Introduction

"Towerø" is a brief puzzle game developed by Tw0Face using RPG Maker VX Ace that is estimated to clock in at around 40 minutes by the developer's own estimation. An estimation that seems poorly calibrated based on my own Let's Play that clocks in at around 23 minutes in length. And this position is further supported by Fomar0153's review where he claims to have taken around 20 minutes to beat this game. An estimation that doesn't seem unreasonable. Especially if Fomar0153 is a little better then me at solving puzzles.

And while I suppose some people might appreciate knowing this game isn't very long if your skilled at solving the various types of puzzles your likely to encounter in a game like this. It doesn't answer the most important question in the room. Is this brief game any good? After all, the overall length of a game doesn't necessarily indicate how enjoyable it is. A good example of this for me is "War of Two Worlds" which easily clocks in at over 40 hours if you want to experience everything, but ultimately boils down to a bad experience due to being needlessly dragged out. And while I'd argue this game doesn't compete with "Flex" in terms of dumb fun or with "Punch Bears" in terms of hiding a lot of depth in a small package. This doesn't mean "Towerø" is a bad game. In fact, my biggest gripe with "Towerø" is that this puzzle game ends just as its about to hit it's stride in my opinion. Though, I suppose I should move away from this long introduction at this point and begin to delve into the plot line for this game.

Story

On the story side of things you play as a demon who was sealed away inside of magical tower that prevents you from using your dark and wicked magics in order to escape. As such, you'll need to solve various types of puzzles with your keen intellect, a little trial and error, and a smidge of persistence. As for what you'll do after you escape. That's apparently left up to the imagination, but for some reason I imagine it involves a lot of hellfire.

Gameplay

"Towerø" is comprised of ten stages that are meant to get increasingly difficult as you climb the tower. And while I suppose the puzzles do up in difficulty with each floor. The jumps in difficulty are rather minor through the bulk of the tower. As such, the only room that will really give you pause is probably the last floor where you need to solve a combination of sliding puzzles, block pushing puzzles, and a puzzle built around you finding the correct path through trial and error. As a result, the bulk of the game is rather easy to breeze through if your well acquainted with the types of puzzles that tend to pop up in RPG Maker games.

Graphics

On the graphical side of things I'd say "Towerø" is merely alright. After all, the bulk of the floors in this game share the same basic layout. And while this is to be expected considering the game takes place in the tower. I can't help but feel like the bulk of the floors start to become visually boring after a while.

Bugs

During my Let's Play I experienced a weird sound bug on one of the floors where you needed to push boulders onto buttons in order to keep them in the close position. And while I'd normally take points off for an issue like this. After all, the noise generated from this glitch is highly annoying, but I'm also aware that Tw0Face is already looking into this issue in order to solve it.

Conclusion

"Towerø" is a brief puzzle game in need of a little tweaking and a few more levels in order to truly shine in my opinion, but as it stands I'd say it makes for a decent way to pass some time. Though if your looking for a game that will really test your mettle I'd suggest taking a look at "KiYoKi" by dandorf. Albeit that game lacks the variety shown in "Towerø" and focuses exclusively on block pushing puzzles.