Buildings Have Feelings Too

Buildings Have Feelings Too was reviewed on a PS4

What if buildings have feelings? That’s a question the aptly named Buildings have feelings too never tries to answer. Sure enough, in this game, buildings can walk, talk and express a whole range of emotions. However, the buildings’ sentience boils down to nothing more than a useless gimmick.

If the buildings were inanimate, this game would be almost identical to the finished product that it is now. Take away its buildings’ charming appeal, and buildings have feelings too would still be an entertaining diversion that will last you for quite a few hours. Still, it does have its fair share of shortcomings.

What is Buildings Have Feelings Too ?

Buildings have feelings too is a cute and charming strategy game that revolves around building the perfect neighborhood. The buildings have arms, legs, and their windows act as eyes. When they talk, they make satisfying brick-like noises.

Bricks are the game’s currency, they’re used to build new buildings, and they can be earned by upgrading your existing ones and completing your mission tasks. You can construct a wide range of businesses; rented apartments, theaters, accounting offices and typists just to name a few. Each of those types of businesses requires you to surround them with the appropriate building types.

This is where the game’s difficulty lies. Finding the right combination of buildings that synchronize with one another can be tricky. You’ll end up trying different combinations and moving your buildings around using trial and error just to get that next precious upgrade. Because of the 2D nature of the game, you’ll spend most of your time circling back and forth, trying to move around each of the buildings.

The game is also intentionally ambiguous about what it wants you to do. For example, at one point, it tells you to build a modern business, it hints that it should be a DVD shop, but it never tells you that you need to fully upgrade it. That’s a common occurrence in Buildings Have Feelings Too, and on several occasions, I got too frustrated and had to turn off the game because of that. The game gives you a list of task objectives to accomplish, but it’s often too difficult to figure out HOW to accomplish them.

Another issue is the absence of a manual save option, which can be a bit annoying at times. Especially when you mess up the building’s combinations of businesses. When a building has a negative appeal, a ticking timer will count down the minutes until the building’s business is closed down. This ticking timer is frustrating, as messing up a single building in a row of perfectly optimized buildings can lead to a domino effect, causing the closure of the entire row of buildings’ businesses.

There isn’t much to do

Putting aside the cutesy buildings though, it’s a very simple game. By simple, I’m not talking about its difficulty. Buildings Have Feelings Too can be challenging and frustrating at times. What I mean by simple is that the game feels very barebones. The premise is unique and interesting, but it’s really held back by the fact that it’s a 2D Sidescroller, and by the lack of any additional modes besides the main campaign.

There is a chance to go back to the neighborhoods and build a custom one with no restrictions, but there isn’t any incentive to do so. This can be problematic as the main story mode isn’t very lengthy, so you can be done with the game in a few hours or so. The replay value is minimal as well since your second playthrough will be identical; the same tasks and the same confusing objectives. There are no difficulty options neither in Buildings Have Feelings Too.

Overall,

Buildings Have Feelings Too is a puzzle game where you have to make buildings happy, and while the premise is unique, the low replayability, the confusing objectives and the frustrating puzzle design can make the game a bit hard to recommend. While its core mechanics are enjoyable, it suffers from far too many shortcomings.

I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t enjoy my time with the game, but that depends on your level of tolerance for its negative aspects. I mean after all, it’s a game where buildings have feelings, which should at least pique your curiosity about it, and if the premise sounds interesting to you, then you’ll definitely enjoy the game, but it wouldn’t be something that you’ll constantly go back to or replay.

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Special thanks go to Merge Games for providing us with a review code.

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You should play Buildings Have Feelings Too if you

• Love a game with a bit of problem solving
• Don’t mind the ambiguous objectives
• Love a charming game
• Don’t mind being frustrated every once in a while
• Love the interesting premise
• Don’t mind the lack of content and variety

Buildings Have Feelings Too’s Score

6.5/10