TOKOYO The Tower of Perpetuity Review

TOKOYO The Tower of Perpetuity puts players in a colorful 2D side-scroller with a tower that changes every day and a surprising level of difficulty.

Published by Playism (the company behind indie titles like Gnosia and TASOMACHI: Behind the Twilight) and developed by //commentout and Saebashi, TOKOYO: The Tower of Perpetuity is an old-school side-scrolling platformer that tasks players with climbing a procedurally-generated dungeon that changes every day. It was first announced in 2017 and released on Steam Early Access to a very positive response in November 2020. Now, TOKOYO: The Tower of Perpetuity is set to launch in full on both PC and the Nintendo Switch - with PlayStation 4 and mobile ports supposedly being released later on.

TOKOYO: The Tower of Perpetuity takes place in a far-off forgotten world, where a mysterious tower calls out to explorers brave enough to scale its heights. This is where the player comes in, as they step control one of five playable characters who find themselves mysteriously transported to this tower and forced to brave its many dangerous floors in search of a way back home. These heroes include a demon maid, a dragon princess, a ninja, a mystical fox spirit, and a cleaning robot, each one with a unique backstory that is told in a brief text segment at the beginning of each playthrough.

Related: Lila's Sky Ark Review: A Psychedelic Musical Adventure

Players begin each run at the base of the Tower, where they can switch their character, see online rankings by other players, and even load game mods. As the player journeys ever upward, they will encounter choices that can change the layout of the tower going forward, and safe zones where they can replenish their health by selecting an item out of three possible choices. Players will also come across power-ups during the climb that can add more attacks to their skills, let them jump higher, or boost their Skill Gauge.

Gameplay unfolds like a traditional side-scroller, with the player moving from left to right and jumping over pits and obstacles as they transverse the landscape and try to avoid depleting their health gauge. Along the way, they will encounter various enemies, some of which can inflict dangerous effects like limiting the player's jumping ability or inverting their movement controls. There is also a purple Karma meter that fills up automatically as the player journeys through a level. Once the meter fills, a powerful and dangerous enemy emerges that can inflict movement-impeding injuries on the player. Thankfully, the meter empties once the player reaches a new floor.

To defeat enemies, players can use special Skills ranging from swords that fly around them to swirling attack spirits that fly around them to strike down foes. All of these use the blue Skill Gauge located below the player's health. However, once the Skill Gauge is depleted, the player can't attack until it refills. This happens automatically over time, but the player is left having to dodge enemies until it's full once again. When the player dies, they are given a choice of consuming Candies to retain their current position at the cost of their score being reset or posting a short, Elden Ring-style message for other players and starting over after their score is added to the online leaderboard. A grave marker containing their message is left in the spot where they died, giving the world a sense of connection as players find out where others have attempted their own ascent up the Tower.

TOKOYO: The Tower of Perpetuity uses old-school 2D sprites and a cute, simplistic art style with plenty of vibrant colors throughout each stage - similar to retro-style games like Celeste. When the player unleashes their character's Skill, a portrait of them flashes on the screen that helps establish each one's personality. The chiptune music also evokes NES-era platformers, though some of the beats might get repetitive as players often struggle through the earlier sections over and over.

Despite its cute and nostalgic presentation, TOKOYO: The Tower of Perpetuity contains a considerable amount of challenge, and players should expect to die many times while playing. However, there is also plenty of variety, as the constantly changing layout and random power-ups ensure that no two playthroughs are identical. Overall, TOKOYO: The Tower of Perpetuity is a fun-yet-punishing platformer that can be enjoyed in bite-sized intervals - though longer playthroughs might be tedious for some.

Next: Unexplored 2: The Wayfarer's Legacy Review - A Roguelike Roleplaying Journey

TOKOYO: The Tower of Perpetuity is available now, June 2, on Microsoft Windows and Nintendo Switch. A digital Steam code was provided to Screen Rant for the purpose of this review.

J. Brodie Shirey is just a simple man trying to make his way in the universe, but aren't we all? He currently lives in York, Pennsylvania. He is a big comic book, video game, and science fiction fan, and likes writing articles for ScreenRant or scripts for some of his crazy TV show ideas.A graduate from York County School of Technology, he's self-published several books on Amazon, and once won 1st place at a regional computer fair for a CGI animated short. He might post it on Youtube someday. He hopes that working for this site will be his first step into the larger universe of online writing, since Megazord technology hasn't been invented yet and he doesn't seem to have any Force powers. You can check out his work at The Uncanny Fox, purchase his books on Amazon.com, see his posted scripts on Script Revolution, or see his portfolio here or here. He can also be followed on Twitter @FoxUncanny.