E3 2015: Skyhill Hands-On

The premise to upcoming rogue-like survival game Skyhill has players journeying down a 100 level hotel after a biological catastrophe. Players assume the character of Michael, a millionaire that survived within the shelter of his penthouse on the 100th floor of the Skyhill Hotel. Now that all of his supplies have run out he must venture down the hotel to gather food and equipment for surviving against the many horrors that await below.

Unfortunately, the hotel is crawling with various mutated enemies and other obstacles to both slow your progress and ultimately kill you many times in the process. Each time the player begins the game the hotel floors are randomly generated to create endless gameplay surprises. Obstacles and puzzles along the way require players to perform tasks such as restoring power to the elevator to reach certain levels.

Skyhill includes a range of role-playing game features with an inventory and leveling system for your character to raise skill points. Items found throughout the levels vary from food and weapons to supplies for crafting better gear such as armor. The game's setting and narrative are revealed through discovered journal items such as diary pages and letters. Players will also run into other residents and even traders upon their descent through the hotel.

Combat in the game is performed via a turn-based system that allows for more control with a V.A.T.S.-like system from Fallout 3 and New Vegas. The combat system enables players to target different sections of a mutant's body ranging from head to torso with various hit chance percentages. As with the rogue-like genre, upon death players start the game from their 100th floor penthouse and descend once again in a newly-generated assortment of levels.

After discovering an elevator access key by pure luck, I reached the hotels 60th level that also happened to contain a giant mutant and my character's eventual death. I could tell from my brief time with the game that it will be both an entertaining and highly-addictive gameplay experience. Skyhill will be available on October 6 for PC.