Tower Fortress is a procedurally generated vertical platformer with some roguelite elements. In this game, players will ascend a tower filled with monsters and other hazards while collecting keys and gems that can be used to purchase temporary upgrades and …
Tower Fortress is a procedurally generated vertical platformer with some roguelite elements. In this game, players will ascend a tower filled with monsters and other hazards while collecting keys and gems that can be used to purchase temporary upgrades and permanent suit unlocks. Gamezebo’s Tower Fortress Tips, Cheats and Strategies will help you master the skills necessary to climb to the top.
The goal of Tower Fortress is to climb through four separate zones with three stages each, dodging and defeating dangers along the way. Each zone features a boss fight at the end of its third stage that grants access to the next area.
While that is how you “beat” the game and complete its story, Tower Fortress tracks a few other stats that can be used to challenge yourself. There is an optional timer accessible from the settings menu if you want to try to complete the stages as fast as possible. There is a combo meter that tracks how many enemies you kill in a row with its own associated leaderboard. And there are gems to pick up along the way which are used to purchase new suits of armor but whose collection can also be used as a goal in and of itself.
Completing these goals requires platforming your way from the ground up. Your armored, Samus-esque heroine named Sara can move left and right freely throughout the narrow tower, although she will primarily spend her time jumping up platforms and walls. Tapping the jump button a second time while mid-air will cause her to double-jump, which turns her into a sharp, spinning ball that will damage any enemies she touches.
She can jump off walls and use them to climb by jumping into the same wall repeatedly. If you hold the movement button toward a wall while climbing it, she will grab on and slowly slide down.
She has a gun attached to her suit that shoots standard single blaster shots by default, but can be upgraded to a variety of weapon types by finding treasure chests throughout the levels. These weapons—ranging from laser beams to flamethrowers—have their own attack patterns and ammo counts. Once this ammo is depleted, her weapon reverts to the always-available blaster.
There are two types of upgrades available in Tower Fortress: the first is earned by collecting gems dropped by enemies when they die. These gems can be used between games to purchase new suits of armor for your heroine. Buying a suit permanently unlocks it for use in future games. Each suit has a benefit, although many suits also have a negative: for instance, the Iron Clad suit bumps your max health to five from four, but enemies will drop fewer health kits while wearing it.
The other type of upgrade is accessible within the tower itself and only lasts during the run you purchased it on. There is a number at the top of the screen next to a skull icon: at the start of the first stage, this says “0/10.” Every enemy you kill will add to this count, so if you kill three enemies it would read “3/10.” Once you reach the goal number, you’ll earn one key and the number of kills required for the next key will increase slightly.
When you reach the end of a level—where the elevator is waiting to take you to the next stage—there will be two golden key blocks above the elevator. If you have earned a key by that point, you can jump into the key block to access the area above the elevator where three potential upgrades are waiting. Standing below an upgrade will tell you what it is: to select one and apply it to your heroine, you simply jump into the elevator containing the upgrade. You can only choose one upgrade per key / level.
Which upgrades will appear at the end of a stage are random, and you cannot see the options before physically entering the upgrade room. Any upgrades you have purchased during a run are visible as small icons just above the bottom half of the screen.
The spiky ball Sara turns into during a double-jump can take out weak enemies like frogs and bats in one hit. This is extremely useful when entering a room filled with these smaller, agile critters: jumping straight in is a sure way to be ambushed, while double-jumping in can take out multiple enemies along the way.
While you aren’t entirely invincible after a double-jump—projectiles, sawblades, and other non-living dangers will still hurt you—it’s much safer than the alternative. If you need to fall down towards an enemy, try to double-jump first and then fall. Often you can take out an enemy by bouncing on his head in ball form, but be careful: the minute you touch the ground or grab a wall, you’ll exit the ball and become vulnerable again.
Our tip above might sound difficult if there’s not much space to double-jump. However, even in tight corridors, you can often pull off two jumps by very lightly tapping the jump button at first. This will send you a very short distance off the ground and give you more space to jump again. This tactic comes in handy often, such as when you need to jump between projectiles.
You only earn keys for upgrades by killing enemies, and there are a limited number of baddies available on each level. In addition, once you move past a platform there is no way back down. So, if you skip some enemies initially but later realize you need a few more for a key, you’re out of luck.
Besides earning keys, every enemy drops gems for purchasing suits and potentially drops health, so there’s always a benefit to taking monsters out.
The combo meter and optional timer make it seem like going fast is the ideal strategy, but if your goal is to safely make it to the end of each stage we recommend taking it slow. When you see a room full of enemies and some coming at you, step back and find a safe spot you can attack them from. Wait for groups of enemies to disperse and then take them out one at a time.
