This captivating and poetic story of two lovers who now face the ultimate test of endurance and sacrifice
Love and despair and two import themes that drive the narrative of Pandora's Tower. You play as a young man named Aeron who is determined, vital and noble. He is also more of the silent type, do to the travastity that has befallen him. That would be his lover, Elena is cursed. Her curse is not only a driving point to the narrative, gameplay and story, but it is what makes the element of tragedy in this experince so powerful. For Elena's curse to be supressed and eventually broken, Aeron must venture to unknown towers and destroy the chains of the towers. Aeron also, must feed is lover flesh of beast you slay inorder to keep her alive. This is where the power part of the narrative, because this type of emotion and dramatic tension can only work in a video game. When you see Elena cough purple gunk from her mouth, or see her cry in pain, this is only reinforced stronger because you the player for moving through towers and slaying beast and stealing their flesh to keep this women alive. With few words of dialogue, it convays a better story than games with hours and hours of cutscenes could do.
This is because Elena is a character with depth and is lovable, and likable. This is where the romance works within this context of the story and narrative. And all of this complimented with an art direction and art style that is beautiful and timeless.
Ofcourse Pandora's Tower is a game, so how does it play?)
Well, this game is fun and addictive. Tones to explore, secrets to find, skills to upgrade and dialogue to choose from to influence your choices. The combat system stands out because of a wipe like weapon much like Leon's wipe in Lament of Innocence, but much more indepth as it acts as Link's hook shot at times. At its core, Pandora's Towers is an dramatic dungeon crawler with RPG elements and at its core, it has many Jrpg tropes. This includes story, perfect pacing and a variety of fun things to do in the game after the completion.
Three games in the past two years I have given perfect scores to. Journey, Bioshock Infinite and now Pandora's Tower. What this game does is finally tells a romantic story I have been waiting for in novels, movies and recent plays. Who would have ever though a video game could tell on of the greatest love stories ever. Overrall, this game must be experienced. This game is poetic and artistic in every way, but most importantly, its fun, engaging and has mechanics that fit with every area of the game.
100/100 This is the best RPG I have ever played, flat out. And one of the best games ever made