Tower of Fantasy

So: Do I recommend it? If you like games with anime looks, and you feel like the popular MMOs today are just too clunky for your taste, Tower of Fantasy looks to be a solid option. It’s kind of rough around the edges, but more than makes up for that with the fun factor and potential for long term playability. Perhaps not for everyone, but it is a surprisingly good entry into the F2P MMO space, especially among those with a mobile version.

I’m very ambivalent about Tower of Fantasy, but despite seeing quite a few flaws, I also see a lot of potential here. The attempts to riff on Genshin Impact and Honkai Impact 3rd wind up leaving some of the things it attempts to emulate feeling inferior to where it’s drawing inspiration from. That said, what it tries to do differently is help make a functional, stable platform from which Tower of Fantasy could truly start to grow from, and make something entirely fresh and unique from its competition. The exploration features, the Relic system, and even the weapon types are willing to come together and make something fun and unique, but it’s held back by a mostly lackluster world, bad story writing, annoying upgrade systems, and currency overload. I’d say go in strictly on Free-to-Play ideals, temper your expectations and focus on the things it does differently, and you’ll probably find something to like.

Tower of Fantasy has a lot to offer, but it does push the player to spend money rather than grind their way towards success. A 'Genshin Impact killer' this is not.

From the constant localization mishaps to the design feeling like a copycat, I was constantly left with the urge to just drop the game and play something else, as it had failed to keep me engaged for more than a couple of minutes every time. Further, as much as I tried, I just couldn’t stop comparing it to Genshin Impact, which harms the identity it’s trying to pass as. And only time will tell if this will ever change in the future.

Tower of Fantasy has some strengths and several annoyances. Its attractive world is populated by a generic story and forgettable NPCs. Its exciting combat is hampered by time-gated exploration and an overly complex, fussy gacha system. For fans of the Asian MMO genre or recent converts to Genshin Impact, the game might be worth checking out. I don’t think Tower of Fantasy is a good introduction to gacha games, and there are generally lots of better MMORPGs to invest your time in.

Tower of Fantasy has great potential and its universe is just being introduced. It's a good game in terms of mechanics, but it's important that you don't think of it as a “Genshin killer”, as has been said a lot in the weeks before its release. Genshin's inspiration is clear and is present with every step you take in the world of Aesperia, and Tower of Fantasy strives to make that feeling just transitory. For me it wasn't and the déjà vu became constant. It didn't catch me up, maybe it will be different with you.