Tower Hunter: Erza’s Trial

"Strive for excellence yet keep it sublimely simple! There is such a thing as too many cooks in the kitchen!" ~Random wise observer
If I was to ask IceSitrunna the purpose of Ezra's Trial Tower Hunter the immediate response would probably be along the lines of "I want people playing this game to have fun!". And with that Tower Hunter is off to a better start than many triple A titles currently on the market!
As a lover of side scrolling metroidvanias and rogue-likes that lean into the hack n slash side of things Tower Hunter strikes a decent balance between those polarities. Some have called it "Dead Cells at home with a cute waifu" and that's probably a better descriptor than anything I can come up with.
Our titular lead Ezra lives in a nobility run feudal society that coexists with technology and magic despite its' archaic outdated customs. (Similar to Eternia in Masters Of The Universe) She embarks on a rite of passage to become an adult thus hopefully earning the right to choose her own destiny. Her current options are to either settle down into an arranged marriage or face monsters and dangerous traps within a mysterious tower. Obviously she chooses the later option because the first option would make for a boring and abrupt conclusion!
As hard as certain critics have already been on this game the combat and moment to moment exploration are done very well. Ezra is graceful,fast,responsive,as well as a a good jumper and climber right from the very beginning. Controlling her movements feels very fine tuned.
Each "zone" is sectioned of with its' own treasures,teleporters,keys,and locked doors. When you complete a zone you can rest and use crystals/gems to improve everything from varied weapon styles to the number of actives and passives you can simultaneously add to your control board. (The way it is all described reminds me a tad of Nier Automata) There are also the usual assortment of improvements you assign into your special magic attacks,number of healing packs you can carry at once,and traversal upgrades. (The ability to cling to walls indefinitely,double jump,etc.) Eventually you'll fight a boss that is more challenging than his or her underlings.
Even if you die you'll be allowed to keep some of your spoils and your upgrades so there is underlying meta progression similar to other rogue-likes. Ezra's ability to resurrect herself and cheat perma-death is linked to her cheeky demonically possessed hairpin. The little guy has good intentions but is very much a fetishist and a meme-lord! I'm completely fine with that as the silly banter between Ezra and Devil does not detract from the fun moment to moment game play in any way.
I'm sure there are other titles of this ilk that have higher production values and more accolades from the usual game-journalist-outlets but let's not kid ourselves,making a "good game" even on a smaller scale is never easy. A big-britches publisher could have a team of hundreds of people and the end product might still end up being an uninspired joyless bug-ridden slog. By contrast Tower-Hunter was made under much more modest limitations and very much achieved what its' creator set out to do. It is very much a good game and I'm glad it set up the groundwork for a more ambitious sequel that seems to be coming along nicely!
Pros
+ Enjoyable gameplay loop
+Decent meta-progression
+Old-skool-retro-satisfaction
+Attractive main character whom unlocks a few more hairstyles and outfits along the way
+Easy to understand on the surface with hidden complexity under the hood
+Story is simple but not bad. There's absolutely nothing wrong with the typical young adult coming of age styled adventure!
+Dev has a cheeky relatable sense of humor
Neutral +/-
There were times I had to grind and farm to overcome the obstacles in my path. For gamers into metriodvanias,rogue-likes,and rpgs this will come as no surprise but depending on your patience to frustration threshold it can still be a little tedious sometimes. (Remember,gem-crystals are love,gem-crystals are life!)
Cons
-Rogue-Lites can become repetitive and Tower-Hunter is no different. (Though offering an alternate metroidvania-play-style-mode that's more straight forward softens this blow a considerable deal.)
-More shrewd scrutinizing eyeballs might pick up on a few asset flips. (Doesn't bother me though)
-Certain traps,environmental hazards,and clusters of exploding flying or floating enemies can mess up a run that was going smoothly up until that point. However,these are staples in the platformer/rpg/rogue-like genre so I'm not complaining about it too much. Nothing here is "Battle-Toads hard" but you'll still rack up a few frustrating fatal accidents!
Overall
Don't know many devs that will add a whole new play-style to a game just to appease their player-base. That's some real dedication and heart. Game would have been just fine as a rogue-like but the fact you can also play it like a metroidvania is totally based.
I got this gem for under $4.00 and I'm guaranteed to get infinitely more times in valued entertainment out of it. In some ways it's like a quirkier remix of Bloodstained Ritual Of The Night which I'm totally there for. Will also eventually check out its' sequel "Frontier Hunters" when my very limited budget recovers!
PS: There have been complaints about bugs and jank but thus far I have not run into anything that has corrupted my save,been insurmountable,or trapped me in a specific room. I probably was lucky enough to have played Tower Hunter after most of the fixes and patches came into effect.
Translation is coherent enough I pick up on the jokes and understand what is going on. I've certainly played other games with far worse "engrish". The story is not Shakespeare but it's not awful either. Not everything has to have the bloat of a long-winded psych-exam or a 50+ book series to be entertaining!

