Climbing an endless tower, cutting through waves of enemies, and constantly finding better loot can be a recipe for a very satisfying formula. As its first project, Horien Studio’s Phantom Tower combines fast-paced hack-and-slash combat with RPG progression, crafting, and plenty of loot. It has all the right ingredients, but do they come together as smoothly as we had hoped?
The game revolves around climbing a procedurally generated tower consisting of 100 floors. Each run rewards crafting materials, equipment, and resources that can be used back in town to improve your character before taking on another climb. Alongside the standard Climb Mode, there is also Survival Mode, which replaces progression with endless waves of enemies and permanent death. Fractal modifiers, on the other hand, allow players to create increasingly difficult encounters with stronger enemies and additional challenges. So, just by looking at this, there’s a lot to chew on.
You can pick one of three classes, but you can unlock more later down the line. Every class specializes in different elemental abilities. Combining those elements creates powerful reactions that reward experimenting with different builds. Progression also feels surprisingly flexible, since every level grants a choice between several upgrades, often asking you to sacrifice one advantage for another. Lowering cooldowns at the expense of raw damage, or increasing utility instead of pure offense, gives each run a slightly different feel. Tower Blessings and Glyphs add another layer of customization by providing passive bonuses and class-specific upgrades that encourage trying new combinations. Slowly building a stronger character by defeating enemies and collecting rewards creates an enjoyable rhythm that keeps every climb interesting, although we have to admit, it seems a tad too easy dealing with the enemies and the bosses on normal difficulty.
The stylized visuals are clean and appealing. It’s easy to distinguish enemies and attacks even during hectic encounters. While elemental skills evolve through upgrades and new abilities, your basic attacks remain largely unchanged regardless of the weapons you equip. As a result, much of your offensive toolkit feels static throughout the adventure, which is a true shame as we would have appreciated some variety here as well. The unreliable auto-targeting system does not help either, occasionally locking onto unintended enemies or missing targets during more chaotic fights.
That doesn’t mean the combat doesn’t have a satisfying foundation. For an early access title, Phantom Tower seems chock-full of interesting features, especially the elemental system that encourages experimentation. We found ourselves constantly exploring every nook and cranny of the map just to see if we hadn’t missed anything of value. Also, unlocking and playing with every class offered many hours of fun. We can’t wait to see how Horien Studio will continue streamlining the experience and offering an even more enjoyable climb.
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