Towerborne is like Golden Axe for a modern age | Early access impressions

You may or may not be old enough to remember the original Golden Axe, a side-scrolling action game with much in common with titles like Streets of Rage. It featured a barbarian, warrior, and dwarf fighter, marching along through a generic fantasy world mashing things in the face with axes and swords. And it was pretty glorious at the time. Most modern attempts to recapture the magic have missed the mark, but new adventure Towerborne, from Stoic and Xbox Game Studios, might just have what it takes.

Of course, Towerborne is launching into early access, and therefore lacks many of the bells and whistles that will come later, but as it stands it’s an enjoyable action game with a solid, if safe, gameplay loop. It’s also a service game, so if that kind of thing gets you all mad and pouty, it’s probably not for you.

It’s set in a fantasy world that was once a utopia, until an undefined catastrophe led to an invasion of monsters and saw the remainder of humanity retreat to the Belfry, a gargantuan tower that serves as our last bastion. You are an Ace (seriously), a warrior with immense power that can be resurrected on death, and must spend their countless lives defending the Belfry.

So far, so MMO, and to be honest a lot of it feels pretty unoriginal. You descend from the Belfry to tackle individual areas on a hex-based world map, and earn loot and XP with which to level up and improve your Gear Score. Equipment rarity is colour-coded, and a variety of vendors and NPCs will offer equipment improvements, trade opportunities, and side quests. There’s even a battle pass system where you purchase cosmetics with “Writs”, which the game is pretty generous with right now (though this will probably change).

What makes Towerborne feel different is the combat. There are four classes to choose from, each with different styles tied to the equipped weapon. Sentinels use sword and shield and can block damage, Shadowstrikers wield twin daggers, perform acrobatic combos, and use smoke bombs and lightning-fast strikes; Rockbreakers wear massive gauntlets that deal heavy damage to enemies; and Pyroclast’s use huge clubs and specialise in fire magic.

Each class has a variety of combos, block-breaking heavy attacks, a special class ability, and two magic abilities dictated by the weapon you have equipped. For example, the Shadowstriker might have a smoke bomb attack that makes enemies lose line of sight, or fast, powerful thrust attack. Combat is fluid and fun, the animations making each combo feel incredibly satisfying to pull off. Enemies come thick and fast, with tougher mini-bosses turning up here and there.

Each hex of the map is a mini adventure that sees you fight through enemies to reach the treasure chest at the end. Right now, it’s a little repetitive, with few mission types and little variety. Now and then you’ll trigger a challenge, which is often just killing enemies or clearing a camp in a fast time. NPCs in the Belfry will give you side challenges for Writs, which might be to clear a specific “adventure” (these are hexes with increased enemy numbers and a boss), or complete enough quests (hexes) with a certain Umbra equipped.

Umbra are spirits from the Ebb (a magical plane of existence) who resurrect you when you fall and can perform special attacks during fights to aid you. They’re another part of your equipment loadout, which is pretty important to maintain. You can upgrade everything you carry for a price, which allows you to grow your gear score and take on tougher challenges.

Harder adventures can be undertaken with up to two other players, though the screen does become pretty cluttered during multiplayer. Performance can also suffer here, which is a by-product of the early access process. There’s not a lot of synergy between classes, though, as each is capable of doing the same things. You can all launch and juggle enemies, and you can all deal pretty consistent damage. Whether more classes are coming or not is yet to be announced.

Right now what Towerborne needs is more of everything. It needs more variety, more quest types, more progression for each class with skills and abilities you can equip that determine your loadout. This will all come, and for now it’s a very enjoyable adventure with top-notch combat and a beautiful world to explore. It evokes classics like Golden Axe, but presents similar gameplay in a new way, giving it a ton of potential as we move into early access and beyond.

Towerborne is coming to PC early access via Steam on September 10th.