From developers Stoic, Towerborne is a game I have had my eyes on since it was announced. A side-scrolling cooperative game that exuded Castle Crashers vibes with an attractive aesthetic seemed to be right up my alley. I now have a few hours in the game courtesy of an early preview code from Xbox. So, did the game meet my expectations from initial impressions?
Let’s start with the game’s setting and backdrop. The central theme of the game is that humanity have been reduced to a small population residing in the Belfry, a large tower and the last bastion of mankind since fleeing the City Of Numbers, whilst the lands surrounding the Belfry are occupied by enemies.
You start the game creating your character, or Ace as you are referred to in the game, through a simple yet intuitive character creation process. The first hour or so is very much tutorial in nature, and it soon becomes apparent that the game is deeper than first impressions would suggest. After the first combat scenario, which does absolutely give me Castle Crashers vibes, you arrive at the Belfry.
The Belfry acts as the central hub to the game, and it very much reminded me of Monster Hunter World‘s HUB area. You have a quest board, various NPC’s who will provide missions, and places to upgrade weapons/armour, etc. This HUB area is done well, with multiple levels and interesting areas to explore.
Once here, you are again taken down a predetermined mission path intended to further introduce you to the game’s deeper mechanics. In addition to customizing your character’s look, you can also choose a class (which can be freely changed at any point) to further customize your play style. Whilst the game does have you try them all, I ultimately settled on Pyroclast.
Oddly, this class is not usually the play style I go for (slower with high damage and a bit of range), but I found it really satisfying to play and level up as. I was also given an Umbra, a small creature that will accompany you and has unique abilities that you can activate in battle. You can unlock more of these and change them, adding further variety to gameplay.
It is during these opening missions that you are also introduced to the world map, and herein lies the foundation of how you will progress in the game. The area around the Belfry can be explored in the world map view, with unlocked areas freely explorable. In order to advance to further expand the world, you need to step into tiles, with each tile representing a mission. Upon completion of this mission (either solo or with others) you receive a reward cache, and that tile is unlocked, thus opening the path to further explore the lands beyond.
The game allows you to modify the difficulty as you explore through various means, something I appreciated as I found the initial difficulty to be quite easy. Being able to up the challenge, and thus the level of loot received, was welcome and kept the combat from becoming stale. There is more to the world map and the discoveries that exploration is rewarded with. I won’t go into the details here, but suffice to say, I found the cadence of new challenges kept things fresh.
As I explored the world without direction by the opening tutorial missions, the game’s hook really started to sink in. Loot. This is very much a loot-driven game, and, whilst it is a tried and tested formula, it is one I am drawn to nonetheless. I enjoyed how this was handled in Towerborne, though it was missing that endorphin rush that games like Diablo or Monster Hunter have perfected. I was finding stronger loot, but there was nothing unique or special that gave that rush of finding something awesome to use. It may be that I just did not play long enough, but this was my experience in the few hours I spent with the game.
It’s worth also touching on the technical aspects of the game. Whilst it is not a technical showcase, the game has a really appealing aesthetic with the world exhibiting a painting-type look whilst the characters don a more cel-shaded type of appearance, both complementing each other well.
Performance wise, the game was rock solid on my PC, which, whilst expected on a high end system, does still suggest that the game is well-optimized from a data streaming and shader point of view. I also tried the game on Steam Deck, and, at the high preset, I was able to lock to 40fps, though dropping the settings to low will see the game lock to 90 in a lot of cases without significant visual sacrifice on the smaller screen.
Before I give my final impressions, I do want to touch on the game’s store. You can purchase emotes and cosmetics using an in-game currency called “Writs,” and it also appears that you can purchase a form of currency to make these purchases, though it is not clear as yet exactly how this works. Right now, this store only seems to be tied to cosmetic items, though I can’t, of course, speak to any future plans on this front.
My closing thoughts on Towerborne are overall positive. What I played was polished and quite well balanced with satisfying combat. I do think that, as it stands, the game is maybe missing that certain something that has you thinking, ‘just one more mission,’ but I can certainly see a very strong foundation that the team can build upon as they approach the official launch next year.
It’s worth noting that, due to the times that I was able to play, my experience with the game was entirely through a solo lens, and I do feel that co-op play with a group of friends will magnify the aspects that make this game fun.
I am looking forward to seeing where Stoic take Towerborne, and, based on this impression, it’s one that I will definitely continue to have my eye on.
