11 bit studios is publishing Pixwerk’s latest indie title, Tower 57. Tower 57 is a third-person, top down, twin stick action shooter that is set in a dystopian future where civilization is concentrated in various ‘Megatowers’ scattered throughout the world. Seven individuals are sent to infiltrate and climb to the top of the titular-Tower 57.
When I started my demo with a member of 11 bit studios, we each selected three of the seven pixeled characters to include on our roster. Each character constitutes a ‘life’, and after one is defeated, another drops in. Everyone is armed with different weapons as well, and this helps to prevent the characters from being carbon-copies of each other. I quickly developed my favorites to play, as I assume everyone eventually will who picks up this game.
The gameplay itself was fun. As we went through an early level of Tower 57, we both quickly started to shoot enemies and the environment everywhere. The characters handled well, and when I was damaged (which was often), it felt like the result of fair gameplay mechanics. When one of the characters died, I could (and did!) pick up the prior character’s weapon and use it. The special attacks themselves were both different for each character and rather powerful, and the meter that powered them filled up frequently enough that I did not mind using them whenever I faced an onslaught of enemies.
One thing I was not expecting was that your characters can lose their various limbs due to monster attacks in the game and your character will start to bleed out. When I would lose a limb, I was able to find a replacement metal limb to purchase nearby with all of the currency that I was collecting. My only issue is that at one point, I spent too long in the menu selection screen for a new limb at the purchase station, and I bled out and died before I could purchase and exit the screen. That is hopefully something that will be addressed in Tower 57‘s final release.
Other than that one minor issue, Tower 57 was a blast to play and it is a game that I believe is truly meant to played with others. The game is currently scheduled to come out in 2017.
What do you think? Will you be picking up Tower 57 when it is released? Let us know below!
