Volume 8: Crescent Tower
When I started this column, I chose Dungeon Antiqua, a late 2024 mashup of Wizardry and Final Fantasy. It felt like that concept had juice, and it turns out I was right. As we look to 2026 not only is Dungeon Antiqua 2 on the way, but a different developer offered its own twist on the idea. From Curry Croquette, Crescent Tower is a similar mix of Final Fantasy-style characters inhabiting a world that plays by Wizardry’s rules. In comparison Crescent Tower is more ambitious, and interested in playing with its own gimmicks on top of the usual stuff.
Crescent Tower heavily plays with character and party-building, exploring not just what your team can do in battle, but how different classes could contribute to the dungeon crawl. Each class has skills that can be used outside of battle with totally different results, like removing magical barriers, moving boulders, and even leaping over visible traps. This leads to making choices not just about the standard five-member group of tanks and damage-dealers, but navigators as well. The strongest example is the Seeker, a class that can’t decide what combat role it wants to have, but can be crucial for getting around comfortably.
You aren’t just given an automap like most modern DRPGs. Instead, you can consume a mapping item to plot out your immediate surroundings, which can in turn be enhanced a little with a torch. You can’t see where you’re standing on the map, either. At the beginning with only one hero in the squad, getting through the first floor is a choice between measured caution or recklessness. But when you can recruit a Seeker, they come with a Compass ability that tracks your location in real time. And when you level them up you can get an actual automap, filling it in one square at a time. The rub, of course, you’ll have to keep that Seeker in your party as long as you want those skills.
Inevitably you’ll have to move on, as multi-classing and grinding beyond your initial stat limits is a huge part of making Crescent Tower’s adventure a success. It’s tough to kick those training wheels away, so the calculus becomes how long you’re willing to have a vulnerable spot in your party before going back to the hard way. Do you wait until you map out all the floors? Do you really need that compass? It’s a fascinating twist on the mapping issue DRPGs face in the modern era. I thought using items was cute but annoying, and unlocking automap was a cool reward for engaging with a weird class. But knowing it’s temporary at best is a new wrinkle I’m not used to considering. Neat!
Beyond the character systems Crescent Tower is a pretty straightforward DRPG, with the usual tics of having to pay for revivals, limited options in shops, and enemies that can mess with your day (like skeletons that can de-level you). The soundtrack is full of crunchy chiptunes that fit the vibe perfectly, and there’s some pretty cool old school PC-style art, the kind you’d see in games like Rondo of Blood or old visual novels. NPCs running shops or what have you look big, bright, and full of personality, in a way that gives the game just a splash of anime flavor.
There’s also an odd, little library of lore that just chronicles famous adventurers, telling you who they were and the highest floor they reached. These kinds of games usually have minimal storytelling (unless Idea Factory is involved), so it was fun to see a little that wasn’t just dry world-building. These kinds of journeys benefit from exploring motivations for climbing the tower or crawling the dungeon beyond “money and fame,” and seeing some of that in a more NES-styled take was a fun, little surprise. Some of the characters in your group get that as well, and there’s even a sort of cinematic intermission when you first get the band together.
What’s the appeal here? With Dungeon Antiqua, it was simplicity combined with a more familiar, friendly aesthetic that seemed to serve as a meaningful entry point for folks bothered by how DRPGs can look. That’s a little true here as well, but there’s more going on under the hood. The display is more retro, with a CRT filter and a multi-window UI that betrays simplicity but encourages engaging with all the pieces. Character-building is more intense and personable, and the dungeons themselves are much more hazardous and old school. You can even choose a difficulty setting that dials down the numbers on your side to make things harder. The respect for what Wizardry is on its own merits is more upfront. I think Crescent Tower is just trying to Do the Damn Thing™ and play with a wider tool set on top. I can dig it.
If Dungeon Antiqua was a novel idea that served a certain purpose, perhaps Crescent Tower is the next step if you decide you’re on board. But, you know, still being a wishy-washy weirdo about seeing your little character sprites in combat. At the same time, Crescent Tower also kind of has The Sauce™, especially with the ways in which it gives character classes active roles outside of combat, forcing you to make a new layer of decisions you may not be used to even if you’re a vet. In some ways it’s another entry level option, and in others it’s its own beast that brings something new to the DRPG table. A complicated and gratifying experience despite its small size, and that’s why it’s on my best of the year list for 2025.
Until next time (and next year!), dungeon delvers.
