Riddle Tower – Tricky for all the Wrong Reasons

“Voiceless it cries, wingless flutters, toothless bites, mouthless mutters.” – J.R.R. Tolkien

Overview

Riddle Tower is a puzzle game that sees players ascending a tower solving a new riddle on each floor. The developer lists Notpron and GodTower among the classic games that inspired this title.

Gameplay

Riddle Tower features three game modes including the main story, in which the player must complete 50 levels to the next tower, with hundreds of levels available overall. There is also a Seasons mode where there player progresses without a story, and Riddle Road that sorts puzzles into their categories of text riddles, maths puzzles, and rebus. Each level has two hints available as well as a ‘small help’ option. It is also possible to rotate the images and zoom. The hints can be helpful at times but can also, at times, point to things that were obvious without offering anything of real use.

Some of the puzzles are quite straightforward and require minimal thought or deduction, but others are trickier and more satisfying. Unfortunately, it is unclear what the goal is with some of the puzzles, others have rather obscure solutions, and some simply make unreasonable demands of the player or require very specific knowledge such as the name of a certain poker hand. Other examples include a puzzle that shows an image of two buildings in a desert-like setting with vehicles nearby, they are labelled 405 and 403; the solution for this puzzle is “404 page not found” which may not be common knowledge to some people. Finding the solution to another level requires the player to solve a whole sudoku, which would be fine if it was possible to fill in the numbers on the grid rather than either draw it out on paper or complete it from memory. Levels such as these can be frustrating and hinder the enjoyment of the game as a whole.

Narrative and Styling

Riddle Tower has a very minimal narrative. In the main story mode, the player ascends a tower solving riddles in order to help Prince Monkid lift a curse that a witch cast upon his father’s kingdom. The story is only vaguely present throughout the gameplay and while it is a novel addition it adds little to the experience as a whole. The character of Monkid features throughout as the voice that offers hints and help, but little else.

The aesthetics are quite simple, with 2D cartoon-style artwork, and a minimal but functional UI. The puzzles are presented on a brick wall background within a picture frame. There is little variation in the visuals but this suits the style of the game. The soundtrack is pleasant and features medieval-sounding tracks that work well with the narrative. The music sits comfortably in the background and does not distract from the puzzle-solving.

Summary

Riddle Tower has a fun premise and is implemented effectively in terms of its styling and visuals, as well as providing a simple narrative to incentivise progress. However, it falls short when it comes to the puzzles and riddles themselves with much discrepancy in quality and accessibility. There is a lot of assumed knowledge and the design of some conundrums is problematic. There are some quality riddles dotted amongst the levels but these do not make up the bulk of the game and as such the experience is a bit lacklustre and even exasperating at times. I wanted to enjoy this game, especially as it offers a lot of potential playtime and seems to be something of a labour of love from the developer, but lamentably, I cannot confidently recommend it.

If you’d like to read about more puzzle games, check out these reviews:
The Room – A Mysterious and Intricate Puzzle Game – Spava – A Short Foray into Nightmare-Riddled Dream Worlds – Botany Manor – A Vibrant and Relaxing Puzzle Adventure!

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