! From the Steam store page
78 reactions from 1 source (Steam reviews) · newest Dec 10, 2025 · last updated Oct 7, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
81
LovedLoved
63 positive · 15 negative
95% range 71–88%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 63 | 15 | 0 |
Steam's own rating
Mostly Positive
107 of 137 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What people are saying
Mostly positive reception for a charming, relaxing vertical city-builder with some UI and balance issues.
Many players praise Vertical Kingdom as a charming and relaxing city-builder with gorgeous pixel art and a soothing soundtrack. They enjoy the unique vertical building mechanic and the blend of deck-building and puzzle elements, often comparing it favorably to games like Against the Storm and Dorfromantik. [3][9][12][26]
However, critics point to a confusing UI, lack of clarity, and balance issues that make the game feel too easy or repetitive over time. Some also note technical bugs and a save system that can lose progress, while others find the roguelite elements restrictive. [5][7][30][35][36]
Praised art and music · relaxing gameplay · unique vertical building mechanic
Criticised UI clarity · balance and difficulty · repetitive progression · technical bugs
Summary drafted by an AI model from the 36 reactions it cites ([n] links open each post), then checked by code: every paragraph cites real posts and every quote is verbatim. Written Oct 7, 2026. Method
Reactions
60 of 78 · most liked firstSo I'm gonna give this game a thumbs up because it does what it sets out to do in a fairly competent addictive way. It's not just a city builder game. It's also a kind of puzzle game with luck based mechanics heavily fused in there. In this game you draw cards and on those cards are what you can build. As you progress you can unlock newer stuff to build more stuff and with limited horizontal directions to build you are forced to build vertically instead. Hence the name of the game. For 20…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Unfortunate non-recommend from me. The game is lovely, looks gorgeous, plays well nice enough at first and bogs down into itself the farther you go. It does not evolve, quite the opposite really - the exact same mechanics you used on your first hour of playing you will use on your 10th, except they keep working worse and worse. The very reason a lot of deck-building games use resources to pay for cards is simple balance of power. More powerful cards can cost more, and player can have plenty…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →After playing this off an on the past few months, I am happy I bought this game. I would argue this game is less a "city" builder and more a "building placer" What this game is: -Pick a building category, then draw cards you have unlocked from that category. Each card let's you make a building. -Place the building in a strategic location (Gain money/resources & while leaving yourself room to expand) -Balance each building cost and pivot your plans to prevent yourself from getting into a…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →My honest review of this game summed up: Enjoyable coffee break game that can be enjoyed in the small moments between work or sat down and focused on like a strategic city builder. A great game with a chill vibe that I've enjoyed that is vaguely reminiscent of Against the Storm with significantly less stress. I hope that this game gets plenty of attention and continues to grow!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →really boring, unfun gameplay loop. it was not made that clear that the game was level based, which i think works to the game's detriment massively. i feel like it would be much more fun if you had like larger scale persistent progress on a single constantly growing city, as opposed to, at a single arbitrary point, just up and leaving a city to go make another one. as it stands it feels like my progress is constantly being taken away more than anything
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I wanted to like this one, as it looks nice and with decent amount of content, but it is just too tedious and unbalanced to be fun. Some card mechanics deserve redesign and better explanations. And card type distribution system feels broken sometimes. It definitely needed to spend some more time in gameplay testing. Also not receiving any imperial resource from WHOLE 2+ hour expedition chain, if you fail on last mission (instead of ending it yourself turn before defeat) is just table flipping…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Full disclosure I am a 52 year old gamer. I don't have time for the grind or needing to spend 4-6 hours on Youtube watching others play a game just so I can figure it out. This game hits the sweet nostalgia spot of the old 8 bit games I played on my Apple IIe and IBM Clone. The game has solid mechanics (nothing felt wonky or didn't work) and it has solid goals that are easy to figure out. It has the same feel as Kingdom Two Crowns and nothing would make me happier if these two studious did…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Was great until the August 5th update where they updated the engine, it no longer runs on my PC.