Towerborne blends whimsical Zelda-style monster slaying with side-scrolling arcade beat-'em-ups, and it's the definition of chaos

I've played two lots of Towerborne at Gamescom 2024, and it was not nearly enough to grasp the scope of this thing. As a hack n' slash roguelike inspired by the lore of MMOs, I was already looking forward to the promises offered up by developer Stoic — and right off the bat, it’s looking like a very different kind of post-apocalyptic adventure. Last year our very own Josh West described it as the Series X's answer to Castle Crashers, and now, I see what he meant.

I start my Towerborne journey on the show floor with Senior Staff Writer Heather Wald at my side. Together, we set out across a stunningly rendered 3D side and vertical-scrolling fantasy world teeming with monsters, and it’s our job to cleanse the lands of these Bokoblin-like brutes and give humanity one last shot at survival.

 For Whom the Bel(fry) Tolls

Towerborne’s combat is as intuitive as it is simple and fun. Mashing the X or Y buttons deals light or heavy attacks in turn, while a toolbar on the upper left corner of the screen details each of our special attack combos unique to our ready-chosen avatar, so you can imagine a fair bit of trial and error has to go down before we could consider ourselves total masters of the Belfry.

It’s not until later, at the guided hands-on demo session, that I learn my default class on the show floor: the war club-wielding Pyroclast. It speaks to one of the biggest changes made to the game since last year’s Gamescom, implementing four set classes with default weapons that can be swapped out for ARPG-style loot drops over the course of each individual run.

That means when I sit down to play the sword-and-shield Sentinel class during my second stint, I’m treated to a whole new experience. I take to the guard, parry, and general hack 'n' slashing style more than I did the heavy thwack of the club, taking special delight in how my special attack turns me into a spinning wheel of doom that deals damage just by being near an enemy. Cleric's Spirit Guardians spell in Baldur’s Gate 3 comes to mind here, and honestly I couldn’t be happier with it.

I’ve only had about 35 minutes total with Stoic’s fast-paced roguelike-meets-multiplayer adventure, and I’m already looking forward to sitting down to try it couch co-op style when it eventually makes the jump to Xbox Game Pass after a stint in early access. That won’t be for some time, but with an unspecified 2025 release date pencilled in for the new year, I’m hoping it won’t be long before I can return to the Belfry and teach those Zelda-like monsters a lesson — sword and shield in hand.

Pass the time until Towerborne's launch with the best Xbox Series X games you can play right now.