What do you think of when you think of smartphone games? In recent years, there have been many titles that have been forced to end their services, but the king of smartphone games is " Monster Strike" ( hereinafter referred to as "MonSt") by MIXI Corporation, which was released in 2013 and has remained at the top for about 10 years. MonSt, which offers exhilarating action with simple controls of pulling and releasing monsters, has gained support from a wide range of people, both men and women, and is actively involved in media mixes utilizing its IP, such as animation, movies, and merchandise. Recently, the "Sushiro x MonSt" collaboration has become a hot topic of conversation. MIXI plans to release "Tower of Sky" as a new MonSt series smartphone game on February 28, 2023 (Tuesday). Saiga NAK was invited to an advance trial of " Tower of Sky, " and we would like to report our impressions of the game!
Tower of Sky", a stacking tower puzzle RPG
In recent years, MIXI has been focusing on the development of new smartphone games titled "MonSt series," releasing "Monster Strike Ghost Scramble" in July 2022 and "Speed Rush Runners" in February 2023. In July 2022, we released "Monster Strike Ghost Scramble. On February 28, 2023 (Tuesday), a new tower puzzle RPG "Tower of Sky" will be released.
Tower of Sky is a tower puzzle RPG in which players build a huge tower by stacking blocks high to defeat flying monsters. The game is easy to play, just stack the blocks like building blocks, but the blocks move according to the laws of physics, so depending on how and where you drop the blocks, the tower may collapse. The higher, more, and cleaner you stack the blocks, the more powerful your character's attack will be.
There are more than 60 characters in Tawaska! Each character has different skills and abilities, so choose the character that best suits the enemy's characteristics to take advantage of the battle. In addition, at the time of writing...
- Junya Enoki (@enojunjun) as Torni
- Mainaka Ishimi (@_manaka_430 ) as Torre
- Kaede Hondo (@Hondo_dagaya_ ) as Hexa
- Kenta Miyake (@miyake_ktrm ) as Leor
- Yu Kobayashi (@holy_kobayashi) as Lavir
- Ms. Ai Fairooz (@fairouzzzzzz) as Kirara
- Shizuka Ito as Kiruna
- Wataru Hatano (@hatano_official ) as Kior
- Yuichiro Umehara ( @UmeuMeumE_Y ) as Anker
- Rie Kugimiya (@rie_k_0530 ) as Laurie
The voice cast of the characters will be voiced by such splendid voice actors as TowerOfSky is running a color paper present campaign on Twitter (@TowerOfSky), and from Wednesday, February 22, 2023, you can win a color paper signed by Rie Kugimiya (@rie_k_0530) who plays Laurie! Don't forget to check back everyday!
Trial Session Report!
Shibuya Scramble Square, with its large presence! We visited MIXI Corporation to experience Tawaska before its release!
Presentation
First, Kota Terada, producer of Tawaska, gave an overview of the game and its system. Slide to move blocks, tap to rotate blocks , and flick down to drop blocks. Basic operations in the game are very simple.
Characters used in the game can be enhanced in various ways. Level up, of course, but also enhance your characters by raising their rarity through awakening and opening up their skill boards!
Character rarity ranges from 1 to 5 stars, but all characters can be raised to 5 stars. You can focus on a character's performance, or you can decide which of the abundant characters you want to guess and go all out to strengthen them!
The "MonSt series" is the name of the game, but what we are interested in is how much of the MonSt feeling there is. Tawaska has a full scenario element that was not seen in the app version of MonSt, and the crossover event will develop a new story that delves deeper into the MonSt characters. They've also included new voices, so players who love Monster Strike characters won't want to miss this one!
Producer Terada, on the other hand, dared to emphasize that the MonSt event will not be held at the same time as the release. We will hold the crossover event after the fun of Tawaska is fully recognized without relying on MonSt," he said, conveying his passion and confidence in the new Tawaska title.
Demo play
Next, producer Terada gave a demo play. The party consisted of six characters. Each character can be equipped with equipment to make them stronger. Equipment can be obtained from quest drops and can be reinforced. Since you can freely change the clothes, any character will become stronger in its own way if you strengthen the equipment first.
The only thing prepared at the quest start is a bumpy foundation. Blocks of various shapes are dropped and stacked here. The blocks that appear are random, but it would be good if you can stack them with the Next in the upper right corner in mind.
One turn elapses when one block is placed. When the number of enemies, which decreases with each passing turn, reaches zero, you will be attacked.
A line is set up every 25 meters for the tower, and the enemy is attacked when a block breaks through the line. The more trick points you have earned up to that point, the more powerful your attack will be, so it is not simply a matter of piling them up high.
