One part belt-scroller beat ‘em up, one part loot-based action RPG. It’s not a common pairing, but Towerborne’s Early Access showing makes the combination work. Developer Stoic of The Banner Saga fame follows up its critically acclaimed SRPG trilogy with an entirely new genre, though it’s a risk tempered by its F2P trappings and the publishing might of Xbox Game Studios behind it. Considering what came before, Towerborne’s stunning visual presentation is hardly a surprise, but it s an addictive grind and solid fundamentals that could lure players who normally wouldn’t turn to a freemium option for their beat ‘em up fix.

For online RPG beat ‘em ups, people might think of either MapleStory – itself more of action-platformer-RPG MMO – or possibly Dungeon Fighter Online's class-based play, a long-running fantasy action RPG belt-scroller approaching its 20th anniversary. In the case of the latter, DFO uses the beat ‘em up genre primarily as a hook for a grindy gatcha, though it looks much like the belt-scrollers of yore.

When it comes to Towerborne, Stoic's genre inspirations are abundantly clear and represented to a tee, despite the wider online freemium aspects which live under the hood. That means it brings some of the tech-oriented fighter depth of Treasure's classic Guardian Heroes, but molds it around a much slower, more cautious style, with no cartoonish endless wall-juggling or single-button room clears. All in all, its truest test will be whether genre fans come to with its numbers and systems, but our Towerborne preview felt like a nice entryway into the concept, with what seems like little in the way of FOMO F2P shenanigans.

A New Beautiful Aesthetic Distinct From The Banner Saga

If anything, Banner Saga fans will probably arrive first for the story, so it’s unfortunate that Towerborne’s narrative aspects, while competent, offer very little comparison thus far. It’s still a decent tale with a unique backdrop centered on The Belfry, a massive tower fortress where the last vestiges of humanity makes their stand, welcoming any refugees escaping the surrounding monster hordes. The Belfry presents a powerful image, this gargantuan windmill with clusters of houses welded to its walls.

On that note, fans of The Banner Saga’s unique visuals will find an entirely different but no less beautiful aesthetic in Towerborne. It’s a mix of painted textures, 3D architecture, and cel-shaded-like animated characters, invoking Breath of the Wild and Studio Ghibli films in equal measure, with even a faint whiff of Vanillaware besides. One would be hard-pressed to find any beat ‘em up whose graphics could easily compare.

The story itself falls into some standard MMO tropes, with players taking on the role of a budding Ace, one of many guardian adventurers with special abilities who pledge to protect what remains of the populace from the dangers beyond The Belfry. At least the player character isn’t a mute protagonist and occasionally has something to say to Towerborne's cast of characters, most of whom present lore, chitchat, tasks, and challenges to complete, all intended to better prepare them for the heroic objectives at hand.

Deg Your Own New Towerborne Ace

Towerborne’s character creator works well enough, offering various physical traits to select from and a few sliders here and there, while a mirror at The Belfry permits touch-ups at will. More importantly, every scrap of gear in the game is always clearly visible on a player’s toon, and there’s obviously been a huge amount of work put in to make sure these pieces match and interlock effectively. Anyone who prioritizes the fashion aspects of MMOs will adore it, and gear upgrades can help retain the viability of favored earlier-stage armor.

The game features many familiar action-RPG/MMO gear qualities, including colored rarity, randomized special attributes, set bonuses, gem slots (Towerborne refers to these as “Aspects”), and cosmetic/transmog options; the latter is fueled by Scrip, a limited currency which factors into the game’s cosmetic content. The hard cap of 80 weapons and 80 gear slots may hint at larger storage options for sale in the future, but that’s just speculation at this point.

After generating an Ace, players run through some basic tutorial missions before being set loose upon the wider hex-based map. Here, they stop at each hex tile to play out a level, digging their way onward to further reaches and clearing fogs of war, eventually engaging "Ventures," the game's larger raid-like skirmishes.

Four Weapon-Based Classes To Choose From

Individual levels in Towerborne are short and sweet, with most taking no more than six or seven minutes to complete. Ventures usually take a little longer than that, but everything we experienced in the game was considerately focused, low on downtime, and with enough randomization to not make mission replays feel like a chore.

At first, combat appears deceptively simple. There’s a light attack, heavy attack, jump, and dodge, with special skills linked to the individual weapons of the four current classes, activated with left trigger and right bumper on controller. Attacks can be interrupted and overpowered, so players need to check enemies for tells, super armor, and other familiar beat ‘em up call-outs.

Once Towerborne opens up, most beat ‘em up fans – even those normally averse to MMOs or action-RPG math – will probably find themselves immersed in the crunchier systemic stuff at hand.

