Project Highrise

Project Highrise is a building simulation game about running a skyscraper. As an architect, you plan floors, rooms and pipes. As the owner, you decide which companies and residents move in and how the building is financed. A successful building needs more than many floors: infrastructure, services and tenant mix must fit together.

Project Highrise was released for PC on Sep 8, 2016. Standalone mobile versions for iPad and Android tablets followed on Apr 12, 2018. The console versions for PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch went on sale in Europe as the Architect’s Edition on Oct 26, 2018. They include the base game with five thematic expansions.

Project Highrise has been released for PC, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, iOS and Android. Windows and macOS belong to the PC version, not to standalone console products. The iPad version has an interface adapted for touch controls. The earlier Android version is no longer available on the original Google Play listing. On PS5 and Xbox Series, the respective older console version may run via backward compatibility. This is not a native re-release.

You start with a small building structure, which you expand floor by floor. Each new space can house offices, apartments, shops or services. Corridors, lifts and utilities also need room. That's why a working layout depends not only on the number of rented rooms, but also on how well their occupants can move around and be supplied within the building.

Five larger PC expansions add to the base game: Las Vegas adds gambling and entertainment to tower operations, Miami Malls focuses on shopping areas, Tokyo Towers on Japanese-inspired buildings, London Life on international office centres and Brilliant Berlin on extra urban tenants and facilities. They were released between April 2017 and July 2018.

The console Architect’s Edition bundles these five expansions with the base game. The mobile versions have their own in-app offers. A Steam add-on therefore can't be used automatically on a console or tablet.

For the PC version, Steam lists at least an Intel Core i5, 2 GB RAM, Intel HD 4000 graphics or a comparable integrated solution, and 500 MB of free storage. For higher resolutions, a Core i7 with 4 GB RAM and a dedicated graphics card with 1 GB of video memory is recommended, among other things. The originally listed Windows 7 requirements date from the 2016 release. The current Steam client no longer supports older Windows versions.

Stairs, elevators and technical rooms connect the floors. More demanding tenants expect matching connections and reliably working infrastructure. A skyscraper with plenty of usable space can still fail if the circulation routes are too tight or utilities do not keep pace. For this reason, you must weigh usable space against technical capacity with every expansion.

Offices, retail, restaurants and apartments have different requirements. A large company needs different services than a small shop or a family. The tenant mix determines demand in the building and therefore income. Dissatisfied residents or companies can move out, so higher rents alone are not a sustainable strategy.

Rental income pays for ongoing costs, new rooms and further expansion. Elevators, utilities and additional services cause costs, even if they do not bring in rent directly. Specialist advisers help improve your reputation, economic performance and relations with the city. The economic challenge is to plan investments so that the tower stays attractive and solvent in the long term.

Project Highrise offers a campaign with changing construction tasks and an open sandbox mode. In the campaign, you must meet specific goals under set conditions. In free play, you can experiment with different starting conditions, difficulty levels and building concepts. Both modes use the same basic systems for construction, renting and management.

On PC, Project Highrise supports the Steam Workshop. Using the community features, you can find and use additional content. The publisher also provides a guide to creating your own modifications. The Workshop is part of the PC version and cannot be equated with the content scope of the console versions.

The simulation shows the building as a two-dimensional cross-section. This makes rooms, offices, elevators and people visible across many floors at once. The view makes the spatial effects of new construction decisions immediately clear. As the tower expands, the paths between rooms and the distribution of building functions become increasingly important.

The PC version offers on-screen text in German, English, French, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Russian, Japanese, and simplified and traditional Chinese, among others. Project Highrise is designed as a single-player simulation. On Steam, cloud saves and achievements are available.

The Architect’s Edition combines Project Highrise with five themed expansions: Las Vegas, Miami Malls, Tokyo Towers, London Life and Brilliant Berlin. It was released for PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch. On PC, the base game and expansions are also sold separately. If you switch between platforms, pay close attention to the extra content included.