Twisted Tower Review – A Strange Climb To The Top

For years, I have always had a soft spot for games that take the familiar first-person shooter formula and throw something completely weird at it. That’s the kind that throws you into an odd location and lets you figure things out for yourself.

Twisted Tower immediately caught my attention because of how heavily it wears its BioShock inspiration on its sleeve, from its strange environments and atmospheric presentation to its linear progression and gunplay.

Twisted Tower is far from perfect, but the experience might be worth checking out all the same.

A Story That Never Really Takes Off

I have to start by talking about the story, which is easily one of the game’s weakest aspects. You play as Vincent, who sets out to rescue his fiancée Charlotte after a certain Mr. Twister kidnaps her the night Vincent proposes to her. Vincent receives a ticket that grants him access to the mysterious Twisted Tower, and there begins his journey.

That is essentially all you get at the start, and while the game reveals more information as you progress, the story never becomes particularly strong.

Much of the narrative is delivered through documents found along the main path, including letters from Vincent and Charlotte, tapes, newspapers, and other pieces of information.

These provide some additional background on the characters and what happened before the events of the game, and you don’t really need to go out of your way to find these scraps of info, as they are generally placed along the main route.

However, even with these additions, the story still feels weak and lacking. I did eventually start caring more about Vincent, but only toward the end.

Charlotte, meanwhile, never really had much of a presence for me. Mr. Twister, on the other hand, is more of a mysterious figure than an actual villain, as most of his appearances come through television recordings throughout the tower.

Where Twisted Tower Shines

The element that will probably hook you into Twisted Tower is its gunplay, which feels responsive and satisfying, with a good variety of weapons to find and use throughout your journey.

What I really liked about the weapons is how quickly you get them. The game doesn’t make you stick with the same weapon for too long before giving you something new, so I never really felt like I was getting bored of using the same gun.

The Weapons

Most of the weapons also have their own little gimmick that makes them stand out.

The Bubble Gun is exactly what it sounds like, you shoot bubble gum at enemies, while the Shart Gun is a surprisingly powerful shotgun that quickly became one of my go-to weapons. Then you have the Miss Fire pistol, which will literally fire a little flag when you try to shoot it without any ammo. It’s a small detail, but it fits the game’s goofy personality perfectly.

The Marble Magnum was another weapon I enjoyed, especially after I unlocked its secondary fire. It lets you earn tickets, which is the main currency of the game, whenever you kill an enemy with a headshot, which usually only takes one or two shots. Since I was already aiming for headshots, I naturally started accumulating a lot of tickets without having to think about it.

Not every weapon got the same amount of attention from me, though, as I barely touched weapons like the Slingshot. You also don’t really need to switch weapons depending on the enemy you’re fighting, since most enemies aren’t particularly difficult. I mainly found myself switching only when I ran out of ammo.

Each weapon also comes with a secondary firing mode that can be unlocked through weapon upgrade stations found throughout the tower. While I liked having these options available, I barely used most of them during my playthrough.

Movement

Movement, on the other hand, starts very basic, as Vincent can only run, jump, and slide. This becomes more interesting as you progress, with Vincent gradually unlocking new movement abilities such as the double jump and air dash.

The main problem with the gameplay, though, is the enemy variety. There simply aren’t that many different enemies to fight, and considering how strange and creative the world itself can be, I would have liked to see more twisted mascots and enemy types throughout the game.

You keep running into the same four or five enemies almost everywhere you go, and eventually, I started getting bored of fighting them.

More Than Just A Tower

The tower itself is probably my favorite part of the game outside of the shooting. As you make your way through it, you get to explore areas such as a forest, spa, swimming pool, casino, and several other strange locations, with each section offering something different to look at.

My personal favorite was the Mermaid Palace, but I thought the different sections of the tower were generally well done and gave the game enough visual variety to keep things interesting.

The overall aesthetic also works well with the game’s strange concept. The colorful amusement park design mixes twisted characters, strange decorations, and environments that can quickly go from playful to unsettling.

It fits the game’s weird tone without trying too hard to be scary, although I can see some players finding certain areas a little bland.

The music is also decent without being something I would consider a major highlight. It does its job of supporting the atmosphere, while the environments themselves do most of the heavy lifting when it comes to making each section feel different.

A Short Trip To The Top

One thing to keep in mind is that Twisted Tower is a very short game. My playthrough took around four hours, and the game follows an extremely linear progression, so there isn’t a huge amount of exploration involved. You are generally following the main path, meaning there isn’t much reason to spend a lot of time worrying about missing something. Even if you do, you are mostly missing a few tickets or treats rather than anything important.

At the same time, I don’t think the short length is necessarily a bad thing. The game delivers what it needs to deliver without stretching the experience out unnecessarily, and I enjoyed moving through the tower and discovering each new location. It felt like the game knew what it wanted to be and didn’t try to make the experience longer than it needed to be – unlike a lot of modern games.

There is also an Adventure Plus mode, which essentially acts as a New Game Plus experience. It introduces alternative routes for going through the different sections of the tower during a second playthrough, which could provide some extra value for players who want to experience the game again.

I didn’t personally feel encouraged enough to start a second playthrough, however, so I can’t say how much these new routes change the overall experience.

Verdict

Twisted Tower is a short and enjoyable first-person shooter that clearly takes a lot of inspiration from BioShock. The satisfying gunplay, ridiculous weapons, varied tower environments, and strange atmosphere kept me entertained throughout its roughly four-hour campaign.

The weak story, limited enemy variety, extremely linear progression, and lack of motivation to replay the game hold it back from being something truly memorable. Although I enjoyed my time with it, there simply isn’t enough here to make me want to immediately climb the tower again.

Still, if you love BioShock or simply want a weird, fun FPS that you can finish in a few hours, Twisted Tower is worth checking out, especially at its $15 price tag. It isn’t a must-play, but it delivers enough fun during its short runtime to make the trip to the top worthwhile. If you can pick it up on sale, even better.

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Developer: Atmos Games
Publisher: 3D Realms
Country of Origin: United States
Release Date: August 18, 2026 (PC)

This review is based on a PC copy of the game that we purchased for review.

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Thanks for checking out our Twisted Tower review on Into Indie Games.