Tower of Time - Preview @RockPaperShotgun

[Silver]

RockPaperShotgun tries out the early access version of Tower of Time and has a good time.

Tower Of Time is a splendid RPG with tactical real-time combat

You have to respect clever, and clever is oozing out of Tower Of Time [official site]. Not just an RPG with the guts to try its very own combat system far more intricate than us dungeon crawlers are used to, but also the use of Early Access in a way that makes it seem like an advantage to the player rather than the developer.

Tower Of Time is, at first glance, a traditional isometric-ish RPG, presented in beautiful swishy modern graphics. Click the mouse to move, click on things to interact, attribute skill points and skilfully assign attribute points, and worry about your armour. On top of that, and perhaps a touch crucially, it's also good at these things. It takes place in a familiar fantasy setting featuring a rural human world where cataclysmic events leave almost no sunshine, in which societies are falling as food becomes scarce, and a hero whose childhood marking by a hidden magical throne might make him the one who can change the future. Soon you learn of other regulars, the elves, the orcs, and so on. The writing is a touch purple in places, and definitely leans heavily on the old "for it was to be"-type fantasy stodge, but the atmosphere is immediately established and the characters likable.
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Thanks SSIGuy!

More information.

 

[Darkheart]

And, if I’m honest, at first a little disconcerting for me. Because I am not Mr RTS. In fact, Mr RTS is my sworn enemy, and the two of us rarely speak. While obviously multiple RPG games have attempted to implement RTS combat in the past, perhaps most famously the Spellforce series, I’ve not seen it done like this before. Far smaller scale than Spellforce’s fields of battle, this is more of an extension of the pause-based combat of latter BioWare games, taken to its natural strategic conclusion. Enemies move in real-time, and while you can slow time down to issue commands, you must think on the fly as you play your characters’ abilities and unique skills to deduce the correct methods of attack.

Sounds interesting! I might give it a try after all!

 

[SSIGuy]

I'm not an RTS guy anymore and likely would have stayed clear of this, but that quote was good to read in contextualizing his review and makes me think it might be worth trying. The way they're approaching EA is interesting also... first third of the game is completely done with two episodes to come.

 

[ElderGnome]

I am wanting to pick this up. The interface looks a little "designed for an iPad" for my tastes but the reviews have been good enough that this looks like one EA title I might even pick up and play. (I need something to tide me over before PoE 2 and D:OS 2.)