Towerborne Preview - Gamescom 2024

Developers Stoic found success early. After forming in 2012, and thanks to the studio's founders being well-known for their work at BioWare, their debut title was quickly funded on Kickstarter. That debut was the well-received adventure game The Banner Saga, which combined choice-based storytelling and some original turn-based battle gameplay. The game was so successful, in fact, that it went on to create two further entries. But for their next project, the studio wanted to do something different, and that project is Towerborne, a 2D-style action-adventure brawler that hopes to be a live-service game. We got a chance to see and briefly play the game at Gamescom 2024.

Our demo was hosted by Arnie Jorgensen and John Watson, the founders of the studio. The pair began by laying out their vision for the title; after working for so long on the often dark and dramatic Banner Saga trilogy, the teams wanted to make something more casual and approachable. They also realized that the market for niche single player adventure games is perhaps not as strong as it once was. Thanks to a partnership with Xbox, the studio hopes they will be able to realize their vision for the game – an easy to pick up experience that even those who choose to "button mash" can enjoy, and a live service game that will continue to evolve. The title will first launch as an Early Access experience in 2024, with a full release planned as a free-to-play game in 2025.

In Towerborne, players will be exploring a magical world, battling, collecting loot, and levelling up their gear level. The titular tower will serve as a social hub in the game, where players will be able to run around to different vendors and do things like update their loadouts and apply visual customizations to their hero. In typical action-RPG fashion, loot will have different levels and stats, as well as potential special bonuses. Gear can also be upgraded, and swapped easily, with the menus helpfully displaying a stat comparison. As the founders point out, they are not trying to reinvent the wheel here, but just deliver a solid set of modern RPG systems.

The gear and various bonuses come into effect as you prepare for battle. The game will launch into Early Access with four character classes, which adhere to different action game archetypes – such as a sword/shield character, a heavy brawler wielding gauntlets, and a quick fighter with throwing daggers. After preparing their loadout at the tower, players can venture out into the world map, and explore its hexagonal overview to find new enemy encounters and even bosses; the launch will feature four biome types. The map is split into areas based on difficulty (danger level), and in order to unlock that new level players must pass a skill-check battle trial at the tower. There is a recommended gear level as well, but players can use their skill to unlock new difficulty levels when they are able to pass these trials.

The adventure can be experienced solo, or with a group of up to four players together through online play. Every class is said to be manageable alone, and there will be no need to adhere to group character class balancing in a group. Players will be able to host lobbies and invite others into their version of the world map, where the group will adventure and get loot together. Characters that are at different gear levels will be adjusted so everyone is of similar strength.

With a mission selected for us, we jumped into a level with three other players. As mentioned, Towerborne is a 2D brawler, with a slightly expanded field of mobility up and down the screen. The controls are simple, with a light and heavy attack, along with the expected jump and dodge/roll move bound to the controller face buttons. There are simple combos that can be executed, as well as weapon special attacks that require an energy bar, and an attack with your floating companion called Umbra. All four players in our demo began the level running around the screen, dispatching various monsters that popped up out of the ground. A lot of this was similar to those 2D fighting games of old that have been getting a resurgence lately, such as Streets of Rage 4 and Battletoads; the visual style and animations also felt familiar.

But while the game's pleasing art style, bright colors, and nice visual effects are enjoyable to look at, they don't serve combat well. It was often difficult to tell what is happening during action, and losing track of your character in the melee mess was easy. Those abovementioned 2D brawlers also have this problem, but Towerborne felt more incomprehensible. Your character also disappears behind enemies, and so when it came time to fight the large boss creature, things descended into chaos. A number of us perished during this encounter; you get three lives and others can revive you. It wasn't so much challenging as it was sort of unengaging in that nobody could really utilize their fighting skills; we were just mashing combos/abilities and dodging when obvious danger appeared such as the smash-attacks that created waves to be jumped over. It was, perhaps, designed to be a challenge as the developers mentioned they intended the game to be hard to play, but it wasn't particularly enjoyable in this case.

Towerborne seems to have some solid foundations in both its RPG mechanics and its brawler combat. The colorful and slightly cartoonish art style is pleasing as well. But there was nothing that we saw that made the game stand out – the market already seems to be very crowded in this space. Further to that, making the game free to play means the company will have to rely on the typical battle pass and premium cosmetic systems that again put it into the same category as so many other games out there. There is potential here for it to be mildly enjoyable, as an accessible experience for most players of any age.

And in the concluding words of the founders themselves, that is the goal – they are sure that many will enjoy Towerborne, but they don't expect it to become everyone's favorite new title. Instead, they are hoping to create a secondary game that players will return to after playing the triple-A releases, and when there is new content with each Season; to be enjoyed on an occasional basis with friends. There won't be a focus on cinematics or deep narrative lore, but rather general action and constantly adding to the content. Interested fans will be able to buy-in to the Early Access program which will launch September 10th via Steam, so they can get some premium items and also have direct impact on development. The full game is planned to release as a free-to-play experience in 2025 for PC and Xbox.