Towerborne was provided by Xbox for review. Thank you!
The game is in early access, so there may be changes as the game develops. Treat this more as a preview of the launch state of the game, and we will review once it launches into 1.0.
I wasn't sure what to expect when starting Towerborne. Having seen the trailers and a 2.5D beat 'em up, a genre I have little experience in, I was excited to see what was on offer. For better or worse, I was pretty surprised when I eventually got into the game. And I'll preface this review by saying Towerborne is an online-only game. You need to be connected to the internet to play. This means you can't pause the game, even in solo play, and you may experience network lag, even when playing alone.
The basic storyline is that monsters have invaded the realm and destroyed the primary city of mankind, causing its residents to flee to the "Belfry," a large tower now acting as a haven for humanity. As an "Ace," you will protect the people of the Belfry from the encroaching monster forces and take back the realm.
After playing the prologue, you'll end up in the game's lobby/hub. From here, you can see what jobs are available. These are generally secondary tasks you complete during missions. You can also find the game's characters here, accept their main story quests, and upgrade your weapons and gear at the forge.
The Belfry is also an online lobby; you're still technically in an online lobby, even traveling to the world map. Unfortunately, and very strangely, I couldn't find a way to communicate with other players beyond the emote system the game has. Towerborne doesn't appear to have voice or text chat support in the game, which is baffling for an online-only game with a heavy co-op focus. Whenever you start a mission, it prioritizes playing in a group over the option to play solo, so it's a little confusing that you can't communicate with your team.
Once you leave the Belfry and go to the world map, you'll be placed on a hexagonal map, with each tile representing a mission. They are all largely similar in how they play out. Once you select a tile, you can choose the difficulty mission you want. The basic tiles aren't repeatable, but the boss tiles, such as Snaggleshire shown below, can be replayed multiple times.
The combat is perhaps Towerborne's strongest point. With different classes to choose from, various weapons to equip, and upgradable gear, you're always on the lookout for that next piece of equipment to give you the edge in a tough combat situation. The game starts pretty difficult, but once you get some good gear, it falls into the range of challenging but not tough. Different gear can have different traits, and I tried to keep gear equipped that gave me life regen and life stealing, which meant I could stay alive much easier.
As the Sentinel class, one of 4 available to you, you'll have a light and heavy melee attack and the ability to dodge and block with your shield. This was my favorite class to play. With my life-regen/steal build, I could heal between battles, which was invaluable since there was no other way to heal. Taking hits early on in a mission can be a death knell, leaving you vulnerable if stronger enemies emerge later.
You can also hit enemies into the air with certain moves, allowing you to "juggle" them. However, I am no fighting game player and was terrible at this. I found that putting myself in the air, which stops you from being able to dodge, was a death sentence, and I died attempting to juggle. I also discovered that if you get knocked down when a large group of enemies is nearby, you'll get stun-locked into oblivion and die. Fortunately, you do get extra lives to respawn.
Aside from your weapons, you'll be followed by a creature known as an Umbra with special abilities. Your starting Umbra will fire a bolt of energy at an enemy you are facing, which can be a good way to deal that extra bit of damage or help control the crowd, especially if you've just been knocked down. The second Umbra I got was able to deploy a static orb that dealt massive damage to enemies that walked into it.
Enemy AI is what you'd expect from a beat 'em-up. They do their job well enough, and I can't say I noticed them doing anything "stupid."
Towerborne is very much built around its gear system. Not only do you have your character level, but you also have a gear level, showing how good the gear you have equipped is. As you explore the world, missions you take on will have a recommended gear level, which increases the further you are from the Belfry, so you must always be finding or upgrading gear. Gear can also have traits that make building a set that suits your playstyle interesting.
Although Towerborne will launch as a paid game, the aim is to make it Free-To-Play and fund the game via micro-transactions, which are already in the game but are largely just emotes and cosmetics right now. Buying a founders pack gives you access to the game now, while it's in early access, as well as some cosmetics.
I can see Towerborne as a game that, upon its final release, will be intended to be played for 100+ hours, with an ever-increasing amount of content to keep players involved, similar to how Hoyoverse runs games like Genshin Impact. This "live service" game has promised seasonal content and a changing world map.
Visually, the game has a nice art style, mixing an almost anime-like look with 3D elements. It works pretty well, and new equipment does reflect your character's appearance, which is always a nice touch. The game's music is also pleasant, ranging from calm piano music in the lobby and world map to tense battle music when on a mission.
Towerborne has some good potential, and I enjoy the combat and the gear system. I'm just worried about the game that surrounds these two things. It's a little rough around the edges, with strange UI and control decisions for keyboard players, no local map for the Belfry, which can take a little getting used to. The game sometimes tells you to speak to a certain person but does not tell you *where* that person is. The game's content is also repetitive, with environments and enemies staying the same long before you find something new.
But, if you're using a gamepad and you have some friends to bring along with you and a better way to communicate, such as Discord, Towerborne should probably keep you entertained for a while.
Sadly, the game does not boot on the Steam Deck right now and crashes as it attempts to load the main menu. I contacted the developers, who said the game had worked correctly on the Steam Deck, but a recent update had broken compatibility. They couldn't offer a timeframe on when the game might be fixed on the Steam Deck but did say that they want to achieve Steam Deck compatibility.
Strangely, Towerborne has an accessibility button right on the main menu. When you click on it, you get taken to the accessibility menu, which has two options: the font size and the ability to disable the camera shake. It's oddly prominent, considering there isn't any accessibility in the game. The font size was a bit smaller, even on my PC, so I would bump it up a tad.
Towerborne has the potential to be a mainstay title, with an increase in the variety of content, such as different mission types and objectives, perhaps some improvement to the multiplayer communication method, and some polish, such as adding certain missing quality-of-life features.
I did enjoy the game for the first few hours. Still, after playing solo for all that time, I started to wish I had friends to play with me, and I quickly started just trying to beeline progress so I could explore something new rather than taking my time finishing the world map missions. In a group of friends, I imagine the game is more enjoyable for longer, with you and your friends discussing the new loot you got at the end of the mission and trying out different combinations to see what works well together.
You can't fault Towerborne's amount of content, and I just question whether the variety of content is enough to keep players hooked for the amount of time the game wants from you.
Sadly, the game doesn't function at all on the Steam Deck, crashing during the opening sequence of logos, so, at least for now, this is one you'll need to play on another device. I tested it on the ROG Ally, and the game is perfectly playable at 60 FPS with a 15W TDP in lower graphical settings.
Our review is based on the PC version of this game.
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Towerborne is a decent game, but it fails to boot on the Steam Deck currently.
