Tower Factory is a tower defense game with automaton resource management and roguelite elements by indie developer Gius Caminiti. Read our review of its early-access build to see what it did well, what it didn't do well, and if it's worth buying.
Everything We Know About Tower Factory
Tower Factory Story Plot
Narrative-wise, it doesn’t have much, nor is there any inkling of a plot slowly unfolding. You are simply tasked to help after some wicked wizards built a magic tower nearby, as they have ordered their forces to attack your stronghold! You must act quickly and save your tower from ruin. However, as this is the Early Access version of the game, further plot details may be unveiled as it undergoes development.
Tower Factory Gameplay
Tower Factory blends together tower defense and resource management with automaton mechanics, as well as roguelite elements. Players are tasked to constantly build upon and expand their tower-factory using the resources available. Collect materials such as wood and stone with automatic machines, then use them to create defensive mechanisms like ballistas and catapults to keep those pesky monster hordes from infiltrating your base. Get those attack towers out quick—enemies will come here and there during the day, but their true army-like power comes at night, where they will spur on in droves. Will you be able to defend your precious base?
An added challenge to the game is the presence of a thick dark fog that conceals whatever is underneath it—players cannot see the entire map from the beginning, and must craft light sources like a Beacon to clear the fog and to discover more resources, hidden treasure chest, and most importantly, the location of the enemy tower. Seize the enemy base and achieve victory!
Tower Factory Release Date
Tower Factory is now available to be purchased on Steam for $14.99 USD!
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| $14.99 |
Tower Factory Review [Early Access]
A Well-Rounded Tower Defense
I would like to preface this review by saying that despite not being well-versed in strategy games, even I, a newbie at the genre, thoroughly enjoyed my time playing Tower Factory.
Tower Factory is a tower defense game at its core, blended with resource management and automation as well as roguelite elements. As mentioned above, there’s not much in the way of plot at the moment, but it all makes up for it with its engaging gameplay. An evil wizard is out to get a magic tower? Not on my watch! A simple premise, but it’s more than enough to get you going.
After a quick tutorial of the basics of its gameplay, you are tasked to protect the tower in the first level. One might think the first level is going to be easy-peasy to clear. The missions sound simple enough: collect wood and stone through automation, build defense towers, explore the map, and locate the enemy tower to blast them into bits—very straightforward. Players go through a day and night cycle, each being five minutes long. Just amass resources and build up your defense by day in preparation for the attacks to come at night. Sounds like a plan!
However, I was quickly humbled when the enemy monsters successfully depleted my tower’s HP by the very first night. Like a lion throwing her cub for it to fend for itself, Tower Factory immediately lets you experience the game as it is as early as you step out of the tutorial, leaving you to your own devices. The days and nights also get harder each passing cycle, the horde growing in number as well as introducing new, tougher monsters to eliminate.
After each successful playthrough, you are rewarded with gold coins depending on how well you did. You get a number of coins per surviving night, and a large sum of coins for the first-ever victory earned on that particular map. As the maps get harder, the rewards increase as well. These precious coins can then be used in the Upgrades tab to purchase permanent upgrade passives such as adding to the defense tower limit and more health for your base, as well as other defense machines and devices for your conveyor belts.
Steeled with the determination to achieve victory, I continued playing and using my hard-earned gold coins to upgrade the factory machines and the very helpful passives. Play, upgrade and unlock better machines, then play again—this is the core loop of the entire game. While it can get grindy and perhaps frustrating due to the endless cycle, it is also rewarding once you manage to upgrade your factory to better versions. It’s satisfying to come back with powerful upgrades and to finally get past a certain night that got you stumped.
Sinking In Hours Of Gameplay
There are a total of four maps or levels as of writing due to its Early Access state, but there will be more to come with future updates. And while that doesn’t seem like a lot, each level will surely need more than just one run to clear. Additionally, each time you start a new game, it will be a unique map as the environment is procedurally generated—no one playthrough is the exact same! With thousands of one-of-a-kind runs to see and discover, Tower Factory is easily a game to play if you’re looking for something to sink time into.
Easy To Learn, Even For Beginners
Again, as someone not all too familiar with strategy games, a tower defense game with automation might seem scary, thinking that you have to cook up this elaborate system full of machines in optimal places to make it work. However, Tower Factory makes it easier to understand with simple descriptions, indicators for the range of your defense towers and collecting machines, and brightly-colored arrows for more “advanced” pieces like the Splitter and the Crossing. The game is forgiving, allowing you to move conveyors and automations at ease. Defense towers, on the other hand, cannot be moved, but can be sold for a fraction of the price and put up again if the position is not to your liking.
Colorful, Vibrant Visuals And Fitting Soundtrack
Tower Factory boasts a rather bright color palette that is easy on the eyes. Strategy games have this common notion of being serious and realistic, such as the ever-popular Civilization franchise. The vibrant green grass and cartoony-looking towers of Tower Factory are neither of those, instead employing vivid colors in its visuals. It is welcoming in that aspect, and may even feel relaxing at times.
The soundtrack is simple, but fitting. Your days are accompanied by a jolly tune akin to the background music of The Sims that complements the lumber-slashing of the ax and rock-cracking of the pickaxe sound effects from your automatic choppers and miners. However, when night rolls around, the happy sounds turn into something more menacing, a subtle reminder that a monster horde is rolling just around the corner to destroy your base. It really adds to the atmosphere of the game, and is a nice touch.
Not Always Smooth Sailing
As an Early Access game, it’s still under development and would have some bugs or glitches that the developer may have missed. For one thing, conveyor belts can be a little finicky to place down. If you’re not careful, two conveyor belts can be placed on top of one another and render that particular spot dysfunctional, which may confuse some players especially when they belatedly realize that their conveyor system is not working properly. If you’ve gone a little far into the playthrough, at that point you may already have a bulky system of logs and stones going around. There’s no alert or notification bubble whatsoever if a conveyor system is not connected, so for bigger networks, this will take away precious time from your planning and upgrading to find the cause of the issue. Hopefully later on, there will be an update to show if a particular machine is not working as intended.
Keep Your Eyes On Tower Factory
Overall, if you’re looking for an entry to the world of strategic tower defense, Tower Factory might just be the game for you. It’s not terribly punishing or unforgiving, and is well-rounded for an Early Access game. As someone who does not play these types of games all that often, it’s a good introduction to the world of real-time-strategy and tower defense. For more seasoned veterans of the genre, it’s a breath of fresh air that won’t have you pulling your hair in frustration, and may even be cleared in a breeze. Nevertheless, it’s worth checking out and following for its future updates!
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Tower Factory Product Information
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| Title | TOWER FACTORY |
|---|---|
| Release Date | November 7, 2024 |
| Developer | Gius Camaniti |
| Publisher | Gius Camaniti |
| Supported Platforms | PC (Steam) |
| Genre | Strategy, Simulation, Indie |
| Number of Players | 1 |
| ESRB Rating | RP |
| Official Website | Tower Factory Website |