That's the producer. You've stacked them nicely, but it doesn't work like this at first!
By the way, if the tower collapses in the middle of the game, the line every 25 meters will go down, so you can attack again. If you collapse the tower on purpose, you may be able to attack again...? I thought so, but it is basically better to pile the towers higher, because you can get more trick points by increasing the height of the tower, and the effect of special abilities will increase the attack power.
Saiga NAKWhen you pile up blocks or take damage from enemies, a support gauge accumulates on the right side of the screen. Tap it when it reaches 100% to activate it! The next block you drop will turn purple and you will not be subject to physical control for once.
Even a balance that would normally fall off the colossus is placed snugly like a magnet. The use of supports is quite important, as they can serve as a foundation if you set up long blocks lying horizontally.
Every 100 meters of tower height immobilizes all of the blocks and inflicts heavy damage to the enemy. Considering the length of the quest, if there are still more enemies ahead, it would be a good idea to build a solid foundation before letting them break through 100 meters.
Well done, you cleared the quest! You can check the tower you piled up after clearing the quest. You can take a screenshot of your tower and post it on SNS. Of course, speaking of SNS, it is mixi.
I actually played it.
After the demo play, we got to actually play! They said I could touch it freely...
Let's start with the gacha!
Glowing in rainbow colors!
The gacha is a series of gacha with rarities from 1 star to 3 stars. I got "Proud Lantern Laurie (CV: Rie Kugimiya)"!
All the characters have character voices, so it's a good idea to choose a character based on your favorite voice actor.
Actually, I had played about 40 rounds behind the scenes, but it would have been bad if I had only played the gacha, so I set off on my quest. The producer Terada said, "We'll be giving out a lot of orbs to use in the gacha from the time of release. I'm hoping that it might be more than MonSt.
Laurie's skill "Blaze of Glory" is activated!
The tower is a bit of a snarl, but we managed to complete the quest! It's not just a matter of piling up blocks...
- Fit" to make it fit perfectly.
- Just fit" is to place the blocks in the right position.
- Rolling" is to intentionally roll the blocks to place them.
The trick is to earn trick points to gain additional damage. Rolling" changes its number according to the angle of rotation, as in "rolling 90," so you can expect even more trick points if you perform beautiful tricks from a high position!
Competitive Mode
In addition to the solo play story mode, Tawaska offers a competitive mode. In the versus mode, you face off against players and friends from all over the country in real time! You can check the status of your opponent's towers and skills on the screen.
Gimmicks such as "fog" that obscures the screen, "rock avalanches" that block the way, and "wind" that blows blocks away prevent tower construction. The competition was a great success.
MonSt is all about cooperative play, but Tawaska is impressive in that it introduces a competitive system that is the exact opposite. Producer Terada said, "We tried both cooperative and competitive play during the development stage, but competitive play was simply more fun. Cooperation can be a source of frustration.... The most exciting part of a competitive game is the moment when the tower falls, and I think the fact that you can enjoy failure is working in the right direction.
Various art exhibits
Saiga NAKCharacter designs and stage illustrations on display! Pandora is a lovely dora...!
Character skill boards are one of the most challenging elements. As the rarity increases, the number of slots that can be opened increases accordingly.
The skill board can also be used to evolve a character. In the case of "Reina, Girl of the Blue Sea" (CV: Kanae Ito), this is what she looks like when she is discharged from the gacha...
When they evolve, their abilities and illustrations are powered up! I'd like to evolve her actively since she also has an animation on the game screen!
The hands-on session ended in a flash!
That's it for the Tawaska advance demo session! There were a lot of things we were curious about, such as the character intimacy system, upcoming events, the Towler Challenge that pushes the limits, the types of tricks, etc. But we'll enjoy the rest of this after the official release!
Tawaska is a fascinating game that anyone can quickly understand. The simple game system of just dropping blocksadds depth through skills and tricks. There are plenty of ways to develop each character, so there is plenty of challenge. The competitive mode that the author enjoyed the most while playing is the Ranked Match system, where you are matched up with players of similar abilities to you. The level and status of your characters are directly reflected in your strength, so you can aim to become the number one tower builder with your best party!
Pre-registration is now open!
Tawaska is scheduled to launch on Tuesday, February 28, 2023! Pre-registration is now being accepted on App Store,Google Play, Twitter (@TowerOfSky), and LINE. For more information about the game, please visit the official Tawaska website or follow us on Twitter (@TowerOfSky )!
| Title Outline | |
|---|---|
| Name | Tower of Sky |
| Genre | Stacking Tower Puzzle RPG |
| Supported OS | iOS / Android |
| Fees | Item-based (free-to-play) |