The Deadly Tower of Monsters

charming and cute with some fun ideas. It just quickly gets repetitive, and it also forces you to swap between characters to progress through the tower which you can fall down at any time. I thought the point of letting you switch between either the female or male astronaut was just player choice, but instead it gives the male astronaut a dedicated item that you are required to use to climb up the tower while the female astronaut just gets a shield you can kinda use in combat that is purely optional. It sucks more especially considering each character has its own stats that you can upgrade to focus your points into for either character. Which when it's trying to explain these more gamey aspects, like no two people playing this game choosing to play a specific character, or the respawn mechanics, or how you use certain weapons and they all get their own commentary explaining how it's still part of the movie, it's really not cool to go "yeah we were super progressive about letting a woman be able to fight and beat up all these enemies." as an explanation to then turn around and go "A woman with explosives???? Yeah just too out there, too crazy." Even as a joke, it just isn't that good of one to force the player out of what was ultimately their personal choice which leaves a bad taste in my mouth when the rest of the game was fighting against repetition and how stale it gets, only to start crashing every then and again. Like I find a lot of what this game is trying to do really cool, but when it's not doing that interesting of a gameplay loop to then take away player agency and have game crashing bugs on top of that? Yeah I'm just kinda done.

Honestly a really good premise for a game being a directors cut of a movie but in game form. Sadly the actual game play part is rather boring and not interesting. Not a bad game but not one i care about to put anymore time into.

I have yet to play a bad game by ACE Team, and this one is no exception. The visual presentation, the setting, and the humorous writing really make the game, elevating a somewhat repetitive beat-’em-up into a much more enjoyable experience. It kept my interest until the very end. Highly recommended!

This is possibly the funniest writing I've ever experienced in a game. Great voice acting, great characters and enemies. The art style is quite nice. Gameplay, controls, and platforming is competent. It is pretty linear but the self aware comedic narrative is worth your time in itself.

The Deadly Tower of Monsters is an action-adventure title developed by ACE Team and published by SEGA that succeeds by turning the charm of vintage science-fiction films into an entertaining interactive experience. Instead of taking itself seriously, the game fully embraces the campy style of classic B-movies, complete with over-the-top heroes, eccentric villains, giant monsters, and deliberately cheesy special effects. What truly distinguishes it from other action games is its framing as a fictional restored cult movie, accompanied by a humorous director's commentary that plays throughout the adventure. This running commentary frequently breaks the fourth wall, offering amusing anecdotes about imaginary production problems, budget limitations, and filmmaking tricks that make the journey feel like watching an old science-fiction film with behind-the-scenes extras. The result is a refreshingly original experience that combines comedy and action without sacrificing either. The adventure begins when legendary space explorer ♥♥♥♥ Starspeed crash-lands on the hostile planet of Gravoria. While searching for a way home, he encounters Scarlet Nova, the courageous daughter of the world's ruthless ruler, who has chosen to fight against her own father's oppressive regime. They are later joined by Robot, ♥♥♥♥'s dependable mechanical companion, and together the trio sets out to climb the mysterious tower that dominates the planet. Although the narrative intentionally borrows familiar pulp science-fiction themes involving evil emperors, strange civilizations, towering monsters, and daring heroes, it uses these classic ideas with affection rather than parody alone. Every story beat feels like a tribute to old adventure serials, while the entertaining commentary constantly adds another layer of personality by pretending that every dramatic moment was created using inexpensive movie props and practical effects. Gameplay focuses on steadily ascending the massive tower while overcoming increasingly dangerous enemies, environmental hazards, and memorable boss encounters. Players alternate between the three protagonists, each possessing their own distinctive weapons and combat abilities that encourage different approaches to battle. The arsenal includes futuristic firearms, swords, laser-based equipment, and special gadgets that expand combat options beyond simple attacks. Hidden throughout the levels are valuable scrap materials used to unlock permanent upgrades, rewarding players who take the time to explore instead of rushing directly toward the next objective. New powers such as time manipulation, movement enhancements, and explosive abilities gradually expand the gameplay, ensuring that the adventure introduces fresh mechanics at a satisfying pace. While combat remains accessible, the variety of enemy designs and level layouts keeps encounters enjoyable throughout the climb. Visually, The Deadly Tower of Monsters is one of the most distinctive games in its genre. Its environments resemble handcrafted movie sets, while monsters are animated to imitate classic stop-motion effects that immediately evoke the spirit of vintage creature features. Every location embraces colorful retro-futuristic designs filled with oversized props, elaborate alien architecture, and wonderfully theatrical set pieces. This artistic direction creates an atmosphere unlike most modern action games, successfully capturing the feeling of experiencing a beloved science-fiction classic from decades past. The soundtrack complements the presentation with adventurous orchestral themes, while exaggerated sound effects and dramatic performances reinforce the intentionally campy tone. Even during intense battles, the game never loses sight of its playful identity, making every chapter consistently entertaining. Beyond its creative presentation, the game delivers a satisfying action experience supported by responsive controls, rewarding exploration, and well-paced progression. The relatively concise campaign works to its advantage by introducing new environments, enemies, and gameplay ideas before repetition becomes an issue. Although a few platforming sections can occasionally be affected by camera positioning and certain combat encounters may feel slightly repetitive toward the latter stages, these are relatively small shortcomings compared to everything the game accomplishes. Its combination of inventive storytelling, enjoyable combat, memorable characters, and constantly evolving gameplay creates an experience that remains engaging from beginning to end. The Deadly Tower of Monsters stands as an excellent example of how originality and personality can elevate familiar gameplay concepts. ACE Team successfully blends action, humor, exploration, and nostalgic science-fiction into a cohesive adventure that feels unlike almost anything else available. Players looking for a game filled with charm, creativity, and a genuine appreciation for classic monster movies will find plenty to enjoy during the climb to the tower's summit. While it may not be the longest action-adventure available, its imaginative presentation, entertaining mechanics, and consistently clever sense of humor leave a lasting impression that easily outweighs its minor flaws. Rating: 9/10

