Stoic Studios was not shy when they described their upcoming free to play game Towerborne. It's intended to attract a lot of people of different genres. The headline to this article is not an exaggeration. This game really packs all those genres in one. The issue may be that it does it all at the exact same time. So if you're looking to just jump in and start beating things up, fighting unfair bosses, and finding trash can chicken, Towerborne wants you to work for it. Like a full time job at Microsoft Game Studios
When you start the game, it gives you a little bit of story. You are an Ace, reborn after a great battle has left the last refuge for human kind. It is a tower called The Belfry. This is where you are reborn, and then taken out for training. You are told why you are here, and what you are here to do. And you are not the only one. There are other aces. Lots of other Aces. Running around at once. You're all there to do something. But I still haven't figured out what that is.
Once I customized my character, which took about 5 minutes (You know I don't do customization), I was off and learning. After various narratives, I was told to venture out and go through what are called biomes. Biomes are hexagonal spaces on what looks like a board game. Once you complete the exploratory biomes, you can advance to the next one. Once complete, more of the world opens up. This is how you navigate the overworld, so if your character is eventually told to make their way toward a certain area, you must complete the biomes before them. There are biomes you can replay over and over to get your experience up. I did this twice, then stopped, because there are enough biomes to level up your character on it's own.
Sometimes, the biomes are quick pick ups, or challenges to get more items. You don't know until the end screen what you picked up, so yes, I did find myself with a whole bunch of duplicate weapons and gear. Once I got your first weapons, helmets, shoulder pads, chest armor, belts, and foot wear, I found myself changing them out almost immediately. The more difficult biomes gave me better weapons and armor. a lot of them. Like maybe too many of them. For all four classes. Yes. Four classes.
The Sentinel class is the typical sword and shield combo. The Pyroclast arms you with a club that shoots out fire, and though it's slower, it's more powerful. The rockbreaker is the close quarters combat weapon. I didn't use this much in the early playthrough. The one I have been using is the Shadowstriker class, with two daggers, and is probably the fastest. This is the one I leveled up the most. Yes. You have to level up each class, individually. Which is why I stuck to Shadowstriker.
While there are story elements to move you along in the game, the game also wants you to carry out side missions. So there are characters in the Belfry that you eventually have to talk to, and they will give you side missions. Some of these are "go kill 10 of these monsters and come back to me". and some of them are "Go to this place, kill all these guys by a certain time, and bring the thing back." These don't bog down the experience or anything, and who doesn't want more loot? It's me. I don't. Stop giving me stuff, Towerborne. You're making my inventory full, which happens, and then you can't carry anything else. You'll have to break things down
In the Belfry, there is a blacksmith. The blacksmith allows you to upgrade your weapons and armor to a maximum capacity, and until you, again, immediately get a new one. Then you can do the same thing to those weapons. Most of your gear comes with different attributes You do this by using resources. You start with something called Basic Spirit Dust. You get dust from being in the outworld, carrying out tasks, or breaking down your excess armor and weapons. It took me a minute to figure out which weapons to break down and turn in for dust. I feel like this system needs to be streamlined and patched. I wish I could just do all the things at one station. Maybe I can. I did get used to it, but it took a while to get there.
Your character is pretty versatile. You have a light attack, a heavy attack, and a jump. You can combo any of these into each other. You can do a full combo with just light attacks, or heavy attacks. The battles in the beginning are your various enemies, with different attacks. Some of them have a shield that you can break through with the hold of the heavy attack button. You also have a companion with you called an Umbra. The one you start with shoots out a fireball, but as you progress, you can get others by completing biomes. You can use special button combinations to trigger skills. While some skills are innate, and unlock with leveling up, others have to be equipped using skill points. However, the game will handcuff you. You have to be at a certain level to use some skills, no matter how many skill points you have.
The game also doesn't allow you to take on harder missions on the map until you pass a test, located in the belfry. These skills tests will tell you what your level of gear should be before you take it on, and go up to level 5. The tests consist of fighting stronger enemies you may encounter in the more difficult parts of the world. If you find yourself tearing through biomes, you might want to try and level up with these tests, and they will net you better gear from the fights. Another thing you have to worry about. You can level up in overall experience, which is separate from leveling up classes, but you cannot step into level 3 biomes, until you pass the test for that particular level of difficulty.
I took on all the above alone. The game wants you to play it in multiplayer, and it is chaotic. Multiplayer can be played locally, or online. You can either set up a lobby and have people help you with your missions, or jump into someone else's game and do theirs. I am not sure if it counts for you if your party completes a mission together and you're not the leader of the party. There are not many ways to communicate outside a discord or party chat, so sometimes, you can't equip the gaggle of new gear you have because the leader of the party starts the next mission with the quickness, and you're stuck in the loading screen with them until you ready up.
There are three different currencies in the game, and they're all used for cosmetics. You can buy sets, or buy things ala-cart. Stoic was nice enough to provide us with some Belfry Bucks with the Founder's Pack. You can use these to buy cosmetic sets or to get Curio Cores. Curio Cores unlock even more cosmetics and emotes. Sometimes they have magic dust available. Then there are Writs, to get, again, more cosmetics. I get it, but as stated earlier, they're not for me.
All that to be said, I'm not sure how long this one will go. Stoic is updating the game as they see fit. They make it clear that this is a game preview, and they are working out bugs. I got kicked out the game numerous times for trying to upgrade equipment. It's also a live service game, so if you're trying to play it on the go without an internet connection, it's a lost cause. You can't even play locally if you're console is offline. You can't even pause the game, because the enemies will still hit you. I made that mistake numerous times. The game even kicks you out if your controller turns off, or dies.
As it stands, I'll dive back into it, but I might also wait for the finished product. No grades yet. I think it needs a lot of streamlining. I don't know if I've ever put this much work into a side scrolling multiplayer brawlers, so kudos to them for trying to reinvent the wheel. Don't watch that trailer thinking you're going to be that sweet out the gate. Clock in, grab a snack, sit down, and wait in the queue. It's going to be a long one.
