[Review] Buildings Have Feelings Too! - Nintendo Switch

Developed By: Blackstaff Games
Published By: Merge Games
Categories: City Builder
Release Date: 04.22.21

There is nothing worse than not enjoying a game with an interesting premise. Buildings Have Feelings Too is built off of an interesting premise. It’s a city building simulator, but the buildings talk and…have feelings.

Your buildings are talking. Maybe they’re lonely, build some more near them. Man…they really seem to hate that smoke stack, move him far, far away. This business isn’t quite growing, it needs more customers, build some housing units near it. Lets evolve this pub into a cafe! This all sounds neat, right? It’s too bad the game doesn’t play quite a well as you’d like.

Buildings Have Feelings Too is confusing, it’s frustrating, and it got me to a point twice where I could not do a single thing and had to hard reset the game, sit through an unskippable tutorial, and then just hope I don’t mess up this time. You have funds. You earn them by doing challenges they ask you to do and by evolving and leveling up your buildings. Sounds normal, but if you don’t spend your funds correctly, even as early as a half an hour in the game you can get stuck. Don’t build anything they don’t want you to, even if it sounds like a good idea. Lets place an example of getting screwed over. I need to make that pub into a cafe, I level up the pub into a 3 Star pub as needed, but then have absolutely no idea how to make a cafe, if I demolish the pub, it’ll only let me remake it into a pub. Building and demolishing, as well as repairing all costs money. Hope you didn’t place a housing using too close to a distillery, it’ll soon be condemned, meaning you just wasted money and then you’ll need MORE money to build something there again. You can move buildings, but not all of them, HOPE YOU DIDN’T HAVE ONE OF THE BUILDINGS YOU CAN’T MOVE CONDEMNED.

Buildings Have Feelings Too is not fun. There is no reason why even with a tutorial and buildings giving you hints, you should be confused as what to do and have to restart maybe an hours work just. It’s ridiculous. It makes for one of the most unpleasant experiences I’ve had in a while. And I WANT to like this game. It looks good, the music is good, and the premise is awesome. It’s just a mess though.