The Banner Saga was a very well-loved trilogy of turn-based strategy games with excellent gameplay mechanics and an even better story. By now, it shouldn't be a surprise to see an indie developer decide to do a genre pivot after a successful game, and that's exactly what Stoic decided to do with Towerborne. What it pivoted to, however, is certainly unexpected.

The story is typical for a medieval fantasy setting. Humans had once lived in peace in the City of Numbers until calamity struck and the protective barrier system around the city was destroyed. Monsters rose up from the depths to take down the city and many of the people who lived there. The few who managed to escape fled to the nearby belfry and began to rebuild their lives. Meanwhile, a new protective force was formed and consisted mostly of Aces, people who can be resurrected — albeit with memory loss. You play as one of those Aces, and it is your job to keep the belfry safe while also trying to see if there is a way to turn back the tide of monsters invading the land.

After you create a custom character, you'll be thrown into a tutorial level where you quickly learn that the game is a beat-'em-up. It's traditional in that you've got a tilted viewpoint and can move up and down, but traversal will primarily be going from left to right; movement stops once you encounter a mob of enemies. There are the standard quick and heavy attacks that you can perform combos with, but you can't pick up any weapons since you have one in your hands all the time. If you've played a beat-'em-up before, then you know exactly what to expect.

The basic formula differs from other beat-'em-ups in a few ways. The first is the presence of a dodge roll, something that isn't typical in games like this. It can be executed at any time, and you can't be broken out of it. This makes it good for getting out of a mob relatively unscathed, especially since the game doesn't feature any invincibility frames for allies and enemies — even in a prone state. The only drawback is that the dodge covers a good distance, so it'll take a good deal of practice to ensure you can perform it and not find yourself way out of attack range.

The second difference lies in the class system. Sentinels carry a sword and shield, and they are the only ones who can actively block an attack. Rockbreakers use giant gauntlets to punch enemies with combos. Shadowstrikers can dash in and out of trouble and conjure up surprise attacks with their dual blades. Fin,ally, Pyroclasts are slower than their counterparts when it comes to attacks but they produce a good deal of damage since they are the only class that can place a burn effect on their enemies. The differences are nice, but what makes this more intriguing is the fact that you can switch between classes anytime you're out of battle, so you're never stuck in a situation where you have to start over if you want to try out a different class.

The last major difference to the mechanics is something that will please fans of games like River City Ransom: the presence of several RPG elements. XP leveling is a thing, but be mindful that it is only applied to the class you're playing, so switching to a new class might put you in a bind depending on how far you've traveled. You can have companions fight by your side and act as an extra attack in battle. Weapons and clothes can all be upgraded and tweaked with random effects, but unlike weapons and XP, you can share clothes between your classes. You also don't need multiple copies of the same clothes, as having a Sentinel wear a specific shoulder pad doesn't prevent the Pyroclast from wearing that same augmented shoulder pad at the same time. The RPG elements aren't overly complicated, but they add some depth to a genre that's usually pretty simple.

This all comes together in a big multiplayer world that is less of a formal MMO and more akin to something like Destiny. The belfry acts as your giant hub city with shops and places to upgrade weapons and armor and take on side-quests, but you'll always see players running around doing their own business or dancing (as players often do). The world map has you seeing other players travel between levels, and selecting a mission gives you the chance to party up with random strangers before you jump into a fight. That's about the extent of what we saw in the preview build before Early Access goes live, so don't expect much more beyond this.

As a big multiplayer game, the online performance is already solid. We got into a few skirmishes with at least one other person by our side, and there were no signs of lag. It already feels nice, and there's no sign of it getting worse when more people jump in; each level only limits you to four players at a time, with no other parties appearing in the field when you do. The one drawback is that there's no local co-op play, which is a common feature of games in this genre.

What may surprise people is the fact that the game is completely doable solo. Big multiplayer endeavors are usually only tuned for group play, but going through all of the missions and boss fights can be accomplished by yourself. Part of this is thanks to the presence of a variable difficulty system that exchanges higher difficulty levels for better gear rewards. Another reason this doesn't feel like a Herculean task is because of the difficulty tuning, which doesn't overwhelm you if you choose to go solo on higher difficulty levels. That sort of thing can feel like a rarity in this space, but it also ensures that those who don't go with random people in groups can still have fun.

There are two things about Towerborne that players should consider. The first is that the game is planned to be free to play. The Early Access period will be accessible only if you get one of the Founder's Edition packs, and the team has mentioned this on its Steam page. Thus, expect the population of players at this stage to be tempered compared to what you'd get in a full free-to-play release. The developers have also stated that the only things you'll be paying for are cosmetics and some boosts, and we are hoping that the game goes that route like Path of Exile did, where story content was free.

The second thing to note is that the developers are really making this an Early Access game, as they have warned that full character wipes will be frequent depending on the severity of the tweaks and additions they need to make. One of those full wipes will happen during the transition from Early Access to retail release, so if you are planning to jump into the game now, don't get too attached to your character.

So far, Towerborne is a fun romp for fans of beat-'em-ups. The presence of classes and the ability to switch between them at any time is welcome when it comes to staving off monotony. The game feels balanced enough that solo players won't feel like they're falling behind others who choose to play grouped up with friends and strangers. It's still too early to tell what kind of legs this game will have, but after our brief time with the Early Access version, we're excited to see where this goes.