Towerborne left a solid first impression when I played it at an Xbox event last month. Now that I’ve played even more in the leadup to its launch, I’ve seen that the unique take on an online-focused beat ‘em up from The Banner Saga developer and Xbox actually works.
There’s still room for this early-access game to grow, but if you can accept Towerborne’s always-online nature and the fact that its journey is just starting, the core of something special has emerged here. While games like Destiny 2 and Diablo 4 clearly inspired Towerborne, the fact that this is a beat ‘em up and not a shooter or RPG makes it stand out in gaming’s ever-crowded multiplayer space.
The ace up Towerborne’s sleeve
In Towerborne, players create an “Ace,” an amnesiac warrior helping refugees get to a Belfry after monsters destroy the magical City of Numbers. It’s certainly much less story-focused than Stoic Studio’s The Banner Saga and its sequel, but it provides enough motivation as to why the Aces need to venture out into the world and beat up monsters over and over again. Before I could do that, though, I needed to explore the Belfry to improve my gear and get assigned quests by NPCs.
The Belfry is similar to The Tower in Destiny 2. This is a hub that players return to between missions, and you can either hang out there with those you’re in a party with or see other random players walking around. Right now, there’s not much else to do in the Belfry other than speaking to vendors, so I hope this will be fleshed out with more NPC dialogue and activities in the future. However, the meat of Towerborne can be accessed once you head out to the world map.
Towerborne’s world map comprises a hexagonal grid, each of which is a unique procedurally generated encounter. Some have chests and other objects that can grant players new gear, umbra, or currencies, but most are side-scrolling beat ‘em up stages to play through. If you’ve played something like Street of Rage 4 or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge, the formula of these should be recognizable: walking from left to right and fighting anything that gets in your way.
I wish Towerborne’s stages had more intractable objects within them, but using a different weapon is the best way to make playthroughs feel unique from each other. Four are currently in the game; my favorite is a Warclub that can burn enemies and deal some slow, but heavy strikes. By completing the stages and challenges within them, I earned better gear for my Ace.
Like all loot-focused games, this is the main gameplay loop: play more stages, get better gear. Dotted throughout the world map are “Ventures,” which are more difficult missions with bosses at the end of them. These are greater skill tests and are better off done with a buddy. While none of these systems are super original, the ace up Towerborne’s sleeve is the fact that it’s a beat ‘em up. It has little direct competition, which makes it stand out from other live-service games.
The always online caveat
Although Towerborne stands out from live-service games in helpful ways, there are downsides too. Namely, your experience will depend on your internet connection as Towerborne doesn’t feature anything like offline play or couch co-op (although the latter will be added in the future). Most of the time, this was never an issue for me, but I’d be remiss not to point out how latency can absolutely ruin this experience.
Even though I played on a wired connection, there were a few spurts of latency during gameplay that ruined Towerborne’s solid game feel, as I could no longer string together combos or guarantee hit detection on enemies. And while I wouldn’t lose any collected gear, I’d sometimes get booted back to the title screen upon completion of a mission. Latency hurting the feel of a multiplayer game isn’t exactly a new concept, but it’s an issue Towerborne has that offline beat ‘em ups like Shredder’s Revenge will never encounter.
I won’t make a final judgment on the online stability of the prerelease build I played, but if you or the people you plan on playing with don’t have a strong connection, beware. Still, if you never have to deal with those issues, you’ll quickly find the fun in Towerborne. From that fun core, it has lots of room to grow — and I don’t just mean coming to more platforms. I’d love more interactivity within the levels, more things to do in the Belfry, and smoother online play (or the option to play offline if possible).
All of that seems very achievable for Stoic, though, and while the longevity of any online game can’t be guaranteed in 2024, Towerborne feels niche enough to where it should gain a passionate and dedicated community that works with Stoic to see the game thrive. If you want to wait until Towerborne is free-to-play and on Xbox in 2025, that’s just fine, but if you want to start playing it early on, you can buy an early access Founder’s Pack on Steam.