Anime, open world, and gacha, that best describes the newest MMORPG to arrive in town, Tower of Fantasy. An addition to the growing number of anime-themed MMOs, Hotta Studios’ newest title is on a steady climb to the top of popularity charts.
Game Overview
Tower of Fantasy is a free to play, web2, open world RPG game developed by Hotta Studio and published by Level Infinite. As stated, the game follows a very anime aesthetic to its character design as well as world elements. The game contains both multiple PVE and PVP elements as well as coop gameplay features. Players can use character that are either custom made or character avatars coming from the weapons. Tower of Fantasy is also a multi-platform title, available to Windows PC, Android and iOS users.
Mechanics
In the game, players traverse the open world and perform combat in 3rd person view. The game is set on Aida, a world that combines fantasy, cyberpunk, and even outer space sci-fi aesthetics. Players can switch between 3 different weapons during combat, each belonging to a certain category including:
- Swords
- Combat Blades
- Spears
- Hammers
- Bows
- Scythes
- Guns
- Staff and others
Weapons also fulfill roles that help determine a player’s playstyle and can either be:
- Attack – damage dealers
- Support – heals and buffs
- Defense – defensive abilities
Furthermore, each weapon also belongs a certain element including:
- Fire
- Ice
- Volt
- Physical
Tower of Fantasy’s combat follows the traditional rock-paper-scissors’ mechanic in which some weapons are stronger or weaker against certain elements. Each weapon also has a charged attack function that adds additional abilities whether to deal damage, increase defense or provide buffs and heals.
Players obtain weapons through a gacha system using materials that players can purchase or find in the open world. These weapons can also level up using materials farmed in the open world. After hitting certain levels, weapons must also be upgraded to increase their power. To do so players must obtain the copy of the weapon, again, using the gacha system as material for weapon upgrades.
PVE
Aside from completing quests and world exploration, Tower of Fantasy also includes the following PVE elements:
- Joint Exploration
- Interstellar Exploration
- Dimensional Trials
- Void Rift
PVP
Players can unlock Tower of Fantasy’s PVP modes after hitting level 31. Tower of Fantasy’s PVP are divided into 2 main categories – 1v1 Duels and the Apex League. The Apex League is the game’s Ranked Gameplay mode where players compete to become the top in the leaderboards and in-game rewards. Apex League is seasonal with each season running for a specific duration or time frame. During each Apex League match, the player who scores 2 points wins. Additionally, to make things fair, Simulacrum weapon traits, weapon resonance effects, Matrix effects, and Phantasia are disabled.
Monetization
Tower of Fantasy is a free-to-play game with multiple microtransactions. Together with the gacha system, there is also a battle pass system that gives out rewards which has a premium pass to upgrade the rewards. Other forms of microtransactions in the game include costumes, materials and booster packs all available on the in-game store.
The Team
Tower of Fantasy is developed by Hotta Studio, a subsidiary of Perfect World, the game’s Chinese publisher. This is possibly Hotta Studios’ first game project however their parent company, Perfect World is already known for developing MMORPGs including:
- Perfect World MMORPG
- Final Fantasy Type-0 Online
- Battle of Immortals
The game’s international publisher, Level Infinite, on the other hand is known for publishing games such as:
- PUBG Mobile
- Arena of Valor
- Alchemy Stars
- GTFO
Roadmap
Tower of Fantasy is now available to Windows PC, Android and iOS users. A new update, version 1.5.1 also known as Artificial Island was deployed last September 16, 2022. The development team is also teasing update 2.0 which will include a new location, Vera, as well as new content like quests, NPCs and of course, new weapons.