This game is really good. the humor is really funny and the gameplay is fun 9/10

Definitely a product of love. It oozes character and the banter between the director and interviewer is mostly enjoyable and sufficiently silly. I had a couple laughs along the way and the gameplay itself is also pretty fun albeit stale. It's not too long though so it doesn't overstay its welcome at all. Recommended especially for classic monster movie enthusiasts

It's a pretty good game, and a cool take on a 3rd person platformer. Fun with 2 players of any age. Too bad both players have to be the same character all the time... This is a game that doesn't take itself seriously for a second, and neither should you. Seriously. Don't take yourself seriously. Not even for a second. Don't. Seriously. Just... Don't. TBH, I bought it on sale back in 2017 for the Scarlet Nova Desktop Calendar (because hot cosplay chick calendar, amirite?), but was pleasantly surprised to get a decent game along with it. Get it if you like platformers, get it if you like quattro fromaggio cheesyness, get it if you're looking for something different.

[quote]Just saying, but I do have a curator page. If you like my remarks about games, you can find more of them here: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/44130985-TDP%27s-Gaming-Escapades [/quote] From what I know, few people have tried to incorporate third-party narration as an integral part of their game. What I mean is, a third-party entity in the game looking over your progression and providing commentary based on what you do. A whole lot of these games are either visual novels or walking simulators, like The Stanley Parable or Slay the Princess. But we do also have some games that incorporate this idea with an action gameplay, like ICEY or Bastion. The Deadly Tower of Monsters belongs to the second group. It makes use of narrators that provide commentary from the very beginning of the game to the very end of it, and uses a brilliant reasoning for its inclusion. But the quality of the overall package is not satisfactory. [h2]Do people even know what a DVD menu is nowadays?[/h2] Admittedly, The Deadly Tower of Monsters has a very interesting, and dare I say unique, story premise. It presents the experience as the live watching of a B-Movie from the 50s that is going to be getting the VHS to DVD treatment, and an audio engineer has been assigned to record the director's comments on the movie to be included on the disc as special content. Therefore, nearly everything you do in the game is accompanied/narrated by the director and the sound engineer partaking in discussions. I have to say, the game starts extremely well in this regard and fully leans into the B-Movie looks and feels. It perfectly showcases the techniques and effects used in the B-Movies of that era through its audio and visuals (such as corny dialogues, usage of stop motion animation and puppets, usage of home appliances as gadgets for futuristic movies, off-screen errors being mistakenly visible in the final product, etc.) accompanied by the director talking about them, ranting about the current movie industry and mentioning how the process of shooting his movie went on. I also really appreciate the addition of extra lines of dialogue to take nearly every situation into account. Simply waiting in one place for prolonged periods of time, dying to an enemy or doing something wrong can result in different reactions from the director. For example, you will get different lines of dialogue if you either decide to land on a haystack in the beginning of the game or deliberately miss it. However, the narration does not stay charming throughout the whole game. As you get closer to the end, the humor just wears off and the director starts to show that he is actually very abusive towards his crew instead of his initial clueless and/or dumb impressions. Not only that, he is absent from the final chapter of the game, leaving the audio engineer to state his thoughts on the movie and provide the humor which is frankly some of the worst in the game. All of this then culminates in a 4th wall breaking ending that made absolutely no sense to me and left me disappointed with how random it was. These story and narration issues have had catastrophic effects on the whole game, as The Deadly Tower of Monsters is a game that carries its gameplay through the narration, not the opposite or both in tandem. [h2]I shouldn't get bored in a 4 hour game, yet here we are...