While Towers of Aghasba is nestled into its Early Access teething phase, its bones are lofty enough and its developer and community invested enough that these first months show promise. It may not be for everyone but it strives to be different from genre peers.
In the weeks since Towers of Aghasba launched into Early Access and spending quality time with it, a crucial element for success has occurred: communication.
While it would be easy enough to praise the regular patches that have seen their way through, progress is not always indicative of promise. Developer Dreamlit inc. could have been stuffing Towers of Aghasba with content since its late November launch into Early Access. But if the game was hobbling along with lacking functionality, would anyone really enjoy it?
Days after my preview was published a massive patch went live. It improved the durability of weapons and tools–a common complaint with just about any crafting game. Players had the ability to hold down a button to harvest rather than needing to repeat button presses. Quick access was given functionality for tools and items. An arachnophobia mode was introduced, changing spider models into crab-like creatures. Bugs were squashed, fixes were implemented, all a boon to the game’s quality of life.
Players often lament the state of games on launch day, rarely does some kind of Day One patch not need to be installed to at least fix some glaring problem. Early Access has been a helpful tool for developers and their community. It’s both a sign of early support and a way for creators to absorb feedback in hopes of crafting a better experience. Perhaps the most saturated genre for Early Access are crafting and survival games. After all, just throw players into a world with harvestable nodes, crafting recipes, some latent survival mechanics, and hope that it all comes together in a coherent and mildly profitable game.
Towers of Aghasba sold itself to me on a relatively powerful launch trailer that hinted at a survival game with more scope and scale than others. Alien vegetation stretched miles into the air, colossi soared through the skies, skeletal beasts haunted derelict wastes and, at the center, players would be able to exist in a bustling world and make it their own.
Through my time with Towers of Aghasba, it’s safe to say that it has many of the trappings of similar games in the genre. Additionally, being in Early Access means that it is not feature complete, rather a work in progress and bumps exist in the road. But ultimately, I have a lot of confidence in its ability to foster a healthy community, one made up of die-hard fans and those eager to frequent Aghasba to see what’s new and eventually play with friends.
In its current state, Towers of Aghasba has work to do. Two of Dreamlit’s most recent videos on its YouTube page are videos addressing the state of the game. This one titled “The Path to Improvement”:
And the following one titled “Building Towards Better”:
Of course, promotional fluff can be one excuse. But after watching the videos and having experienced Towers of Aghasba in multiple states, they feel honest. Sure, it may be a little lame to include “hype” moments of influencers cheering and laughing. But it’s juxtaposed with a number of bad reviews and negative comments about the game crashing and what it’s lacking. Dreamlit is aware of the problems and that kind of transparency is truly refreshing in this space.
After reading through the numerous patch notes and the promises of what’s to come, Towers of Aghasba feels like it is in good hands. But as polish and content comes in time, what is the game like as it stands? What really sets it apart?
Part of me is hesitant to recommend the game to people who are not already fans of survival and crafting games. Those who have little to no desire at harvesting the environment for materials and ingredients to progress through tasks and upgrades aren’t going to magically be entranced by the alien-like coat of paint in the land of Aghasba. Don’t get me wrong, whether or not future updates to the game balance out progression, some of the cool stuff is a few hours away, a lot of it is behind a dozen or so hours of genuine tutorials and getting the hang of its systems.
The Shimu tribe have come to their ancestral land of Aghasba and it’s the goal of the player to explore its mysterious reaches and find the necessary tools and materials to make a thriving settlement. Sounds par for the course, right? Well, it is. There are different tiers of weapons and tools that deal more damage, are more durable, or harvest resources faster. A massive recipe book and index evolve in familiar ways and unlock cosmetic structures, facilities to improve functionality, and ways to keep the tribe alive. The more players do, the more possibilities unfold.
However, the true stepping stone towards making Towers of Aghasba a delight so far is its cheerful vibes. While I resist calling the game cozy, the opening hours really put a buoyancy on the player. Quirky characters, charming dialog, and an inviting mood allow a kind of narrative structure to hold everything together. Players should expect a few chuckles and the gentle way that actions like hunting and cooking and arranging structures is presented and evolved.
