Tokoyo: The Tower of Perpetuity

If you’re as rabid for roguelikes as I am, you’ll surely enjoy TOKOYO. Sitting at a nice $12 price tag before sales, its replayability is well worth the entry fee. If the aspect of only attacking in short bursts sounds intimidating, I can assure you it’s a novel concept that adds a layer of suspense to your runs as opposed to impeding your survivability. It’s definitely worth trying out each character to find your favorite, too.

TOKOYO: The Tower of Perpetuity is a neat package wrapped up in a retro like 2D art style with some catchy music to accompany you while traversing the tower. While incredibly simple in nature, complicated doesn’t always mean better, and what TOKOYO lacks in complicated controls or background mechanics, it more than makes up for in engaging stages with a ton of different options to be pieced together e very day.

TOKOYO: The Tower of Perpetuity is a challenging 2D roguelike platformer that has some neat ideas going for it. The tower layout changing daily for everyone in the world is cool and ensures that you’ll always have a new challenge to look forward to. It can get repetitive playing the same tower over and over during a day though so best to just dip in and out of this one if you want to get the most enjoyment out of it.

TOKOYO: Tower of Perpetuity is the kind of indie that I'll gladly pick up every now and then as I try to outdo my previous efforts. It may not be the type of game that you'll play obsessively but it's definitely a blast in short bursts.

Despite not being drawn in by the hunt for high scores, the interesting twists TOKOYO puts on action platforming did grab my attention. Movement feels great, and having to approach situations with combat as a last resort instead of my main plan required me to think my way up the Tower of Perpetuity. If that sounds like it’s for you, then definitely check this one out.

TOKOYO is a competent arcade high score chasing experience that will provide some decent small bursts of gameplay. The changing of the tower every 24 hours gives an incentive to dip in on a playthrough every now and then. But I’m not sure that’s enough to keep people coming back over and over. Upgrades lack a certain punch to them unlike the heavy-hitting roguelikes making runs generally feel pretty familiar even with the random level generation. If you love your arcade games and want to score-chase them I recommend picking this up. If you’re short on gaming time and very busy this is a pretty good gaming fix if you only have a few minutes spare before the train arrives at the station. Not the best roguelike experience on Switch but it has some quirky anime charm, check it out.

As long-time readers will well know, I'm a fan of novel ideas...

Despite its cute and nostalgic presentation, TOKOYO: The Tower of Perpetuity contains a considerable amount of challenge, and players should expect to die many times while playing. However, there is also plenty of variety, as the constantly changing layout and random power-ups ensure that no two playthroughs are identical. Overall, TOKOYO: The Tower of Perpetuity is a fun-yet-punishing platformer that can be enjoyed in bite-sized intervals - though longer playthroughs might be tedious for some.

TOKOYO: The Tower of Perpetuity is a game worth having on your Switch digital library, simply because of its pick-up and play appeal, and also because it offers an experience that literally renews itself on a daily basis. Also, this is far from a solitary roguelike experience, as you’ll be part of an active community, one where everyone takes on an entirely new journey together each day.

Will hook you and keep you for a couple hours, but then you gradually lose steam without some variation to the approach. It becomes a once-a-day game.