Tower of Fantasy

Technical troubles plague this expansive role-playing game (RPG), keeping it from reaching its full potential. Tower of Fantasy is an open-world game made in the style of Genshin Impact. Players explore a vast landscape while working through story and side quests, and earn in-game currency to unlock new playable character skins and weapons. Exploration is aided by traversal vehicles, including a jetpack, motorcycle, and jet board, and a number of built-in movement options like double-jumping and air dashing, all of which make movement interesting. Combat is the other major focus of the game; it has you dynamically switching between three equipped weapons to fight off monsters. Although the exploration is typically a solo affair, the game offers co-op and competitive multiplayer options to add new ways to engage with the game's systems.

The story of Tower of Fantasy is rushed and haphazard. Characters are introduced and treated as if you already cared about them, before quickly jumping to a different plot point entirely. The voice acting is stilted and, bizarrely, often differs wildly from the subtitles provided in-game. Technical issues are frequent, from audio cutting out to characters glitching through walls and teleporting into unknown locations. Some of these issues may go away with time and continued support, but at the time of release the bugs are unavoidable. Outside of the story and gameplay, the character designs and monetization are suspect. Many female characters are scantily clad or wear tight, form-fitting materials, and the camera doesn't shy away from putting them on display. The underage character models add to the potential discomfort. And while the monetization is less extreme than in similar games, it still encourages spending real money to acquire items and characters in-game. You can have a full experience without spending additional money, which is good, but the game encourages you to pay for a better experience. If you can look past the technical and design issues, Tower of Fantasy is a massive game with enjoyable exploration, but there are other games that can provide a similar, but smoother, experience.