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Definitely enjoyable. The UI is, sadly, not very clear or intuitive. As it presents a lot of information and different systems, that makes it unnecessarily difficult to get into the game. However, if you stuck with it, you'll likely enjoy it :) It's less a city builder and more a cardgame imo, but that doesn't take away from creating your city!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Pretty neat game, but it does have some problems. It's very easy. Once you've figured out how to build an economy (by the first or second map) you'll be able to immediately drown in resources for the rest of the game. You also have infinite time to build your city (unless you really screw up in the early game), which results in no tension at all (though the dev said they're working on making it more challenging, which I'm looking forward to). But despite all that, it's still a gorgeous looking…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Enjoyable city builder/roguelite. It is pretty simple, while having more difficulties the greater your kingdom grows in people. Now, I do think some people will not like this b/c it is not the most in-depth city builder out there, but I was wanting a sort of relaxed city builder. The roguelite elements are nice, and so far I have not fully gotten into the higher tiers of kingdoms, so there is still more to see. I am not so sure on the "battling" in this game, failed my first defense against…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →really underrated, it's well balanced, fun, and has a lot of content and progression. played for 6 hours and it only looks like I've seen abound 30% of the game, not to mention it's a roguelike with some replayability offering vastly different playstyles when replaying regions. edit: If there's one thing I would like to see, it's more variety in the maps, more challenging or unique terrains to cause new problems and push more ways to work around them. Along with looking cool ofc.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →TL;DR: Vertical Kingdom is a charming city builder with gorgeous pixelart graphics and a unique premise. Trying to achieve your city’s goals with limited horizontal space is a relaxing experience that still requires a fair amount of thinking. I have explored everything that Vertical Kingdom has to offer, and I’ve found the game to be a neat little gem. First of all, the pixelart visuals are amazing. Buildings change shape and integrate with their neighbors in a natural manner and they look…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A unique game experience. Sometimes feels like Islanders, sometimes feels like Against the Storm, sometimes like Slay the Spire. Relaxing music, great art. Fun gameplay that made me lose track of time. The card game mechanics are fairly flexible and generous. There won't be so much struggle with things like dead draws as you might find in other games with the deckbuilding tag, since there is pretty strong control over what cards are drawn. The main focus is just resource management, planning…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A light city builder game that wants you to build upwards as well as outwards. It's not Against the Storm level details, but it's charming and I do like watching the buildings change as you build next to each other. After thinking about it, I get a feeling similar to Dorfromantik in a way. Building is calming, putting buildings in the right areas, planning for growth, it all adds up to your city. The main thing is that "you can stack" and you can when the need arises. You aren't restricted…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game that wants you to build upward - and where the most basic building house not only heavily penalizes being near the same type of house, but also prevents anything to be built on top of it. The game where you "unlock" new cards available - having to buy them afterwards - and where you have no idea nor any control over what those cards are ahead of time. It does not seem possible to accumulate or transfer resources to the next map. Your hand size is so limited it can be called pathetic.…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →As many others have said, this is a really good game. However, I would say: At its foundation. The VERTICAL expansion isn't quite there, yet. For the low price, I can still very much recommend it. But here is what needs changing to really ELEVATE the experience (okay, I'm all punned out): - It gets incredibly repetitive to have the same beginning of a map over and over and over again. Almost nothing relevant changes between maps. This can be improved: Maybe no resource X on some maps, or…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Can't recommend in its current state. UI is really bad and buggy (menus overlapping with one another, unresponsive, and just generally unclear), and the save system also bugged out and lost my mission progression. Fun game, but it needs more polish.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Nice rogue-like city-builder. Gets more depth with later regions.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is challenging from the beginning, replaying it again and again is a must !!. It is especially beautiful poetry to my eyes. Since I played, now I dream to build bigger cities and more and more vertical ones ... I am willing to see how far I can go ... Must say, my schoolmates will envy me to be playing this game !
