A promising new indie game is currently in development for the PC that pays tribute to Tower of the Sorcerer (or Magic Tower as it is known in Japan) — an influential piece of freeware for the NEC PC-98 and Windows computers.
Od's Tower is an upcoming release from the experienced New Zealand pixel artist / indie game developer Pita Madgwick, who is perhaps best known for their itch.io asset packs.
It sees players take control of a daring fighter named May, who must brave a strange fortress that has suddenly appeared, ascending its many floors, filled with monsters and treasure, in order to uncover its secrets.
Describing the game on his website, Pita refers to the title as "one big, nefarious puzzle to solve" dressed up in "the trappings of an RPG", and claims that the title will feature 50 floors to ascend, at least six unique sections to explore, and a wide variety of characters to befriend or do battle with. That's in addition to containing some stunning handcrafted pixel graphics, various exciting secrets to discover, and a distinctly old-school approach (soft locks and all).
He calls it his "love letter" to Tower of the Sorcerer and says that if you've played that game before, you'll probably know what to expect.
Tower of the Sorcerer admittedly isn't the most well-known game in the West but has a fascinating history for anyone interested enough to look into it. Often described online as "a puzzle game disguised as an RPG", it sees players step into armour of a brave knight, tasked with exploring a mystical tower, with the goal being to traverse its many floors, battling enemies like slimes, wizards, and bats, while collecting equipment, keys, and potions.
Despite looking like your run-of-the-mill top-down RPG, and featuring various RPG-like mechanics such as being able to boost your stats and unlock better gear, it relies less on running into the heat of battle, instead challenging its players to think about how they manage their resources as they move from floor to floor. It was created by an individual named N.W (or NAO) and released as a piece of "freeware" for the PC-98 in 1996, before later being ported to Windows machines in 1998, by a two-person team comprised of the developers, Oz & Kenichi. That isn't what makes it particularly interesting or significant to us, though.
No, instead, what makes Tower of the Sorcerer stand out as a notable release is its incredible influence on the Chinese gaming market, where it eventually spawned its own genre, often referred to today as "Magic Tower-likes".
According to Pita, he was unaware of this tradition when he initially started developing his own but is "pleased to be taking part in a rich tradition!"
Od's Tower is scheduled to be released on itch.io upon completion, with a Steam release also being a possibility. No exact release date has been announced yet, but you can follow the developer on Twitter/X or Bluesky to keep track of how it's coming along.