Slashing onto the scene is “Towerborne,” a vibrant, action-packed side-scroller, developed by “Stoic” and published by “Xbox Games Studios,” sure to impress with its delightful scenery and awesome combat. Earlier in the month you might have seen I covered a preview of this game, and since then, I have eagerly awaited the release of early access to jump right back into the action.

Towerborne is set in the City of Numbers. Sounds mystical, right? It’s a dystopian fantasy world overwhelmed by monsters, where the citizens are protected by those known as Aces, and this is where we start our story. They are the unkillable heroes sent out to defend the lands, regain lost territory, and recover all of the good loot along the way. The civilians call the Belfry home, but it also acts as the social hub, offering the Aces a place to gear up, upgrade weapons, and meet key figures that help out through your action-filled journey. Characters such as Paloma, Ryx and Wolfram are all easily recognisable with their vibrant eye-catching uniforms, making them hard to miss when on the hunt for your next quest.

Controls are super easy to learn, with standard movement keys and simple mashing of the left mouse button for light attacks, or the right mouse button for heavy attacks, so you’ll be hacking and slashing through monsters in no time, and combining your left and right clicks will have you performing combo attacks for that extra satisfaction. Different weapons for each class have also unique special abilities, and these are activated by holding L SHIFT and pressing either LMB or RMB.

Launching myself into combat, I noticed that dodging and evading, which is controlled by the scroll wheel, is a lot more responsive than when I tried it during the preview. It might just be me, but I had wished for this improvement, and I’m glad to see that it’s better now. The combat in Towerborne is very satisfying, and those few times I started to feel a little bored, a new fight would immediately reel me right back in.

The objective is, first and foremost, to slash your way through monsters and defend the Belfry, and while this may seem too easy, you can increase the difficulty by raising your gear score and completing a danger license trial mission. You’ll also encounter multiple bosses as you progress further through the story and unlock more areas, and these will offer a significant challenge when compared to the masses.

Towerborne can be played solo but the best part is jumping in with your mates to work as a team, and this can be done with up to three other players thanks to four-player co-op, and being able to choose between four classes, there are endless possibilities for your team to succeed in your endeavours. The Sentinel is a very well-balanced class, perfect for a newbie with its sword and shield combo, while the Rockbreaker has you equip a set of heavy-looking gauntlets that pack a meaty punch. Pyroclasts wield warclubs, allowing you to smash enemies while setting them on fire, and who doesn’t love fire, right? Last, but certainly not least, is Shadowstriker, sneaky little critters wielding a pair of daggers, known for being swift and agile as they carve through enemies.

The word beautiful doesn’t come close to describing the graphics of Towerborne. A pastel colour palette highlighted with bright and vibrant colours is expertly combined with an art style inspired by animated feature films. While the gorgeous scenery makes slashing through gobos a truly satisfying experience, I spent several hours running around taking in the breathtaking views, but this was interrupted by having multiple grenades thrown at my face.

The incredible scenery is accompanied by an amazing backing track, with soft tones adding a relaxing feel when first loading into the game. It switches to sound more intense as you dive into combat, swiftly mellowing once the fight is over. The various sounds of combat, be it swords clashing, or the collision of wooden shields, are also wonderfully represented, offering the perfect example of keeping it simple and effective, and they’ve done this amazingly.

As expected, Towerborne had me captivated for hours, the storyline keeping me intrigued every step of the way, and I am eager to invest more time in it. They’ve combined this with easy-to-learn controls, satisfying combat, a great soundtrack, and amazing graphics, making for an incredibly enjoyable game, whether you’re playing alone or with friends. Thank you again to Xbox for allowing us to experience this neat little side-scroller. I hope I’ll see you on the battlefield.

Written by: Larry