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Captivated by Vertical Kingdom A lovingly designed strategy game that you can spend hours enjoying its gameplay, its art and its magnificent and evocative soundtrack that awakens a feeling of wonder and immersion. It really is a game that I recommend, with which you can have a good time of entertainment, discovering new cards and trying different strategies while enjoying a gameplay and environment designed to enjoy.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →For the love of God make a version of this game without the Roguelite elements. All they do is hobble the fun of what could be a nice 2D city builder; they're even annoying in sandbox mode.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →"Really boring, unfun gameplay loop." 3/10.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I would recommend this game for anyone who is already a fan of city builder and resource management games, or anyone that wants a game they can relax to and watch videos or something of the ilk. I will have to say, the price isn't the best for this game. What you get is a decent amount of playtime to get used to the way levels play out and game mechanics, the storyline, and then a bit of perfectionism and refinement of your builds, but all of this may not be worth it to someone who is looking…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's a fine casual game. The art style and music are good, the level design has decent variety, and the roguelite elements are a nice addition. The city building itself is simple and to the point, with only a few buildings having some complexity in their placement. It's also easy to get absorbed into the game, like for me when I keep placing tower after tower, creating big areas for placing stuff, only to realise I'm in a deep hole with lots of citizen needs I forgot to meet, so be…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A pleasant sorta-deck-builder sorta-city-builder. A few hours in, I haven't seen great variety from city to city, with a very similar progression throughout the experience each time. But it is still quite enjoyable! I did receive an Unreal error a couple times when loading, unfortunately. They seem to have gone away, but I don't know if they'll return.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Oddly enough, VK feels a lot like playing a slower RTS, notably in how you have to plan ahead for certain buildings you won't have for a while. Certain scenarios require certain buildings that need a certain amount of resources that you have to be prepared to use the terrain to take advantage of. For example, if you see a rock patch, you have to decide if it's best to build your quarry first or later and how big to make that "district." You'll want stone early because it can't be built on the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Not worth its current asking price. Has quite a few bugs, is not smooth to play, and some of the game systems are just generally janky. Wait till its on sale.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Very nice game - my first playthrough got me hooked for two hours straight. One thing that puts me off is that there isn't really a regular save/load menu where you can find your game and that part feels very clunky (also be sure to quit while doing a mission and not in the throne room or it will bug out) - but despite this I recommend it.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is a gem when it comes to art and music. It hooks you with its stunning graphics and a soundtrack. It really challenges you, but once you get the hang of it, it's pure magic! Every level beaten feels like an epic win.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Gets more complex over time. It's maybe missing a trick or two yet, but for an indie publisher it seems pretty solid. People crying about the price in a world of 70 dollar games with zero content and 100 dollar battle passes are also missing a trick. *edit* Would like to see Steam Achievements implemented or synced. Otherwise after playing all day, I could see myself playing a lot of this. You can definitely Spiffing-Brit a bit, which may someday be patched but for now is amusing. PERFECTLY…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Played this game for a couple of hours now and I really wanted to leave a review, primarily because I like it and if another review on this store page helps the developer sell some more copies, then I'll be happy. Do you guys even read long steam reviews? Earnestly, when I see those pro/con things my eyes just glaze over. What's the point of dividing those reviews - which are already recommend or not - into even smaller tidbits? Do you really need it spoonfed that much? I don't know. Clearly…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fun and unique game. It has its own charms. With a little more polish, this game could be a gem. Despite the UI design, I think it could look nicer and FPS being locked at 60,the art and music are beautiful, the game play is quite challenging, but you can go at your own pace. No need to rush. Just try learning different strategies and discovering new buildings and new synergy. This game feels more like a puzzle game than city management, but it is really enjoyable and addictive. Already…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A cozy, beautiful little city builder. Don't worry too much, just chill with it.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Neat little game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →simple and relaxing fun. great game!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Its a fun little management game with heavy emphasis on building placement.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →this game is so fun if you love deck builders and city management sims! it reminds me of other city sims, like Steam World: Build, but in Slay the Spire form
