Twisted Tower Review – I Came Here to Shoot Bubblegum

I always find it interesting when upcoming games openly embrace comparison to other beloved titles. While this is a great way to draw attention from fans of those previous works, you’re also setting specific expectations that will, without a doubt, invite criticism if they aren’t met. In the case of Atmos Games’ newest release, Twisted Tower, they have confidently advertised the project as BioShock meets Disney World, which leaves some clown-sized shoes to fill. Does this horror-comedy FPS manage to do so? Grab your admission ticket and let’s find out together.

A Heartfelt Engagement, With a Twist

Twisted Tower follows the meek yet reliable Vincent, who becomes freshly engaged to the warm-hearted, film-loving Charlotte. The lovers are not able to celebrate for long, however, as Charlotte is kidnapped on the night of their engagement by a maniacal, washed-up film auteur by the name of Mr. Twister. Following a phone call informing him of this kidnapping, an admission ticket to an abandoned theme park, the titular Twisted Tower, is slid under Vincent’s front door, making his destination clear.

As Vincent arrives at Twisted Tower, he finds that this decrepit amusement park is far from vacant. With bloodthirsty, lunatic mascots and crazed, mechanical contraptions roaming around in droves, he has no choice but to fight back using an arsenal of bizarre weaponry. As he guns his way through numerous attractions and locales, Vincent frequently stumbles upon reminders of his unfortunate past. Bringing to the surface painful memories involving his mentally ill sister and overly controlling mother, it is made clear that Vincent’s life before Charlotte was filled with familial strife.

Throughout all of this, Mr. Twister serves as an omnipresent narrator, adopting a twisted game-show host persona as he tauntingly leads Vincent through the massive, labyrinthine park. Much of the underlying mystery stems from this manic film director. How does he know so much about Vincent? What does he want with Charlotte? Why the hell are these coked-up mascots running around trying to commit murder? I can see why his presence, along with the 1940s setting, has invited BioShock comparisons, though I personally think the game feels much more similar to 2023’s My Friendly Neighborhood. I have to admit, despite the outlandishness of the game’s premise, it got the wheels turning in my head fairly quickly. Piecing together the relationship among Mr. Twister, Vincent, and Charlotte was a much more enjoyable brainstorming session than I expected. As I relentlessly smashed enemies’ heads in, I found myself simultaneously devising potential solutions to the underlying mystery, which was a lot of fun.

My enjoyment of the mystery aside, I often found Twisted Tower tonally inconsistent. Most of the experience leans into B-level horror campiness, with exchanges between characters feeling goofily exaggerated. On top of this, there are frequent attempts at humor, mostly through corny one-liners, oddball conversations, and a jarring number of poop-related gags. Unfortunately, most of these jokes didn’t land with me, eliciting long sighs rather than laughter, though others may find them entertaining. These misplaced attempts at comedy create a strange contrast with the narrative’s heavy focus on Vincent’s familial turmoil, which is comparably grounded and emotionally compelling. The mystery itself also begins to feel hampered after a certain point, as a near-intrusive level of background story through audio recordings, poignant newspaper clippings, and letters begins to spell everything out a bit too clearly. I would have preferred the game to let me piece together the puzzle with a bit more independence, right up until the conclusion.

A Clown Car Packed With Bizarre Variety

Those gripes with the narrative aside, I found the star attraction of Twisted Tower to be the chaotic, boomer-shooter-adjacent action. With a creative and bizarre selection of weapons, including a bubblegum chain-gun, a sniper slingshot, and a farting shotgun, you are rarely left with a shortage of options. Each of these weapons fills its own vital niche, though with ten total there is a bit of overlap. Additionally, most have secondary fire options, adding further utility. You acquire these through the game’s weapon upgrade system, which lets you increase damage, clip size, and reload speed. Rapidly cycling through your arsenal during tense shootouts is reliably exhilarating. By the end of the game, my favorite weapons were the double-barrel shotgun, the ray gun, and the slingshot, which collectively covered short-, medium-, and long-range encounters.

The assortment of grotesque mascot enemies is another highlight, with each appropriately imposing its own threatening presence. Ranging from animatronic telephones to teleporting fire-breathing seahorses, dealing with each enemy type encourages a different sort of strategy. The game’s arena encounters, which combine chaotic mismatches of enemies, are consistent highlights, as you are frequently required to adapt to the situation. That said, these arenas often begin with a tension-draining ten-to-fifteen-second delay before enemies actually spawn, creating off-feeling gaps in pacing. These combat segments would have felt much more exciting if a group of enemies appeared immediately. Still, these combats provided a satisfying level of difficulty, with the rate at which you are granted ammo and health pickups feeling near-perfect.

A Park Full of Zany Attractions

As you may expect, Twisted Tower contains an entertaining selection of locations to explore. This includes a clown-filled casino, poorly maintained carnival grounds, and a health-code-violation nightmare of a waterpark. I found myself regularly surprised by the variety of environments, and exploring them was nearly always rewarding thanks to the dense number of interactables and secrets. The most common reward for both exploration and combat alike is prize tickets, which are used to pay for the game’s upgrade system as well as ammo and healing items. Each unique area also showcases the game’s standout level design, with shifting environments and massive set pieces often taking center stage.

Aiding exploration of each unique attraction is a modest suite of power-ups. The first of these is a straightforward grappling hook, but you quickly accumulate more outlandish options as well, such as butterfly wings that allow you to air dash, clown shoes that let you bounce on trampolines, and a jet pack that grants you a double jump. These tools prove essential to navigating platforming segments and combat encounters alike. I was pleasantly surprised by these movement options, especially the air dash, as I didn’t expect movement to be such a heavy focus in the game going into it. As encounter difficulty steadily increased as the story progressed, I was often grateful to have powerful escape tools at my disposal.

Verdict: A Worthwhile Ride, Despite Some Bumpy Tracks

Twisted Tower presents an amusement park full of zany locales and bloodthirsty mascots, both of which were a consistent joy to oppose. While I found quite a few missteps in the overly talkative, transparent narrative and the many sigh-inducing attempts at humor, those annoyances only detract slightly from what is otherwise a reliably entertaining 6-ish-hour getaway. Boomer shooter fans looking for a brisk campaign with a memorable setting and an interesting underlying mystery will certainly want to be picking up a ticket.