Twisted Tower

It's a good game, but nothing more than that. I really liked the level design and atmosphere. Visually, the game has a strong identity, and I think the atmosphere is one of its strongest parts. The first part is definitely the best part of the game. After that, it starts to feel a bit like a stretched-out demo. I also feel like the name of the game is better than the game itself. "Twisted Tower" is such a strong concept, and I think the idea had much more potential than what we got in the final product. As an FPS, I think it's good from my perspective, although I don't usually play this type of game. I also didn't find it particularly scary. My biggest issue is that there should have been much more variety in the level layouts. The name "Twisted Tower" creates a very strong expectation of strange, creative, unpredictable environments, but I don't feel like the game fully delivers on that by the end. Overall, it's a solid experience, but I think it had the potential to be a much better and more memorable game.

10/10

Played it twice, fun game!

I really liked this game. The atmosphere was great. Loved all the weapons and how they actually worked the way you wanted them too. Story was well done. Visuals were great! I never found myself getting tired of the game. I think my only eh is the doors you can't open until you beat the game. Overall, great game!! Would recommend it for sure!

In a word? Interesting. I can absolutely see the inspirations oozing out of this in gameplay and design and for what it is it is very engaging to play. There's very creative direction with the weapon design and in terms of playing this feels fantastic. I enjoy the enemy designs from the fundamental stance and in my first playthrough to the end I enjoyed what it was. The Twisted Toys in particular are very fun and I wish the game leveraged more of that design to make more interesting levels and that, in general, the game was longer. However, I do have some negatives. They're mainly about cosmetic/aesthetic choices rather than explicitly gameplay but I do want to list them. 1) Character animations are very odd to say the least. They loop constantly and are extremely cumbersome in this artstyle. In some ways it feels intended but it also comes across as same-y at times for the NPCs (not enemies). It's good to have very prominent enemies so you can quickly discern what's what in gunfights but that same concept isn't quite executed well for the non-enemies. 2) The story is...well it's there. I was initially quite interested as I was arrived at the 3rd area but more and more the game seemed to slip on its cohesiveness. It's like it wants to tell a compelling story of what type of person the player character (Vincent) is and the dynamic of he and his love interest Charlotte but it falls flat. Several plot points are resolved in ways that I think make sense enough but other aspects, like Vincent's schizophrenic sister or Piper's role in the story, or even Gordon's sudden abrupt role in the finale with Mr. Twister are just baffling. It all happens too fast. There are seeds of good storytelling here with the scattered notes and audio recordings but by the end of it it just fumbles it all together in a twist-not-twist that is confusing and, for lack of better terminology, feels like it blue balled me on what it could have actually been. I wish things were just a bit more coherent for what it's worth and that more could have been done to really delve into the themes that the game tries, but fails, to put forth as parts of its story. It's serviceable, but it could be better. 3) The game should have been longer. Playing on Normal difficulty my first time through, I climbed the tower in just under 4 hours and finished it never dying a single time to enemies (just to my own stupidity with pitfalls lmao). But the game has so many interesting designs it can work with and the levels it does design are fun in their own right but the game just doesn't have as much as I think it could. For $15 I think this is fine, it's not like you're getting ripped off, but with a system that has so much potential with these types of toys it's a little disappointing that it does just kind of end. The adventure plus system for beating the game sounds like it will be a fun thing to do but overall I just wish the game leveraged more into the engaging secondary movement system with the grapple, the air dash, and double jump. There's so many more ways the level design could have been made more complex or more puzzles/timing challenges and I would be wholeheartedly recommending this game. At best, I can just say it's fun, but short. 4) Enemies were not challenging. While I did only play on normal, the enemies themselves do not fair much of a challenge. They are extremely reactable which is very nice but the primary issue with them is that they do not spawn in great enough numbers, even in dedicated arena rooms, to ever actually provide a sizeable challenge to the player. I hope that when I play through this again on max difficulty and on the adventure plus I will be challenged a bit more, but as is I can't say that I found anything too hard. Not boring, but it doesn't lend itself to the replayability if I don't feel like I'm ever truly challenged. 5) While most things feel great when playing, one aspect that was a little obnoxious was weapon swapping. Having 10 weapons to choose from and each having some bits of utility is great, but having to try and swap between the cannon (0) to shotgun (4) to marble (5) to pistol (1) to sling shot (8) got VERY cumbersome especially if I'm trying to do a lot. The weapon wheel kind of helped but I think you would do better to ONLY use the weapon wheel and make it so the player can set some hotkeys (1-4) to make quickswapping weapons easier. In summary, I think this game has a solid foundation and it plays well. It was a fun 4 hour run through the game on normal but the experience is dragged down a bit by the lack of difficulty and unpolished story it tries to tell. The gags it throws are appreciated but can sometimes feel just outlandish or not really fit with the rest of the way the game does some clever bits. The extra movement options unlocked and while I wish the game was longer so it could throw more complex challenges at you, I wholeheartedly love that system. If I could just point out my biggest desires, I would like for the enemies to challenge me a bit more by spawning in greater numbers and for the game to have been a bit longer or have more challenges (perhaps with the secret areas). I give this a solid 7/10 and do recommend it, but be prepared for just a little bit of jank

loved it, here's to your next game that I'll follow closely

the only thing that i didint like was the end beain a bit cesty for the rest is goty

Great presentation and solid combat loop very reminiscent of Bioshock 1. Really does feel like a hidden gem from the 360 era of console shooters.