If your goal for a run is specifically to earn gems, then work a little faster. The combo meter that builds as you kill enemies quickly doubles your gem earnings once it reaches 10, triples it at 25 (and awards one health), and continues multiplying if you reach 50, 100, and so on, making high combos the best way to earn gems quickly. Otherwise, focus on staying alive rather than going fast.
The chests you find throughout levels can be shot to reveal a new weapon type. Picking up the icon that drops from the chest will replace your current weapon. We recommend standing back and opening chests from a distance so you can see what the new weapon is and decide if you want it: if you already have the Shotgun or Flamethrower and the Bubble Gun drops, you may want to skip it unless you’re almost out of ammo (picking up a new weapon refills your ammo). On that note, try to clear out a room of enemies before picking up a new weapon since you’ll get all that ammo back.
If a health kit drops and you already have max HP, you won’t be able to pick it up. Instead, shoot it open to receive a stack of gems. Shooting health kits and treasure chests also refills part of your combo meter, so if you have a long section of the tower without any enemies but come across a chest, break it open for a little extra time.
The combo meter also pauses once you reach the top of the stage where the elevator is and doesn’t start back up until you move on the next stage, so take your time when picking upgrades and deciding your next course of action.
Once you reach the Library, large portions of the side walls will be open, allowing you to walk off one side of the room and reemerge on the other. This can be used to jump over obstacles or to shoot enemies from far away: if an enemy is standing on one side of the room, you can shoot off the other side and your bullets will wrap and hit them.
Be careful, though: this screen wrap is used by enemies, too. The wizards’ projectiles will follow you off-screen and back around, and the flying eyeball monsters make a full loop of the room this way. Take your time and make sure there’s no enemy waiting off screen that will take you by surprise.
While the suits you unlock and upgrades you choose will depend on your playstyle and preferences, we have some recommendations for new players.
Our favorite lower cost suit is Ranger. It makes all your weapons stronger so most enemies can be killed in fewer shots, but you only have three max HP. The best suit to save up for, in our opinion, is Shotgun. The Shotgun is the most powerful weapon in the game, and the Shotgun suit makes it your default weapon—this means you always have it equipped (unless you pick up a treasure chest weapon) and it has unlimited ammo. On top of this, the “negative” for the Shotgun suit is actually useful: there are more enemies in the levels, but this means more gems, higher combos, and more keys for upgrades.
For in-game upgrades, Hard Shell is always a good choice: it increases your max HP by one (although upon acquisition that one will be empty). Spike Orb gives you a spiky familiar that orbits your heroine and damages any enemies it touches. This has saved us more times than we can count, especially when jumping or standing near enemies above us. Gun Boost makes all your weapons stronger, and it stacks with the Ranger suit.
The first boss of the game is the Spider King. He has a fairly predictable pattern where he shoots three balls of webbing out and then weaves his way toward you for a couple of seconds before shooting the next set of balls. Try to stay low to the ground just before he shoots so you can jump over all three balls at once. After you are clear of the balls, shoot the Spider King a few times, then prepare to jump again. This fight mostly requires patience, and being careful not to jump on his head too much–it’s very hard to dodge the web balls if you’re right on top of him.
The second boss is the Wizard Lord. He shoots two orbs that will remain in place for a large portion of the fight before recalling them and shooting two more. When he shoots his initial orbs, just run across the screen away from him–he’ll shoot where you were standing and you’ll avoid being hit. Then, you’ll need to jump and dodge him and the stationary orbs while shooting him. He’ll fly across the screen left-to-right and will go off-screen and wrap around: just keep as far away from him as possible while jumping and shooting. Unlike the Spider King, double-jump spin attacks can be used on the Wizard Lord, but be careful you don’t get trapped on him or knocked into an orb.
The third boss is the Pod Master. He is an alien inside a ship with two protective spears on either side of him. You have to hit his head inside his glass orb specifically: hitting any other part of him will do no damage. He alternates between having his head on top of his ship and on bottom, although when it’s on bottom, his two spears will be down and protecting it. You will mostly need to jump / wall-hang and shoot his head when it’s on top. If you get stuck between his spears when his head is on bottom, you can double-jump to hit him. This fight is extremely difficult with the default blaster gun as it’s hard to get close enough to the Pod Master to get consistent shots on him; if you have a better, longer-range weapon like Laser before reaching the end of stage 3-3, try to save up as much ammo as possible for this fight.
We’re still working our way up to confront the fourth boss, the Goo God. For all bosses, there’s a brief period of time right after they appear and their health bar is loading that you can shoot them and get a few free shots. It works especially well if you have a weapon like the Flamethrower which sort of lingers in the air.
