Towerborne Feels Like A Product Of A Different Time

Side-scrolling Beat 'em ups are a time-honored tradition that most who enjoy video games have spent time with. Whether it be pumping quarters into The Simpsons arcade game, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, or more recently with Castle Crashers (ok, maybe not that recent) or Streets of Rage 4. Towerborne is the next Beat 'em up to hit Steam Early Access but will it live up to hype or fall to monsters?

Towerborne is a mission-based multiplayer Beat 'em up where players create their own character, known in-universe, as an Ace. With humanity almost at the edge of extinction by Monsters who roam the world, it's up to the Aces to travel around and push back the threat.

Towerborne Classes And Combos Leave Us Wanting

There are four available classes to play as in Towerborne; Sentinel, Shadowstriker, Pyroclast and Rockbeaker. While you'll start as a Sentinel, wielding a sword and shield, after the tutorial mission you can shift between each class any time you're not actively in a mission.

Each class fights with a different weapon type, this also dictates the different combat style you'll perform and what your base stats are. The Pyroclast swings their Warclub at a slow speed but deals out heavy attacks, while the Shadowstriker's Dual Daggers are nimble and might deal less damage but are more equipped to dodge out of the way where necessary.

Combos can be performed by triggering a sequence of Light or Heavy attacks in order. There's a bit of trial and error when you first pick up a new weapon style, but I quickly found a number of combos that effectively stunlock most enemies. Once you've used one type of Gauntlet the combos and actions for all others are the same.

On top of standard attacks there are also special attacks for each class, like a swirling fire inferno for the Pyroclast, and equippable pets called Umbra that can also have unique attacks. Early on I was given one that simply fires an energy blast in front of my character.

Ultimately combat is an extremely shallow experience. Moving from one screen to the next you'll perform an easy combo that will leave you free from damage and move on to the next. There are some foes introduced early that have shields that need a single heavy attack to break through or prepare bombs to throw, but don't add much to the experience.

Completing a level you'll pick up new gear and experience that will level up your characters stats, this is where the 'hook' of Towerborne starts to rear its head.

Towerborne Is A Game Of Numbers

Combat from level to level is a repetitive experience, the loot that you obtain from each of those levels comes in the form of new weapons or protective equipment. Each has a base number associated with the equipment's Gear Level, as well as some kind of percentage modifier on a stat. The modifiers might mean that you get a +4% to your super attack gain, or heal slightly faster.

The higher the gear score will generally tell you which levels you might be most equipped to handle, but for every level you beat there will also be two more difficult variants that demand a higher Gear Score to access.

Early Beat 'em up games like The Simpsons might have also had simple combat and no progression but there was story to work through and a challenging experience. With Towerborne there's little to no challenge or depth in combat, and the reward for the lackluster gameplay is loot that slightly increments your abilities to be able to experience more lackluster gameplay.

Towerborne's Biggest Issue Is Its Core Loop

I was expecting Towerborne to be an average Beat 'em up game but something good for some mindless fun while listening to a podcast or watching a TV show. Unfortunately, the experience I was met with was so shallow it wasn't enjoyable with additional entertainment.

While Towerborne is releasing in Early Access the bland core gameplay loop, built to create near-limitless replayability but with very little incentive, is the largest thing holding it back. Playing the game with friends might offer a more enjoyable experience, it's likely that there are other titles that would be better to spend that shared time in.

Towerborne was previewed with a code provided by the publisher. All screenshots were taken during the course of the preview.