Many flash games have riddled the internet for quite some time. Many small game creators have found this medium accessible, including Askiisoft (notably known for Katana Zero). Askiisoft’s debut game, Tower of Heaven, came out in 2009 and on Flash Player in 2010. For such a small game, Tower of Heaven received critical acclaim by many who’ve experienced it. But what makes Tower of Heaven stand above the thousands of other games out there?
The Tower of Heaven promises glory to anyone who scales it
At first glance, Tower of Heaven has a lot of charm. The Game Boy graphics, art design, and music show off in the title screen, and all three of those are memorable aspects of the game. Tower of Heaven is a platformer at heart though, with some unique mechanics. The game is very easily beatable within 10 minutes, or even less than 5 minutes for experienced players.
There’s only a little bit to talk about in terms of gameplay and level design. Most of the obstacles in Tower of Heaven, by level design, are just jumps and making sure you are accurate with each jump, like any other platformer. There are also moving blocks, blowing wind, saws, and living things for other obstacles. The one interesting and unique mechanic is the rule book that you receive from an angry god a few stages in. Any broken rule results in being smitten (dying and restarting the level). The rules include not walking left, not touching yellow blocks, and more. It’s a neat concept that isn’t found often and it might play a major role in the appeal of this game.
It’s also a little challenging for newcomers, especially due to the rules that you get in-game. The speed run mode is relatively new, and it does offer more attraction to repeat playthroughs. At this point though, it doesn’t take a lot of skill to beat the game in under 5 minutes. Lastly, there’s a level creator mode, which is an interesting addition to the game. It has about all the capabilities of the official levels and more. You can design a level to be quite large with the max being 255×255 blocks in width and height. Overall, Tower of Heaven is a simple experience and it plays really well with its extremely short length at the very least.
Plot-wise, there’s not a lot to go off of, either. You play as the silent protagonist Eid who attempts to climb the Tower of Heaven in hopes of finding riches at the top. The voice that seems to be a god gets angrier as you progress. The story comes to a close once Eid reaches the top of the tower.
Tower of Heaven has a purely nostalgic soundtrack for me. It’s not extensive, but it’s held to high regard with how memorable the main leitmotif is. “Luna Ascension” is probably the most notable track here. Also, Tower of Heaven is represented with this song in a fighting game, Rivals of Aether! You can listen to that here.
Verdict
May Heaven grant you fortune.
Pixel Perfect
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An aspiring programmer who wants to write about video games and make music for fun. You can find me currently @DivineZerinus on Twitter or listen to some of my rarely posted music on Soundcloud.
