Tower of Guns asks for one hour and delivers a bullet-hell shooter that never quite settles into a steady shape. Developed by Terrible Posture Games, the game sends players up a tower filled with randomized rooms, enemies and bosses, each run shaped by chance. The premise is simple: pick a gun, pick a perk, and fight your way to the top. The execution, however, wavers between sharp and thin.
Trailer, via PlayStation.
The Randomized Run
Every playthrough of Tower of Guns is built anew, with levels, enemies and gear shuffled into new combinations. That randomness is the game’s core appeal, and it mostly works. Players pick one gun and one perk at the start, then move through a series of arenas and boss fights to advance. Destroying enemies leaves blue tokens behind, which raise the player’s gun level and make it stronger.
The pacing suffers because of it. Some runs feel tight and rewarding, while others drag through dull corridors with little to offer. The game is meant to be completed within one to two hours, and it often feels like it wants to be shorter than that.
Guns, Perks and the Tower
There are hundreds of weapons, mods, abilities and perks to collect across the run. Players can stack jump boosts, attach modifiers to their guns, and hunt for secret rooms that reward exploration. The variety is real, and the best runs build toward a satisfying end.
But the sheer amount of content also creates friction. Choices made early in a run can lock out late-game options, and the game rarely tells players what they’re missing. The result is a system that rewards curiosity but punishes careless play.
Boss fights stand out as the high points. They’re epic, demanding and generous with drops, giving players a clear goal to aim for after each arena. The stories told at the start of each run — a soldier ordered to climb the tower, a barbarian guard protecting a priest, an inebriated scholar mistaking the tower for his friend’s apartment — add flavor, even though they don’t change how the game plays.
“So grab a rocket launcher, slap a shotgun modifier on it, pick up a hundred stackable double jumps, and get to conquering the Tower of Guns!”
What Holds It Back
The randomized design means no two runs feel alike, which is the point. But it also means no run feels entirely fair. Some rooms are empty of challenge, while others pile too much pressure onto the player in too little space.
The game was released on March 4, 2014, and later appeared on PS4 and Xbox One in April 2015. It was published by Grip Digital and Versus Evil alongside Terrible Posture Games. On PC, Linux, Mac and Xbox One, the shooter’s pace holds up across platforms.
Tower of Guns is a solid lunch-break shooter with real ambition. Its randomized runs and endless loot drive replay value, even as its pacing and difficulty swing wildly from run to run. The boss battles alone justify returning to the tower, but the weaker stretches keep it from greatness.
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