More importantly, I love the concept of the player being an active participant in Aghasba thriving. Early in the game, the player is responsible for planting a great seed near the settlement which will ignite the growth of a mini ecosystem. A few moments pass and a tree sprouts, around that tree grass spreads over the nearby rock and dry ground. Strange animals gather and plants crop up that can be harvested.
This Colossal Tree acts almost as a secondary base of operations. A tree sprite appears and gives the players quests to help the tree grow even larger, allowing it to produce new seeds that can be propagated, attracting larger animals and more foliage. About three hours into Towers of Aghasba I had upgraded the Colossal Tree three times. Much like Breath of the Wild, players can climb any surface as long as they have stamina and climbing the top of this massive tree and getting a glimpse of the blurry landscape was a joy.
As progress is continued, the loop of planting new trees and creating new ecosystems is emphasized. It allows the player to stretch further out into the world of Aghasba. A system called Amity acts as a way to maintain the balance of nature, because the game does have an environmentalist slant to it at times. Pluck crops, kill animals, and cut down trees, Amity will go down. Feed animals, plant trees, and kill the poisonous Withered creatures and Amity will raise, granting a kind of upgrade threshold that helps expand the player’s capabilities and what can be constructed at the village.
It’s here where Towers of Aghasba feels like a game where crafting isn’t just a rote activity the player is doing to survive for however many days until the weather gets terrible or the odds become too unevenly stacked. There is a drive to invigorate the world, make it more beautiful and vibrant and lush. And that’s really what I enjoy here.
Once the game begins to open up, a myriad of creatures both small and unfathomably gargantuan can be discovered. While I hate killing them, they can be climbed to reach new heights or avoid danger, ridden for faster traversal, or gazed upon in wonder.
Fighting against the Withered in Towers of Aghasba can feel exciting in protracted bursts, especially when a player is well-equipped for battle. Nailing spear throws on basic spider-like Withered is fine. But when faster monsters and bipedal creatures that can often be significantly taller than the player are found, it can be hard to account for their aggression. I suspect that down the line, combat will feel better tuned to make it feel more like an action game rather than making mad swings with tools for limited combos. Yet the player has to traverse these Withered nests and locations to make headway over time.
When it’s all said and done, Towers of Aghasba is a game about continued progression. Basic stone and wood tools will give way to things that are crafted with ore. Basic materials will be refined into better versions. Quest-givers will task the player with gathering this or that and filling out laundry lists of chores. It isn’t entirely unexpected, to be honest. And I think that is where Towers of Aghasba meets the expectations of the genre. A lot of this is going to sound intensely familiar if you’ve done a handful of these Early Access games.
But where Towers of Aghasba really gets it right is just in the honesty of its presentation. That charm and the yearning to see a new, unexpected sight really propel the game forward. And the promise of being able to do all of that in perpetuity is enticing to numerous players out there. Unfortunately, multiplayer is not where it needs to be as players can join each other and exist in each other’s worlds and build. But accomplishing quests and progressing the story on the host’s island is one of the major promises Dreamlit has shifted focus too. In fact, multiplayer has become a major priority because the community has requested it so much.
Like I mentioned, I can appreciate plenty of content and a smooth experience. But what good is that if the main thing your community wants doesn’t exist? Though I never hopped into Towers of Aghasba with anyone else, I can only imagine that it would be thrilling to tackle this world with others, especially when they pierce through a new biome or dive deep under the water to see how thick this world is. With this kind of momentum, things can only improve.
Towers of Aghasba a little over a month into its Early Access period holds a massive amount of promise. While some of its survival and crafting pillars will be familiar to anyone who has spent time with the genre, it’s contained in a world packed with a vast amount of surprise and wonder. For a journey that is not even close to being complete, seeing these first steps would make anyone excited for what’s to come.