Fun, straightforward, anime-style Metroidvania game. It's a little simplistic in spots, but let's face it... if you're playing a game like this, you shouldn't be expecting overly complex mechanics anyway. Definitely worth a look.

The first game of the Erza series
it's good start to see Huntress first journey to kickoff the series.
I'm looking forward of seeing the sequel & it's importance of adding improvement from it predecessor & it's being the most refined experience of the Erza franchise with no Gimmicky Roguelike Permadeath.
I'm looking forward to Erza's Wheel of Fortune & it's impact to the series with more refined stories & gameplay.

overall fun game, it's not that easy more like manageable if you try enough. recommend to play in roguelike mode more challenging than easy mode. i would like to play over and over again, it's fun slaying monster.

Wow this game is actually a lot better than the squeal just from my couple mins of gameplay, doesnt feel like a BSROTN clone, instead a very stand alone game that feels original for the most part. damn shame the squeal tried following the trends.

Honestly, pretty fun action packed side scroller, It's a bit rough around the edge, but a good experience considering the low price. Visuals are fine, combat is pretty solid, but a good dose of RNG when it comes to gearing up so it might put off a few people not into that.

Certainly not perfect, but fun to play. Hold onto your black balls!
So, hit-boxes are a pet peeve of mine. And this game has an issue here. And I mean it's jank. I thought they were going for something, or the rules were strict, or there were reasons. Like 30 hours in, I figured it out. I wiff through enemies, bosses, and candelabra alike.
Certain environment elements are destructible. But only by specific means. Some objects can only be hit with the main weapon. And others, the down-dash technique works. The walls and floor are the biggest mystery. I've had them just break for seemingly no reason, and then refuse for 10 tries one round later, then break. It's honestly the most frustrating part of the game. Not because of the rules, just the meh implementation.
Boss hit-boxes are my only other real issue. Normal enemies are pretty manageable 90% of the time. I think the 1st boss is the only one with a normal setup. The rest have no normal hitbox, and random invincibility. It makes it difficult to set up spells, etc.
Balls. Like for real. The best sub-weapon for me has to be the spinning balls. Get double level 6 balls, and have the "extra sub-weapon" chip. I am pretty much golden. Passing through walls is hax in this game, during levels. There's another weapon capable as well. Enemy balls are also incredibly terrifying. They all explode, doing major damage.
Enemy AI, and that is being kind. IF YOU ARE LITERALLY NOT STANDING ON THE EXACT HEIGHT VALUE AS 95% OF THE NORMAL ENEMIES, THEY WILL BE AS OBLIVIOUS AS A SKYRIM GUARD! The other 5% are a complete nightmare though. Red bees will drag you.
Upgrades are the chemistry to replay value. Brain chemicals were abused here. At like 55% upgrade completion, having finished all but the "hidden boss", and trials mode doing nothing for me, I'm in my waning interest phase. The typos, and bad translations have been fun. Certainly a value for the sale price I paid. A delightful distraction.
Just sad that I never filled out my outfit and hair collection, lol. I was still missing one of both. And never found a guide video online.