Towers of Aghasbais an upcoming open-world fantasy sandbox-style game that encourages players to flex their creative muscles as they build ecosystems and civilizations across the game’s huge island world. What’s more, it offers a huge amount of freedom for how players spend their time. Players can hunt with weapons and tools, explore using their climbing ability and a glider similar to the oneused by Link inZelda: Breath of the Wild, and visit their friends' islands all at their preferred pace.
Game Rant recently saw some of the game during a hands-off preview, in which Dreamlit Games' CEO Khang Le broke downTowers of Aghasba’s primary gameplay mechanics. He talked about how players can spend the bulk of their time, the different systems on offer, and the depth of options regarding sheer customization. He also touched on what players can expect in terms of post-launch content.
Towers of Aghasba Dev Talks Mechanics, Systems, and Premise
Towers of Aghasba’s opening moments see the protagonist shipwrecked on the beach with his tribe, the Shimu. The Shimu actually left the island many years ago, but now a new generation of the tribe has finally returned. Unfortunately, they quickly discover that the land is now barren. The game’s onboarding experience is crucial for the player to understand the different systems at play, so Le explained there is plenty of player handholding, in the beginning, to help embed the various mechanics. Hecompared it toAnimal Crossing’s tutorialand explained this ensures that the player isn’t overwhelmed and can learn about the different systems at a balanced pace.
In contrast toother survival/crafting games, the island has extremely low resources to begin with. Players have to go out into the world and plant seeds first to give nature a chance to restart. As the island’s ecosystems begin to grow, resources will build up and eventually become plentiful, depending on the choices the player makes. The map is sizable and would take approximately 30 real-world minutes to traverse fully. Players can choose to grow trees wherever they like, and this will completely transform the land. Le was keen to emphasize that it really is a blank canvas for players to build and craft however they like, with approximately 30-40% of the island able to be filled with plants, trees, and the surrounding ecosystems.
Player Choice is Key in Towers of Aghasba
Player choice will shape their experience inTowers of Aghasbaand will control what sort of forestry and wildlife live in each area. There are three different ecosystems to construct, all with their own styles of flora and fauna to grow and harvest. Players can also choose to hunt or help animals. In some cases, they can heal them if they need assistance, which yields useful rewards such as crafting items. Striking a balance between hunting and nurturing will ensure that game progress is steady and natural. Players can use their bow to fish, which not only serves as a relaxing exercise for players, but they can also use these fish tocook various recipesto feed the protagonist or even other animals. There are over 70 types of fish to discover in total.
The player’s main goal in the game is to restore civilization on the island to its former beauty. There are three different types of towns for the player to build, which parallel the three ecosystems, and just like the plants and wildlife, players can decide to build their settlements anywhere on the map. There’s a Citadel, a farming town, and a mining town to choose from. As the player starts to build towers, making them taller, this in turn unlocks more buildings for them to create. There are over 15 types of buildings, including the likes of Blacksmiths, kilns, and stone mills, each of which serves its purpose. Some are crafting stations, others are used to convert resources. The towns and settlements offer plenty of customization. There arehundreds of decorative itemsfor players to choose from, such as statues, shrines, and temples.
Exploration in Towers of Aghasba
InTowers of Aghasba, the player canclimb pretty much anywhere on the map, similar toZelda: Tears of the Kingdom. This includes mountains, trees they grow, and even some larger animals. To begin with, the world is covered by something called Withered Land, which accounts for approximately 70% of the map. This serves as a way to gate player progress early on, as players must restore this barren, dangerous area to a basic biome.
As players begin to clean the island up, areas covered in Withered Land become tougher, and enemies get stronger. Players must rely on their bow as well as other weapons they can craft to defeat enemies, which, as well as unlocking shrines, will help to clean up the land. Le talked about how players can also discover relics while exploring the world that help paint a picture of the game’s lore.Finding artifacts and relics out in the worldunlocks them within a player-built museum that can be visited, which, as Le explained, is far more immersive than a menu screen/ journal.
Towers of Aghasba Won’t Have Deep Story, Will Encourage Multiplayer Teamwork
In terms ofTower of Aghasba’s narrative, Le said the story is fairly low stakes, which allows for the game to be played at a leisurely pace, lacking the urgency of ‘save the world-type scenarios’ as Le referred to them.
The game also heavily makes use of thehaptic feedback technology of the PS5 DualSense controller. Arbitrary mechanics like drawing the string on the player’s bow are made far more immersive. Standing on the shoreline and moving the camera around, Le was able to demonstrate the sound of the water ebbing and flowing with the tide, and how it impressively changes based on the camera’s positioning. Le also briefly touched on a system where players will have a currency that they can lose or increase, depending on their choices being good or bad, which sounds intriguing.
The game will heavily encouragemultiplayer and social elementsthat reward teamwork. Players can have 4 visitors to their island, who can trade, participate in joint activities like fishing and hunting, or just check out the host island. Depending on the choices they have made, they could possibly see new creatures and wildlife on other islands. This, as well as many of the game’s other concepts, will be expanded on with an ambitious amount of post-launch content as it moves towards a 1.0 release. Le’s presentation really emphasized the scope and ambition ofTowers of Aghasba, and if it is able to deliver on this ambition come launch, fans of the genre should be in for a huge treat.
Towers of Aghasbalaunches in early access for PC and PS5 on November 19.
