24.  Tower of Time

“Tower of Time” gameplay trailer

This early access game has the player character traverse the world of Atara where magic meets technology and does so beautifully, creating a story that will have you hooked within minutes. The songs in the game are catchy too, and the voice lines are delivered without any awkward noises or stuttering.

Atara is a post-apocalyptic world that has been rendered empty and hollow from technology and magic’s interference. When the world met a cataclysmic end, the residents of the now desolate country chose to forget their past and wallow in the future’s grim ending. The world is dark and bleak, but the graphics are smooth and downright gorgeous. The writing is dark and quiet as the sound design, and it adds to the empty atmosphere of the ruined, once prosperous land of Atara.  The only downside is that the full game is not released yet! There are however, five different playable races and a large number of diverse NPCS from each realm.

Unlike the previous game, Tower of Time’s combat styles can best be described as going in melee style and bashing your enemies into submission, or pausing and reading the battlefield in order to decide who goes where like a real-time game of chess except the pieces want to murder your friends, and then you. The landscape is full of brown and black tints and hues, and it feels a little bit like the Fallout series meets Final Fantasy. This game both looks and plays pretty, and its mysteries are waiting to be uncovered. The release date is scheduled for sometime this April.

I wonder if you threw a coin, would you be able to hear it hit the bottom? Here, the heroes are listening to the lore of the lost world and no doubt wondering about the loot down below.

This is how I’d often daydream about fantasy lands as a child and the heroes that explored them.