Elevator Joe review: A day in the life of an elevator operator

This game is probably what happens when an elevator guy loves his work so much he decides to go all out for his passengers.

Elevator Joe is a time management game by Philippine game development company Kuyi Mobile. It tells the story of Joe, your friendly neighborhood elevator operator who is the embodiment of having “passion for work”.

Gameplay: Up, down, get off the elevator and make it snappy!

As Joe the elevator operator, your job is bring NPCs known as Chibizens to their desired floors in the fastest, most effective way you can. In exchange for your service and depending on their levels of satisfaction, your passengers hand you Chibiyens, the in-game currency. You can use this money to upgrade your lift, improve the floors or even add new floors to the tower. You initially start with four floors including the basement, and can add more as you progress. A total of ten floors can be added to the game.

It was at this point that I started wondering if Joe owns the tower. What rights did a simple elevator operator have to renovate the tower his lift belonged to? Maybe he was an eccentric millionare who owned the tower and thought he could cut costs if he operated the elevator himself. I’m not sure.

There are different kinds of passengers in Elevator Joe. Sometimes they’re in a hurry, sometimes times they aren’t. The regular passengers are outlined in white, and they turn red when they’re tired of waiting.

Another type of passenger is the VIP one, who is distinguished by a pink outline. These range from celebrity-looking Chibizens to superheroes and aliens that come from the sky. What is this tower again, exactly? Anyway, these VIPs give you big tips if they are satisfied, so make sure you give these people priority. Money talks! I have no idea how aliens have the same currency, but if he’s paying me properly then we’re good.

There are also green-outlined Chibizens, who seem to have a back story of their own. I’ve met the robber and the cop playing cat and mouse. You get extra points if you help the police catch the robber by having them in the elevator at the same time.

Also, I would like to warn you about Joe’s relative. This Chibizen is outlined in yellow, so you could mistake him for being just another regular passenger. But be watchful! His role is to distract you and piss you off by getting into your elevator and then not getting off for long periods of time. All he does is stay in the lift, take up space, and talk about irrelevant things. He doesn’t get off the lift even if you stop at his designated floor! Sometimes, he only steps off the elevator when your shift is over! You can’t name Joe’s relative (I wish you could), but if you start calling him after an annoying person you actually know, it changes the whole experience. You’re just all: “get off my lift, _____!” the whole time he’s there.

Audio and Visuals: Cute sounds, cute designs, but needs work on laggy parts

The characters in Elevator Joe remind me of Lego figures. They’re like cute little blocks put together. The text is readable with their choice of font being neat and large enough. The menus also don’t look cluttered. I also like how they managed to pull off a shiny golden-yellow theme without it becoming an eyesore.