This live-service beat ’em up is worth checking out in early access

Towerborne left a solid first impression when I played it at an Xbox event last month. Now that I’ve played even more in the leadup to its launch, I’ve seen that the unique take on an online-focused beat ‘em up from The Banner Saga developer and Xbox actually works.

There’s still room for this early-access game to grow, but if you can accept Towerborne’s always-online nature and the fact that its journey is just starting, the core of something special has emerged here. While games like Destiny 2 and Diablo 4 clearly inspired Towerborne, the fact that this is a beat ‘em up and not a shooter or RPG makes it stand out in gaming’s ever-crowded multiplayer space.

The ace up Towerborne’s sleeve

In Towerborne, players create an “Ace,” an amnesiac warrior helping refugees get to a Belfry after monsters destroy the magical City of Numbers. It’s certainly much less story-focused than Stoic Studio’s The Banner Saga and its sequel, but it provides enough motivation as to why the Aces need to venture out into the world and beat up monsters over and over again. Before I could do that, though, I needed to explore the Belfry to improve my gear and get assigned quests by NPCs.

The Belfry is similar to The Tower in Destiny 2. This is a hub that players return to between missions, and you can either hang out there with those you’re in a party with or see other random players walking around. Right now, there’s not much else to do in the Belfry other than speaking to vendors, so I hope this will be fleshed out with more NPC dialogue and activities in the future. However, the meat of Towerborne can be accessed once you head out to the world map.

Towerborne’s world map comprises a hexagonal grid, each of which is a unique procedurally generated encounter. Some have chests and other objects that can grant players new gear, umbra, or currencies, but most are side-scrolling beat ‘em up stages to play through. If you’ve played something like Street of Rage 4 or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: