Hell Architect

Hell Architect makes the macabre somehow a bit more palatable with its devilishly cute art style and relatively lighthearted dark humor. Although fans of similar titles like Oxygen Not Included will likely have their interest piqued, the selling point of Hell Architect isn’t in its gameplay, but in its theme. Players hoping to take their sadistic tendencies out on poor, unfortunate souls — and some deserving familiar faces — will have a gruesomely good time with this one; those looking for a deeper, complex layer of hell to call their own will have to wait for an update or two.

Not a bad little diversion but there’s so many good pop/city management games now it’s not worth more than a few minutes.

Building your own hell is funny, but there should be more content and challenge.

Outside of that scope, it’s a bit difficult to recommend Hell Architect, especially with its hefty price tag. It simply falls short. Hell Architect is perfect for those seeking a fresh twist on the genre, but for those not interested in a colony simulator you might want to stay away. I am hopeful, however, that Woodland Games can add some DLC to provide more content in the future.

The biggest sin of Hell Architect is therefore poorly designed gameplay mechanics. This is a game in which I would really like to spend dozens of hours, expanding the hell of my dreams, because the idea for setting is simply great.

Hell Architect is quite a fun game in its approach, its visual style and its humor, but its gameplay is quite confusing and repetitive at times, with little clarifying tutorials and few game modes.

Hell Architect is a fun building simulator until you discover all the mechanics, go through the story missions and unlock all the buildings. After that, you don't have much to do in the game and you get bored. This, however, depends on each player individually. The gameplay time is around seventeen to easily thirty hours of your life, during which time you'll be entertained by the torture of mortals, the funny catchphrases of the inhabitants of hell, and have fun solving crisis and often bizarre situations. The full price of twenty-three euros is a bit exorbitant, though, so I recommend waiting for a discount. If you enjoy titles like this, you'll definitely have a blast as a hell engineer.

Stripped of its hellish veneer and of the illusion you’re actually calling the shots, Hell Architect is a relatively run-of-the-mill management game. It’s by no means torture to play, but it fails to live up to its wickedly intriguing premise – and the odd dashes of humour can’t fix that.

Hell Architect is a game with fun and deep gameplay, morbid but cute art style which is bogged down by its story mode and its irritating characters and forgettable soundtrack.

Hell Architect is a game with fun and deep gameplay, a morbid but cute art style that is bogged down by its story, annoying characters, and mediocre soundtrack.