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Very chill nostalgia-graphiced city builder with deck-building aspect. Every now and then you can change the draw priorities and basicly have diffrent development cycles for your city. All while balancing ressources and money. I like it, I like how the buildings stack and change shape.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A very aesthetic game, though with a slightly frustrating resource management system and metagame. Vertical Kingdom is a 2D city builder 'roguelike', in the sense that you have multiple mini-campaigns to build a bunch of cities in each campaign to reach a certain goal, and accumulate progression points to give you more starting resources and buildings. The mechanics for how you are forced to construct your city are super fun, and reward building the city in pretty ways. You only have a finite…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →My original issue with the game has been addressed and the game seems to be improving so I have updated my review. Good to see community feedback taken seriously. Get deep into a run just to draw a windmill with no farms and lose instantly. This can (and has) happen with A lot of the brickmaker. After 13 hours I can say the game is fun but it's unfair in strange ways. Maybe I am missing something but as it is now I can't recommend the game till they rebalance /fix issues like these. Once…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Man, what a fun concept! Strategy, cards, infinite building options. Seriously, the game is fun and engaging, clearly in early stages, but I cannot wait to see where it goes. The developer is super responsive to feedback and bug reports, and updates the build frequently with all that feedback in mind. Having the ability to freely built and try everything in the sandbox is fantastic, the rogue-like runs can be challenging and frustrating, however I found myself going back to it almost…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A Card Game KING review Vertical Kingdoms is a relaxing card fueled mini-citybuilder that doesn't go as vertically as you would expect. Nonetheless, it's still a nice, casual experience if that's what you are looking for. The main gimmick of the game is that you can build buildings on top of each other. This changes their appearance which is a very nice touch. However, a lot of buildings have placement restrictions so you never end up making a colossal column of stacked buildings, and that's…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →fun and surprisingly difficult
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →i've ripped through a lot of roguelite citybuilders at this point (Against the Storm, Roots of Yggdrasil, etc) and I like this addition to the genre. The vertical element is unique and engaging with some interesting wrinkles to it, the pacing is pretty good, and learning the strategy over a few rounds is proving very rewarding. I won't pretend it's the most polished game in existence but it's from a small team, it's clearly a labor of love with an active dev, and all that goes pretty far in my…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fun challenging rogue-like city-builder.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A fun, well thought out deck-building-city-building-empire-building game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you like rogue like and city builders - this game is perfect for you. It is very challenging in the free mode and you actually have to think about how to progress your city. Quickly loosing your time in that. Very enjoyable - challenging and looking for more updates.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Slay the spire + lakeside (pixel puzzle builder). Pretty good depth
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →nice building game
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Beautiful, chill, soothing music, puzzle-solving city builder. Can absolutely tell the creators made this with love and I fell in love with it straight away, finished it in a single sitting/day :) Definitely a thumbs up from me. Few suggestions that could help make this from great to amazing (acknowledging it's only very early days and hoping the dev team continue to improve the game): - once you figure out the formula, it gets a bit repetitive. If the maps were more varied in their…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Wonderful game, I love it and you can feel that the developers really love this game as well. Worth every cent. If you enjoy rogue-lite town building games you should try this out. The art is beautiful, there's always new things to discover in this game and it is more challenging than I thought. :) I will definitely recommend this to my friends
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →game is pretty fun, but you have to read the cards
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game has a fatal error whenever I load a save and try to advance to the next map.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is challeging to end, I just recentlly end the first campain and now I realized that this was just the beggining of a long long journy. In this journy VK relax me and make me forget about my dutties and appointments. The imperator will be gratefull for such game, knowing this, I found it normal that so many Arquitects want to play VK. Long live to the architects ! Ave Imperator Deus ! Great game I love it !
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →fun building game :)
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A great card game, very entertaining and interesting. Is an amazing strategy game, with puzzles and construction accompanied by great music and diversity of movements. I'm so excited to continue playing this amazing game. Five stars.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →One of the best games I've played in the last years. It's an entertaining game, with incredible music, a good design and it never ceases to surprise you. Ten out of ten. I can not wait to continue playing it.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →More akin to a puzzle game than a regular city builder with the rng card hand, building placement, and roguelike map progression. Pretty interesting
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Its a nice chilling building-card game with some good features. I'll try to update the review and give more information after I complete the campaign.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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