Highrise Heroes

Highrise Heroes is a word construction game with a story about characters who need to escape a crumbling skyscraper from the highest floor following an earthquake. They descend 90 floors split up in several chapters and there are short sequences between levels that further the story. It starts with the intern Seb and the secretary Tami, but several characters including robots and chimps join later on by completing levels. The composition of the cast of characters is different for each level. They also appear between the letter tiles during gameplay and often need to be brought to the bottom of the board to rescue them. This is done by creating words so the letters are removed from the screen, allowing them to descend.

The game board consists of 6x7 tiles with letters. Words are formed by choosing a letter and then holding and dragging horizontally, vertically or diagonally to connect the letters. When a word is formed it disappears from the board and new letters are dropped from the top. A word needs to consist of at least three letters. Words with more letters are rewarded with additional points and explosive tiles that can clear a large part of the board.

There are different goals for each level based around several mechanics. Generally a level needs to be completed before time or the provided amount of turns run out. In many levels characters need to be brought to the bottom of the board to rescue them. There are rock and debris tiles that require one or multiple words formations adjacently to remove them and metal tiles that are indestructible. While forming a word it is possible to include a character tile. This technique is for instance used to provide oxygen to them. In some levels characters have a blue meter and by including them in a formation with blue oxygen tiles, the meter is refilled. Robots do not require oxygen. Other levels have explosive devices that count down and need to be included in formations before the timer reaches zero.

Characters in a level each have a unique ability. Seb can help you find a word, Tami can swap to adjacent tiles, McRell can change any letter to a random vowel, a robot can swap any two letters, a chimp can refill a character's oxygen etc. Using an ability usually deducts a turn. Most mobile versions of the game are free-to-play with an energy/stamina system based around lives. A life is lost when a level is failed and it takes some time for them to recharge. There are in-game advertisements and in-app purchases to upgrade to a premium version that removes the ads and the lives system. The iOS and Google Play releases are free-to-play, while the Amazon Android version is a commercial release. There are twelve separate chimp challenges exclusive to the Android version. The commecial PC release does not include advertisements or lives.