Towerborne is the first new game from developer Stoic since the conclusion of The Banner Saga trilogy in 2018. A significant departure from that game’s morally tumultuous tactical RPG, Towerborne carries over the team’s outstanding approach to audiovisual design. Slated for a free-to-play release following early access, I did not expect a live-service 2.5D action RPG brawler from this team. While my brief few hours previewing a pre-early access build left me longing for Stoic’s confident narrative flourishes, the underlying action-RPG systems and loops are comfortingly familiar and a soothing pleasure to behold while pummelling swathes of little lizard dudes called Gobos.
After sitting through several server load-in boxes, players are shown a surprisingly robust yet approachable creator to craft their character. You are an Ace, a moniker reserved for those immortal heroes who aid a bastion of civilisation living atop a windmill citadel called the Belfry. As a landmark, this tower effectively sets the tone of this techno-nature fantasy. It also serves as the hub location for your party to gear up and juggle quest admin, whereas the lands outside make up an uncharted hex-based overworld.
The overworld signposts so many distant landmarks with unusual constructs and animated rabble begging your curiosity, but each hex between the Belfry and your destination must be charted. Each hex cell features a combat gauntlet that plays out in the manner of the arcade punch-em-up greats. Start by the gates of an undulating paddock of golden crops, continue to the right of the screen, and obliterate everything in your way whenever your progress is impeded. This involves lots of alternating between light and heavy attacks on X and Y, with a class skill tied to RB and additional skills to activate depending on your weapon. Holding in the basic attacks can also launch enemies horizontally or vertically, blasting them into explosive barrels, brambles and bee hives. Feedback registers after an attack has been fully executed, leaving the on-screen reaction and accompanying vibration to feel a breath too late. The sound effects all pop off nicely though and the potential for midair juggling shenanigans shows promise. The absence of skill trees in favour of enriching the loot game is also a nice touch. I hope some of Towerborne’s more immediate gameplay appeal will come from experimenting with these different skill sets accompanying newer, better equipment.
I dig the concept of the hex-crawl exploration and the promise on the horizon
A red border on the periphery of your character’s overworld ventures indicates a danger level that cannot be entered until you’re “licensed” for that zone. This prompts the player to pass a boss fight exam back at the Belfry to ensure they are appropriately geared up and skill-savvy before taking on the next tier of challenging enemies. Amusingly, the closest example that came to mind for this was Gran Turismo’s license system.
Folks looking to jump into the early access launch should probably know the live service caveats here. There’s no ability to pause solo play, delays in menus and scene transitions. Worse still was the rubberbanding and haphazard hit detection. This was during solo play, but it led to many unfavourable KOs. Based on my experience with the combat feedback feeling a bit sluggish, the interruptions to a satisfying flow of hacking and slashing meant I couldn’t get the best feel for the fundamental combat.
All four of the classes on offer fulfil familiar action-RPG archetypes that can be freely switched between missions and progressed individually. This allows parties to change up their composition without losing any progress. All missions, gear, and class progress are tied to the account, with the immortal Aces being able to reconfigure their appearances in the Belfry as easily as they rise again after falling in battle. Because the combat response tuning feels slightly delayed, it works in favour of the heavier class types such as the flame-staff-wielding Pyroclast and the Rockbreaker with its granite gauntlets.
The Pyroclast has potential for skilled enemy juggling hijinks
Unsurprisingly, Stoic’s pedigree produces a couple of high praise points for Towerborne. Backgrounds look vibrant and stunning in their stylised simplicity and gentle palettes, with loud yet captivating splashes of blue, green, and gold across the environments even as character models took a moment to grow on me. Of particular note were the humanoids looking vacant and lacking some dash of character despite, impressively, looking straight out of a Western CG cartoon. It also helps that the random gear drops seem to have a bit of aesthetic variety present on your model. Of course, the RPG gear also means sockets and upgrade vendors for the mix-maxers.
The soundtrack doesn’t fit the on-screen action, and yet it is love at first hearing. As I beat the utter shitsticks out of my hundredth gobo, the stirring, soft piano and string accompaniments evoked an Eternal Sonata vibe for me. Meditative despite the carnage. Euphoric. Assuming that there’s far more music of this calibre in the pipeline for Towerborne, Stoic might have something vinyl-worthy in the works
It’s a little bit of a shame that Stoic wasn’t able to flex its narrative or event set piece credentials in this pre-early access build. Being ferried through beautiful glades between fights with nothing to do but admire the art and music seems a missed opportunity. I’ve got my fingers crossed that Stoic will be able to inject some of that stirring downtime drama between fights that was secretly the best part of The Banner Saga games. For now, though, there’s absolutely a decent enough beat-em-up here with a frankly stunning showcase of talent in the art and sound department that shouldn’t go unnoticed. If you’re on the fence, I can imagine it will only get better from here when it eventually releases its 1.0 free-to-play offering.
The Belfry looks cool, but still feels very ‘live-service hub area’
Towerborne is currently available in Early Access on Steam.
Previewed on PC // Preview code supplied by publisher
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