[/h2] Unfortunately, The Deadly Tower of Monsters does not have what it takes to keep the players interested for the whole experience when it comes to the gameplay. It stays like a regular top-down action platformer from the beginning to the end, with nothing getting introduced to break the stale flow of the game. Now this might seem like nonsense as the game can be beaten in about 4 hours but trust me, it gets boring very fast. A part of this boredom comes from how the gameplay is designed. On one hand, we have platforming challenges that are really nothing special, whenever they are not infuriating (we'll get to this soon). On the other hand, combat is not satisfying either. You get all these weapons and defensive abilities, and see a variety of enemies, just to find out that most of them are useless and barely change the flow of combat. You collect plenty of gold from enemies and boxes, just to find out the gears are far more important, and the skill system is based on what achievements you have unlocked in a playthrough instead of other things, so most of what you have collected will be useless. You get all these interesting-looking bosses, but the fights against them are lackluster and not fun at all. And whatever else that the game offers is not enough to make you more invested in it. The whole gameplay mechanic of shooting enemies that approach from below is interesting at first, yet gets overused later on and honestly adds nothing to the experience. Switching characters to get past various obstacles or having some enemies being resistant to certain weapon types is a good idea, yet the backtracking needed to change them is tedious in so many cases, as character/weapon changers are not always present next to a checkpoint. Locking collectables behind obstacles that require a later-acquired ability is a reoccurring thing in games, yet it's not really beneficial to do here (unless you are going for 100%) because of both the aforementioned backtracking and also the new weapons not always being better and worth the investment. [h2]Can you just hold that straight?[/h2] Then we have the issue of the camera system. Earlier in the game, the camera view seems to be fine and manageable; But as you progress further in the game, the camera angles will get worse. They constantly get placed in awkward angles, negatively impacting depth perception and making proper platforming a hell to go through, like the flying saucers before chapter 4. It can also move or zip around in a very fast and very uncomfortable manner (like the Emperor's Throne section where it just violently moves around, or if you try to jump off from the tower) if you dare go somewhere other than where the game expects you to. And all of this is such a shame, as I really like the presentation here. When I revisited the game with more experience under my belt, I was shocked at how well the first hour of the game went on. I loved the audiovisual presentation and even laughed at some of the jokes as they hit too close to home for me. But the further I progressed, the less I was inclined to finish the game. If it wasn't for the fact that I was in the final parts of the penultimate chapter of the game, I would have never tried to bring myself to finish it. [h2]TL;DR[/h2] Starts great with an interesting concept, but cannot keep the momentum going till the end as humor, combat and platforming get progressively more boring as the game goes on, despite the low playtime.

I would recommend this game.