Hell Architect Critic Reviews

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.

Hell Architect shines in its narration, comedic dialogue, and dark humor along with its excellent graphics and design. Hell Architect is a cool concept and executed well. There are certainly fun times to be had while managing hell, however the biggest issue comes in the fact that there’s little purpose to playing the game in the long run. The processes can become stale quickly and outside the Scenarios, the Sandbox Mode may only entice the most enthusiastic of the colony sim fans. 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.

Hell Architect: Prologue is a sales pitch for the full version of the game. And while that is not a bad thing by any measure, the experience playing just the prologue falls short. The fact that you can let the game run by itself says a lot and does not bode well for the full version. The current state of the game feels incomplete and buggy, as I ran into what seemed to be 2 random encounters while playing the prologue scenario, although they always happened at the same time on every playthrough and immediately resolved themselves, so it's like they never happened. I'm hoping to see some more of that on the final version of the game, maybe that's the missing piece. My curiosity is still piqued and I'm hoping the addition of more sinners to the game will make for a more complicated playthrough, and, no point in denying it, I also wanna see the rest of the tortures Woodland Games has prepared for us.

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.