The sub-genre that Vampire Survivors kicked off is still going strong and Scarlet Tower is yet another in the growing pile of (in my opinion) good ones. Scarlet Tower was developed by Pyxeralia LLC, after an early access period starting in November 2022 and hitting 1.0 in March 2024.
While I generally aim toward ones that are sufficiently different to it, this one is probably the closest to Vampire Survivors in both gameplay and style while being distinct enough to be interesting on its own merits. I have a few others to look at as well though they are still in early access so I'll continue to wait for them to also hit 1.0 before reviewing them!
I'm genuinely curious how this sub-genre of game will look in five years given some of the amazing offerings it's already able to count among it. I'll remain surprised no big AAA studio has tried to push into it yet and I'd be curious what a AAA bullet heaven/survivors-like game would look like.
I had played about 20 hours by the time I did this review, I didn't encounter any bugs during that time or have any issues with anything in the game. Having said that I didn't unlock absolutely everything but enough to give the game a good poke around in.
Before I go completely off-topic and ruin the concise review, let's get into this review of Scarlet Tower!
Gameplay
On starting you choose one of eight characters with their perks and abilities, then choose an area to do battle in. However, as with most of these games, your initial options are a bit limited. There are so many unlocks and progression systems in play I'll go into those in their section I think, needless to say, there are quite a few.
You roam around the area, killing enemies, collecting gold and picking up experience to level up. Upon levelling up you can increase the level of an existing weapon, pick a new one for one of your five additional weapon slots or increase your attributes (which have various effects you can see on the tooltips.) You can aim yourself or leave it to auto-aim, I prefer the latter even if it does lead to some awkward moments.
Some bosses drop chests, which you can use to evolve your weapons and usefully, it tells you which weapons combine into evolutions, removing the need to look for a guide or Wiki to help you mid-run. There are small events too, a vendor who uses an in-run currency called hunter points, shrines for XP or currency plus small missions related to the weapon types. Those missions if completed will see an NPC companion aiding you in battle which is always nice!
Beating a map will unlock either a new map or a new difficulty for the one you did up to unlocking an endless mode. There are a variety of bosses and small events scattered around the map that can help or hinder you and all in all the maps feel different enough to give some variety to the monster slaying. The maps all offer something different, new bosses, new monsters and sometimes new quirks. For example, the underwater map requires you to collect air bubbles to keep a breath meter filled.
Now, while there isn't enough depth to make crazy builds as in something like Rogue Genesia there is still a lot of variety in how you build out your heroes both in and out of a run. Out of a run, it's the various unlocks, enchants, passives, pets etc. Within the run, it is your weapons and the passives they grant. Each weapon has a type it belongs to, like Elementalist or priest which gives you more passives to choose from on level up as well as an impressive set of proc abilities. Add in the potion vendors who provide you buffs for the run you are on and there is more depth than might first appear.
When it comes to gameplay overall, I think the most important thing is that it feels fun to play. It's a chaotic mess of magical explosions, enemies and loot... Pretty much as you'd expect a game like it to be.
Graphics
The graphics for this are surprisingly good, the pixel art is nice and works, though some of the text and icons in the menus can be a little difficult to discern the meaning of. At least with the text you can swap between a pixel art text and a more easily readable one so that is at least something.
The special effects stand out to me the most. Filling the screen with explosions, projectiles and magical detonations is par for the course with this sub-genre and Scarlet Tower does not disappoint.
It can sometimes get a little difficult to see what's going on and lose your character in the mass of explosions and enemies. That is more of an issue for a lot of games in the subgenre though so it's not as bad as some of them can be (looking at you Soulstone Survivors.)
Sound
The music certainly hits the Castlevania vibe and honestly, it fits the game perfectly though I'll be first to admit I'm far from an expert in music. If it fits and sounds good, that's generally enough for me though a good soundtrack is always a win. It can elevate a game from being good to great (Mass Effect, EVE Online, Homeworld etc.)
The sounds in battle aren't bad either, they certainly work to create a sense of chaos that these games are known for as you fend off hundreds of enemies at once. Though the music is the winner when it comes to sound.
Progression Systems
There are many progression systems in Scarlet Tower, more so than I first expected even though it is a genre staple at this point. There are pets, enchantments, abilities, stat increases, heroes and weapons to unlock plus progressing through the various maps and difficulties. New weapons and heroes can be unlocked as you play usually tied to some achievements.
There are two heroes you start with and six more you can unlock as you earn meta currency from playing. Each hero has their own starting weapon, ultimate ability, a selection of two passives and three glyphs which can alter that passive, all of which can be improved, yet again with the meta currency you earn. It certainly helps make each hero feel unique
Then come the talents, a rather sizeable list of things you can choose from each row in the defensive and offensive categories to tweak your chosen hero further. Everything from healing to summoning undead or just having the chance to set enemies on fire with every hit. Three options per row and the ability to upgrade them with... You guessed it, the meta currency!
The power-ups tab is next on the rather sizeable list of unlocks and meta-progression systems in Scarlet Tower. Upgrading racial glyphs for your heroes and also offering the more generic permanent stat increases you'd expect for a survivor's style of game. The usual assortment of more health, damage, XP gain etc.
The next two progression systems are a little different, in the familiars and runes tabs. Familiars are essentially pets that you can take into battle and level up for even more stat increases. The runes let you further tweak things how you like. More damage to frozen enemies? More gold? All things that runes let you tinker with and it serves almost as a small crafting system as you combine, upgrade and change out the runes depending on what you want to do.
All in all, the progression systems add a nice amount of depth that lets you tinker away and lean into your favourite playstyles.
UI/Controls
The unlock UI can take a bit of figuring out though it's definitely not bad and once you've gotten used to it you'll likely have no issues. A lot of it is just figuring out the menus and such rather than any serious hampering of gameplay.
The controls are pretty standard you can opt to enable auto-aim and auto-attack or leave them off. You have an ultimate ability which charges from your kills plus a dash bound to the space bar. Otherwise, it's not that button-heavy a game by any stretch and you can use a mouse and keyboard or a controller due in no small part to that fact.
Rebinding isn't possible which is a little unfortunate though given how few controls there are it's a minor issue. Rebindable controls should honestly be standard at this point, whether it's for a pad or keyboard and mouse.
Overall
In conclusion, Scarlet Tower is a solid addition to the Survivors/Bullet-heaven genre of games. It has a decent amount of content and you'll get your money's worth out of it with ease. Although it isn't the absolute biggest game of its type out there and is closer to Vampire Survivors than most.
It's deeper than it first appears which helps, throw in all the unlocks, difficulty options and the endless mode you can unlock and it packs a lot into a small package. There are a couple of minor issues to be aware of.
The first of which is the weapons, not having the ability to drop them can sometimes mean a level-up or chest fills your last slot and you end up not being able to pursue any fusions. Simply having the ability to discard a weapon would fix that. Second, it can be hard to tell what's going on or if your procs and abilities are working at times, some more floating text to say what is happening would help that too. Minor issues but I figured I'd mention them all the same.
It's cheap, fun and has a fair amount of content for the price point. If you want something that I could best describe as Vampire Survivors Plus... This is the one for you!
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