Towerborne Preview: A Co-Op Action RPG With Strong Beat 'Em Up Roots

One part belt-scroller beat ‘em up, one part loot-based action RPG. It’s not a common pairing, but ’s Early Access showing makes the combination work. Developer Stoic of fame follows up its critically acclaimed SRPG trilogy with an entirely new genre, though it’s a risk tempered by its F2P trappings and the publishing might of Xbox Game Studios behind it. Considering what came before, ’s stunning visual presentation is hardly a surprise, but it joins an addictive grind and solid fundamentals that could lure players who normally wouldn’t turn to a freemium option for their beat ‘em up fix.

For online RPG beat ‘em ups, people might think of either – itself more of action-platformer-RPG MMO – or possibly Dungeon Fighter Online's class-based play, a long-running fantasy action RPG belt-scroller approaching its 20th anniversary. In the case of the latter, uses the beat ‘em up genre primarily as a hook for a grindy gatcha, though it looks much like the belt-scrollers of yore.

We interview The Banner Saga co-creator Alex Thomas on the end of the trilogy, ruthless character choices, and what comes next for Stoic Studio.

When it comes to, Stoic's genre inspirations are abundantly clear and represented to a tee, despite the wider online freemium aspects which live under the hood. That means it brings some of the tech-oriented fighter depth of Treasure's classic, but molds it around a much slower, more cautious style, with no cartoonish endless wall-juggling or single-button room clears. All in all, its truest test will be whether genre fans come to terms with its numbers and systems, but our preview felt like a nice entryway into the concept, with what seems like little in the way of FOMO F2P shenanigans.

If anything, fans will probably arrive first for the story, so it’s unfortunate that ’s narrative aspects, while competent, offer very little comparison thus far. It’s still a decent tale with a unique backdrop centered on The Belfry, a massive tower fortress where the