Highrise Heroes Combines Spelling With a Flight from Death

Disasters have a way of bringing people together. There are new friends, and there are obstacles to surmount. Sometimes there’s a monkey.

Highrise Heroes from Fallen Tree Games (the studio behind Quell) and Noodlecake Games (the studio behind the Stickman Golf games) stars a boy named Seb who must escape a skyscraper following a mysterious earthquake. And how does one escape a tower in peril? Fire exits? No! Word formation!

Players “descend” the doomed building by linking letter tiles to spell words on a grid. Spelling words creates paths that let Seb progress to safety.

Seb makes friends on his trip, some of whom have special powers that can make the trip downstairs a little easier. But enemies are in pursuit, too. Seems this isn’t just an ordinary earthquake: There’s a lot going on, and not everyone is happy about Seb nosing in on their territory.

Highrise Heroes is free to download, though the free-to-play elements (such as lives and ads) can be removed with a single purchase. Sounds like a good compromise for people that love free games and folks that would rather pay one price for the full experience.

Highrise Heroes comes to iOS and Android on December 11.

Nadia Oxford

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In the early aughts, Nadia fell into writing with the grace of a brain-dead bison stumbling into a chasm. Over the years, she's written for Nerve, GamePro, 1UP.com, USGamer, Pocket Gamer, Just Labs Magazine, and many other sites and magazines of fine repute. She's currently About.com's Guide to the Nintendo 3DS at ds.about.com.