In of the classes, they're akin to Monster Hunter's weapons-based roles. The Sentinel is a defensive sword-and-board, the Rockbreaker is a heavy-duty slugger with huge gauntlets, Pyroclast is a kind of wide-swinging warrior with a fiery club, and the Shadowstriker is a nimble rogue class. There are no direct or off-classes – this is a beat ‘em up, after all, so DPS is the name of the game – but each of the four roles is distinct enough, and players can freely switch between them after missions, though they may only level them up one at a time.

Apart from the early training sequences, there isn’t anything to prevent a player from solely focusing in on one class, though the grind eventually gets extensive. Loot drops will always include weapons for all four classes at random, regardless of an Ace's current role but, with only four classes available at the moment, chances are good that a preferred class weapon will drop soon enough.

Ride Into The Danger Zone

These classes would be wasted if the game’s ing combat systems weren't as strong as they proved to be. Even though the very early game is an outright cakewalk, difficulty spikes appear right on schedule. Notably, none of these amount to just spongier HP bars, as Towerborne skips over that all-too-common mainstay and replaces it with weirder and deadlier mobs with greater attack variety, tied to a unique system known as the “Danger Level.”

Essentially, Danger Levels curtail areas of the map and can be swapped for individual missions, requiring special trial challenges at The Belfry to increase their range. They present as something of a gear/DPS/skill check, and these short tests are a clever way to ensure that players don’t just ram their faces against a challenge wall before they're ready. Four distinct Danger Levels will be unlockable at the time of Early Access, with the map already setting up its boundaries in preparation for more.

We spent the majority of our time in Towerborne playing solo, though were able to team up with another player at certain points of the preview. Adding a second Ace ramped up the number of enemies, but game balance seems well-tuned at this point, leaving solo play a realistic option for this multiplayer-oriented title.

By Danger Level 3, Towerborne’s basic action gets much feistier and more enjoyable. Each gorgeously animated enemy has their own behaviors and skills, including bow-wielding lupine archers, clawed frogmen, dive-bombing falcons, explosive fungi, and many more. Further biomes expand the enemy assortment, though many will crop up in any given level, matching shielded barbarians with archers, rat rogues, and spear goblins, with larger hordes becoming more common at higher Danger Levels.

There are super armor mechanics, recovery actions, and shield-breaking to contend with, helped by special gear specs for Aces that feature HP regen, heal on hit, poison, fire, and other status effects. It’s a healthy group of systems to build a competent Ace around – though, to be clear, having even more would be great – and enemies mostly use comparable buffs and perks as well, especially the harder Venture bosses and elite variants who appear later on.

Final Thoughts On The Towerborne Preview

Once Towerborne opens up, most beat ‘em up fans – even those normally averse to MMOs or action-RPG math – will probably find themselves immersed in the crunchier systemic stuff at hand. This speaks volumes to the game’s generous content and adaptability at this early stage, especially in a genre where complexity doesn’t always translate to fun minute-to-minute gameplay. In other words: great gear and good combat sense feel equally vital, and beat ‘em up veterans with time-tested spacing instincts and reflexes will feel well-served by the game’s tougher battles.

A great thing about beat ‘em ups is their general pick-up-and-play appeal, something at odds with the cavernous knowledge requirements of most loot-based action RPGs. What's unique about this new genre hybrid is how it manages to claw out a space a few shades above casual, but absent of any gatcha elements and hardcore meta focus (at least through Danger Level 4).

Stoic claims to be listening to their community closely and pledges to modify and their F2P title after the EA launch, then onward to its eventual deployment on consoles. Discussing multiplayer Early Access games is always a tricky gambit, but our preview experience was surprisingly robust for a first go, while still hinting optimistically at the additions to come.

Towerborne could make for an excellent gateway experience for beat ‘em up fans who don’t normally dabble in the co-op action RPG space. Each class’s fighting style features numerous combos, and learning how to contend with the more intimidating squads in Danger Level 4 proved an inarguably satisfying hook. Towerborne’s Early Access delivers a uniquely addictive prospect: an action RPG which isn’t all about the numbers, and a beat ‘em up which isn’t all about the repetition. For MMO and action RPG fans who like to keep a lower-stakes “mini-MMO” in their pocket, Towerborne could prove the perfect fit.

Screen Rant was provided with an Early Access preview PC code of Towerborne for the purpose of this preview. Access to Towerborne's Early Access period requires the purchase of a Silver Founder's Pack ($24.99) or a Gold Founder's Pack ($44.99). Both of these options pledge to offer monthly Founder's bonus items to EA players, on until the full F2P v1.0 release of the game.

Source: Xbox/YouTube