Textual content-based video games, administration RPGs, and visible novels – of no matter variety – hardly ever take advantage of thrilling previews. It is simply not simple to construct a wealthy curiosity on the planet and characters of a narrative you’ll be able to solely get the slightest style of. I am more than happy to say that a number of hours with Sovereign Tower broke that development fully.
Whosoever turns the important thing within the big magic lock on the tower turns into king. So, because the mystically-appointed lord of the tower, your poor faceless wanderer turns into an important particular person in a single day in what developer Wild Wits calls a “story-rich, Round Table administration RPG.” It is an entertaining idea that attracts its characters and dialogue equally from fantastical custom and fashionable life. Couple that with a deliciously detailed artwork model and a way of what is most entertaining to do in each administration video games and visible novels.
That is sufficient to promote it, I believe, nevertheless it additionally has some good surprises and a bizarre little twist on the style as an entire. I had a fairly darn good time with it, and I am trying ahead to extra.
King of the Citadel
In every flip of Sovereign Tower, you need to do two issues: settle for audiences, then assign knights out of your spherical desk to numerous quests. Taking audiences is a straightforward idea: Sit on the throne and cope with issues individuals convey you. The choices you make there can alter the trail of the story, convey up new quests in your knights, or keep away from issues. They will additionally have an effect on the sovereign’s standing with the realm’s 4 factions: the The Aristocracy, Folks, Retailers, and Students.
Some issues go away should you simply throw cash at them, and the taxes you get firstly of each cycle will pay for a few of that—however these are the identical taxes you utilize to pay for stuff like cool new swords and horses and magic potions, so do you actually wish to spend them on boring stuff like bridges or no matter? In all probability not.
That sounds fairly regular, nevertheless it’s the weirdos that present as much as want issues from you or to hitch your kingdom that make it memorable. I encountered a pungent jester, proud emissaries unable to confess they could not resolve their very own issues, intelligent peasants, annoying nobles, and even an murderer. Speaking with them solidifies the persona of your blank-slate Sovereign, elevating their stats in Audacity, Tyranny, Knowledge, and Kindness to unlock alternate choices in future occasions.
The Knights are the flavour that’ll actually have to hold the sport, and from what I noticed they could do it. I met an enormous man that acted like a toddler, a really fancy boy, an especially overdramatic man, a pleasant girl who beloved forest critters, probably the most goth knight ever, and even a straight-up precise wolf. Every of them had their very own distinctive little occasions and dialogue that popped up on occasion, every of which affected your sovereign’s relationship with them. In addition they had historical past to be taught, in addition to extra simple stats, all of which have an effect on their efficiency on missions.
Determining which knight could be greatest for every quest was an really fascinating alternative. Gear like a particular horse to journey, a sword to make use of, or a magic potion may give them non permanent stat boosts, nevertheless it’s usually the bonuses or penalties from their persona traits that make the distinction between a failure and success or between mere success and an excellent victory.
For instance should you’re doing one thing that is a little bit of public relations? In all probability ought to ship the extra charismatic knight, however not the actually smug one. Watching every knight’s background and determining which of the little highlighted key phrases apply to the present mission is a enjoyable little bit of understanding the characters.
And there is a actual penalty for failure. Your knights every have an armor rating, which if it goes to zero signifies that knight’s, properly, useless and gone. Your blacksmith can solely repair one knight’s armor every cycle—so it’s essential to be moderately positive that the duty you are sending a knight on is one they’ll at the very least survive in the event that they fail.
Shining Armor
Not one of the characters, nor the complete sport as I noticed it, would have practically as a lot persona with out the visible artwork on show in Sovereign Tower, and I’ve bought to take a second to run by way of the influences and components that make it up. Beginning with the straightforward decisions of colours to attract from: The nice and cozy pastels, earth tones, and jewel tones are pretty, then they’re mixed with copious golden shades and tints to specific lighting. It is a palette of colours that is one thing between stained glass or wealthy watercolor on thick paper.
The characters are drawn with a whole lot of emotion and motion, too, for what are in any other case comparatively flat portraits. You may really feel the shrug in how Urusla stands, for instance. You may see the carefree angle within the angle of Angelica’s head. And, properly, every thing about Gideon tells you precisely who he’s and the way he behaves. It is not simply nice illustration work in that you could really feel the movement, it is that you could instantly begin to really feel who the characters are simply from how they give the impression of being.
It is clear that these are artists who perceive the way to work their chosen medium, and should you’ll put up with me for a nerd second, it’s deeply harking back to the Artwork Nouveau interval in design from France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Notably the commercials, posters, and calendars of justly-famous artist Alphonse Mucha. It is a becoming alternative, too: Mucha’s work usually used the form of medieval romantic and even fairytale themes that Sovereign Tower appears to make use of in its tales—I think about he’d approve of being the inspiration right here.
I believe that is the place I might place this complete sport’s creative model, too: It is a mix of medieval fantasy and Arthurian romance setting, the artwork of Mucha, and the writing of a wryly intelligent fashionable comedian ebook. There’s mainly nothing to dislike in that.
The Intelligent Twist
It is not a shock to individuals who like this sort of sport that there are going to be secret occasions and pathways by way of the story to uncover, in addition to determined outcomes and painful costs to pay when selecting poorly at sure determination factors. I discovered that Sovereign Tower should have various, since I managed to stumble into at the very least two hidden story outcomes whereas enjoying simply by assigning an surprising or suboptimal knight to a particular quest.
The frustration with these sorts of occasions, nonetheless, is that they may give you undesirable outcomes or change the story while you weren’t anticipating them to or had been aiming for one more final result. The one alternative you have bought at that time is commonly to play the complete visible novel over once more simply to see a brand new path or the instant consequence of a tricky alternative.
The true good selection that Sovereign Tower makes is to have a built-in do-over mechanic. See, there is a demon that lives in a cage within the tower basement, which I am positive is not scary or plot-relevant in any respect as a result of the demon helps you do one thing very helpful: Step again in time. Don’t be concerned—the demon assures me it is because it has completely no dangerous intentions and is certain that will help you—very like all the opposite magical issues that dwell within the tower.
With the demon’s assist you’ll be able to flip again time, particularly when some alternative you have made would result in a disastrous finish. I anticipate you may additionally have the ability to use the ability to keep away from the worst ends within the sport, and I am betting most gamers will wish to use it at the very least a couple of times to keep away from making no matter NPC they’ve chosen to romance not mad at them about one thing. There’s additionally the trace, given within the trailer and screenshots for Sovereign Tower, that you can use the demon’s energy to unlock alternate dialogue in conditions you have seen earlier than—tagged with an “Omniscience” stat that absolutely will not upset or alarm individuals who do not realize you are time travelling.
Total, from the artwork and the writing, I am fairly intrigued by Sovereign Tower and it is occurring my record of video games to be careful for. Certain, the sport mechanics are fairly easy, however when the story and characters are fascinating on this manner I am glad the sport guidelines are getting out of the way in which to let me entertain myself—failing and succeeding alone phrases.