The Deadly Tower of Monsters

Lore & Background

The Deadly Tower of Monsters follows three actors in an in-game space opera movie: Jonathan Digby as Dick Starspeed, an astronaut hero; Stacy Sharp as Scarlet Nova, daughter of the planet's evil Emperor; and The Robot as Robot, a trusty sidekick. The game's frame story presents it as an early 1970s B movie recently released on DVD, with director Dan Smith providing commentary that serves as both tutorial and meta-commentary, explaining why typical shooter elements appear in a film.

Gameplay mixes beat 'em up and twin-stick shooter elements with a fixed top-down camera. Players continuously climb the outside of the titular tower, using a jetpack to reach high areas. A 4-player cooperative and hard mode released on 14 March 2016, and survival mode on 4 October 2016, all available on both Windows and PlayStation 4 via updates.

Reader's Guide

The Deadly Tower of Monsters received mixed or average reviews on both platforms according to Metacritic. Destructoid called it a fleeting experience that no B-movie fan should go without. PlayStation LifeStyle noted that, like the movies it emulates, the game is so bad with its special effects, dialogue, and set-pieces that it is rather good. Hardcore Gamer described it as a pleasant surprise and a particularly impressive budget action game showcasing a lot of creativity. The game stands as a niche homage to B-movie aesthetics, blending parody with genuine affection for its source material, and its director's commentary frame story offers a unique metafictional layer that distinguishes it from typical action games.

Did You Know?

• The game was initially planned as a dungeon crawler set in a vertical labyrinth with more generic fantasy.
• Scarlet Nova was modeled after Jane Fonda's heroine Barbarella from the 1968 film.
• Dan Smith's personality was partly based on the science fiction comedy series Mystery Science Theater 3000 and cult filmmaker Ed Wood.

The Metafictional Frame

The Deadly Tower of Monsters wraps its action in a clever conceit: the player is watching an early 1970s B-movie space opera that has just hit DVD shelves. The in-universe director, Dan Smith, provides a running commentary track that doubles as the game's tutorial and a sustained joke about why a supposed film contains so many shooter conventions. When the player smashes a crate to grab a weapon, Smith attributes it to the lead actor ad-libbing on his suggestion to keep every beat thrilling. The three characters the player controls are framed as actors—Jonathan Digby, Stacy Sharp, and a performer billed simply as The Robot—portraying Dick Starspeed, Scarlet Nova, and the co-pilot Robot in a story about a crash-landing on the tyrannically ruled planet Gravoria. This layered structure turns the entire experience into a loving parody of golden-age midnight science fiction, complete with caricatural superheroes and over-the-top villainy.

Gameplay and Structural Design

The Deadly Tower of Monsters blends beat 'em up combat with twin-stick shooter mechanics, all viewed from a fixed top-down camera. Rather than scattering the player across a sprawling level, the entire game is structured as one unbroken, continuous ascent up the exterior of the titular tower, with a jetpack available for reaching higher platforms. This vertical, linear design keeps the pace relentless and the focus narrow. The title launched for Windows and PlayStation 4 in January 2016, with Atlus USA handling publishing while ACE Team developed the project. Two additional modes later expanded the experience on the PC version: a four-player cooperative play with a hard difficulty tier, released on 14 March 2016, and a survival mode that followed on 4 October of the same year. Both were exclusive to the Windows build, giving PC players a longer shelf life for the title.

Development and Creative Inspirations

The project began as something quite different. ACE Team founder Carlos Bordeu revealed the game was originally conceived as a dungeon crawler set in a vertical labyrinth with more generic fantasy elements. The team ultimately scrapped that direction because they wanted to do something completely different. Their new inspiration drew heavily from 1950s and 1960s science fiction cinema—the Godzilla franchise, Forbidden Planet, and Plan 9 from Outer Space—along with television series like Flash Gordon and Lost in Space. The character Scarlet Nova was modeled after Jane Fonda's Barbarella from the 1968 film. Dan Smith's over-the-top director persona was partly inspired by Mystery Science Theater 3000, the cult comedy series created by Joel Hodgson that ACE Team adored, as well as by the legendary bad-film maker Ed Wood. Some enemy animations were crafted using stop motion and rotoscoping techniques. The game was announced on 12 June 2015, with its trailer dropping on 2 December 2015 before the 19 January 2016 release.

Reception and Critical Response

On Metacritic, The Deadly Tower of Monsters landed in the mixed or average territory on both Windows and PlayStation 4. Yet the reviews that did come in carried a distinctive affection. Destructoid called it a fleeting experience that no B-movie fan should miss. PlayStation LifeStyle offered a characteristically playful verdict, noting that the game is so bad with its special effects, dialogue, and set-pieces that it is rather good—a compliment that lands squarely within the film-parody framework the developers intended. Hardcore Gamer praised it as a pleasant surprise and an impressive budget action title brimming with creativity, while acknowledging minor issues. The consensus among reviewers who engaged with the game's premise was that its charm lies precisely in its deliberate roughness and commitment to the midnight-movie aesthetic, making it a cult-leaning entry in the action-adventure space rather than a mainstream blockbuster.