Tower of Time

I got the game for free in a GOG giveaway, so price has no relevance on my opinion. I'd say good for people who like LOL style gameplay. I actually rather enjoy the mostly simplistic story, so far it's been done pretty well. The level design is pretty decent and they look pretty good. The voice over for the cutscene narrator is way louder than anything else in game. Basically, I just didn't really enjoy the combat. Kind of feels like LOL or something to me, which has never enraptured me. Always just feels like you click on things and spam spells/abilities as much as possible. The story seemed pretty decent and I'd like to see it through, but really the combat is such a bore and a chore to me that I doubt I ever will. The characters are also pretty decent and will have an amount of party banter that isn't repetitive or annoying. The only thing I didn't like was the combat.

4.5/5. This was a really enjoyable fresh little dungeon crawling adventure. I was taken in by the mysterious atmosphere immediately. All game elements seemed very well balanced. Great cozy graphics. Most levels looked really cool. Very nice melancholic soundtrack that really captured and enhanced the vibe of the narrative. The story was interesting and mixed a lot of elements and tropes I wasn't expecting. Maybe there were a few plot holes or head scratching moments, but it didn't detract from the essence of the tale much. Story wise, the characters were good enough. Gameplay wise, they almost all were very interesting to play around with and unique in skill sets. Great voice overs during combat too. Combat was a blast for most of the game. It was very fun to play with builds until I got my dream team right. Slow vs pause was great too and I wish all rts games had it. The crafting was cool and at least ensured you would have decent gear for a character if the drops weren't going your way. The enchantments and upgrades added another nice layer of customization. The challenges were a nice break from the core game that had good rewards for the min maxer. The game did seem a bit easy though. About 1 quarter through I set it to epic and still only had difficulty on a few fights. Maybe I've just got a knack for these kind of games by now, maybe I stumbled onto a game breaking build, not sure. Because of this,it feels like the game could have ended sooner, as I didn't need to change my tactics or build at all for the last few levels and combat became a bit of a repetitive slog. I also think there was too much loot. It made me stop doing side quests and skip all but the best chests. I got tired of constantly fiddling with my inventory for 10min for like a net 2pts gain here and there when my team was already overpowered. Maybe my interest was just waning. The story kept me going for the last stretch though so it's ok. Worth full price easily.

From the moment I saw it in early access, I wanted it. Then years later, I forgot about it, and it was offered for free. So certainly can't complain about free stuff, but here's the review none the less. Pros: -A metric butt ton of content, rivaling the lengths of (non-'open world') AAA games. (Literally 2 straight days of play, and I was 1/3 of the way through.) -The level design and details on the environment is quite insane (especially for an indie game). -An interesting, bold, tactical squad-based combat system. -An initial feeling of choice of character progression. -A rich, lovingly detailed story with characters of some depth (although they occasionally break charcter for some reason) -Ignoring the combat, the story is reasonably well paced, with just enough to keep you intersted. Cons: -The "mechanics" of the game, as I'll explain below. -The combats get really, really repetitive, and slows the game down. By day 2, I turned it to story mode and fast forwarded the combats. They weren't really a challenge after unlocking the mage anyway....save for when your characters one shot themselves on reflect aura. -A shallow character progression. Each ability has 2 different alterations you can make to it...which while I can appreciate the development time, really doesn't offer any more than stat bumps for progression past that initial choice. -Gold-based progression. There's no XP. Instead, you collect gold, and spend that gold to upgrade buildings which allow you to spend gold to level up characters. The real way to obtain enough gold to level up your party is doing these "challenges," which the game never shows you how to access, so it'd have to be almost by accident to even see the little tab. I don't appreciate it. -The gear was mostly junk. You rarely got an upgrade. Or even a situational side grade. Unique items are rarely even powerful enough to be a side grade. -Story mode should have just made the combats a fade-to-black, and then fade back in.

Smart game design, complex features that are easy to understand and use yet add a lot of strategy to gameplay. The story arc is on par with anything I have found in gaming. Overall, my only complaint is the game needs a AAA level make over. Bring some elements up in quality and content additions and this title is a real contender compared to a lot of other games. As is, it is a wonderful smaller game made by Devs who put a lot into their game! I have it installed on my system and you should too!

It's been a long time since I've been drawn into a game to the point I lose track of time. This is my first review on GOG, despite being a user for over ten years. Tower of Time has really impressed me. Tower of Time is an RPG that isn't so complex I have to write the attributes down and chart out how they affect each other, and the story is interesting enough that I want to know what happened. But again, not so complicated I need a listing of gods and domains to understand. Upgrading gear and skills is fun, with little punishment to resetting. The tactical combat is real time, but throws me back to playing the Gold Box SSI games. (Something I play, to this day. My wife recognizes the sounds of Pool of Radiance. Once she hears them she says "Oh God, not again." and wanders off to leave me to my memories.) That's not to say the game doesn't have tactical depth or a detailed story. Compare it to reading Brandon Sanderson vs Robert Jordan. Jordan told you in detail about the lace cuffs on a character while describing them. Sanderson will give you more of an impression and a few details. What you prefer is up to you. You can dip in and out of the game easily, meaning those of us with little free time can play, save, and return to where we were. The skills - so far - have been universally useful. I need more time to decide if my enchantments are valid or not -- I had been hoarding gems, afraid to use them, but have found them to be fairly plentiful. I'm impressed, and am awaiting the developer's next game eagerly.