Last updated on December 7th, 2025 at 05:08 am
Tower Fortress – Action Game Review
Tower Fortress is a Action/Casual game from Nitrome, first launched in 15th November 2017.
It’s rated 12+ and currently has 802+ ratings on the App Store.
What Makes Tower Fortress Stand Out
A mysterious tower has risen! It emits plumes of noxious green smoke from
its summit making people sick. Strange creatures infest the tower but if
nobody tries to ascend it we will all be doomed!
Are you that hero?…..
Features:
-Randomised for replay. Every run is different!
-Evolve your abilities and skill to progress ever further up the tower!
-4 Themed zones to ascend!
-Unique hazards and monsters to each zone!
-4 Epic End Zone Boss Fights!
-Loads of Gun Types including, Laser, T Gun, Bubble Gun and Shotgun!
-25 Suits to unlock each with unique abilities that affect play.
-Upgrade yourself at the end of each level with 20 upgrade abilities!
-Important information-
This game contains third party advertising and cross promotion for other nitrome games, both which can be removed via a one time In App Purchase.
This Action game offers engaging gameplay and regular updates for mobile players.
Player Feedback
As a newer release, Tower Fortress is building its player community. Early feedback suggests .
Recent Updates & Development
Latest Update: 14th February 2018
Recent improvements include:
This app has been updated by Apple to display the Apple Watch app icon.
Tower Fortress is back with lots of new content:
- New modes: Daily Tower and Hard Mode
- New themes: Monochromatic and Retro Handheld Display
- 5 new suits
- Bug fixes and minor improvements
Thank you to all the fans who have supported us!
Download & Availability
Tower Fortress is available through the official App Store for iOS devices.
Get Tower Fortress on App Store
Requirements: Requires iPhone 5s / iPad Air / iPad Air (Cellular) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina, Cellular) / iPhone 6 / iPhone 6 Plus / iPad Air 2 / iPad Air 2 (Cellular) / iPad Mini 3 or later.
Compatible with iPhone and iPad devices.
Player Experience Highlights
Community Insight:
If you get damaged near a wall on the levels where a grinder breaks the floors you can get stuck in the wall, other levels too, but rarer. A fun bug is finishing the game while still in the final boss floor, meaning the credits either dont roll or arent visible. Requires rocket gun which will track the enemy generator. You fall to the floor and the game freezes. Last, if you kill an enemy at the same time it kills you (while you are in the air) it will let you spend points to continue, but will not restore your health and you will not be able to move. Very fun game, very few bugs. The getting stuck in the wall is annoying, but finding the others was enjoyably difficult. Five stars.
We looked up Metroid just to see what the App Store had to offer for Metroid and This was the first result. To clarify we love rougelikes like enter the gungeon and nuclear throne (which you should try both of you havent) we read its little description and saw it was a rougelike so we gave it a try and it is a short but hard game. We will complain that the controls are hard but you will get used to it. As of writing this review we just beat it lot of suits to mix up gameplay we recommend recoil because the laser as a default is really solid. Bosses are challenging and creative you will get an add every level but its only like one second and you can skip it nothing to bad overall a good game that you should definitely try remember this is a rougelike and if you die you restart your progression on levels.
One of our favorite games thank you nitrome for making this awesome game please make more games like this.
We really like to play tower fortress and think that its a very good way to pass time if your waiting for something or have no Wi-Fi on your phone, as well its nice to also have a version on pc if you want to play it when your at home, we really hope the game can get a new dlc update that adds more content (maybe a new tower or randomized floor levels, where it can sometimes be the library and other times it could be a armory where the enemys use guns instead) even if it isnt updated we still enjoy the game and will be playing it.
This game is a really fun dungeon plat-former and really easy to master. With different classes that all have their own bonuses and de-buffs. Also adding controller support would make it even more fun and a setting to go sideways instead of up, and maybe even down.
Every run run is different and every run is very fun. We havent gotten bored while playing this game. It would be cool if there were another stage/world or an endless mode but still very fun no complaints.
There's a couple of problems but since it's a great game so we simply ignore it First is the gate house, there's some parkour section that's still possible, but it's a bit hard, hope you remove a spike or two Second is the game freezing, now this could be because of our devices or because of the game, but since it's only happened once so we can ignore it Finally… It's not a problem but can you lower the price of some upgrades or increase the money you can get when fighting bosses and give us two health instead of one when we beat the bosses? Thanks for the amazing game.
We like the idea of the game and the game itself, its cool and easy to learn.
We have seen a lot of negative reviews about the controls, or even how hard the enemies are- but after just a bit of playing, we can tell you that those reviews are wrong! Sure the controls are a bit small, but we dont feel like they hinder anything! And the enemies are just right for the type of level layout! You can even make it through an entire level without getting hurt! (we know because we did earlier today! Lol) The progression of the game is genius- we love how you have to defeat enemies on the level to obtain a power up, and how you cant go back down from points on the level. Even though you can purchase gems or ad free options, there are relatively few ads, and gems are readily available through playing the game! We love ftp games, so we really appreciate the devs keeping this free of necessary purchases! If you are still reading, here is our final thought- Get the game, and have fun ;) Note to devs: thank yall so much for keeping this fun AND free to play! It holds a valued spot in our App Library! :).
This game is AMAZING and it is MIND BLOWING! We beat this game like 10000000000000 times already lol, and we're getting a bit bored… We think you guys should maybe add a level editor, and add some new areas and bosses! We would greatly appreciate this if you guys would add this suggestion in a sooner update!! Best of loves- Gamer.
One of the best mobile games ever.
This is one of the best games on the AppStore, It uses a unique mechanic and doesnt fail to give you a challenge. We really recommend this game for everyone but we have one question, When playing this game you often level up but what does it do.
Love it, waiting for tower fortress 2 Also, goo god is easy because 1. If you have something that can shoot up, hes really easy to kill, 2. The tentacle attack is free damage, make him able to grow back those tentacles and make it so he spits energy balls while using the tentacle attack.
This is a fun game, but we have one complaint, we died during an ad that we couldnt exit.
There is a bug. Sometimes when you are playing it will lag, fix that. So we have an idea for new characters. One is Mach 1 (machine gun) and Mach 2 (double machine gun). Mach 1s down side is slippery grip. Mach 2s downside is high recoil. Make another character named Rappel (start with grapple hook) another character could be named Piercer (start with piercing bullets) so thanks for reading this, we would enjoy it if you did. It would make the game more fun. Can you also make so that you can shoot upwards? Thanks.
We recently downloaded this game and have been pleasantly surprised. This game is reminiscent of the classics, like Metroid and mega man. Smooth controls, infinite replayability, neat graphics. Nice work.
Great game but we think it would be better controller supported.
Its really fun and we love it but it would be better if the suits werent so expensive.
We defeated The spider king but guess what happen when we restarted and died we started back at the gate house we were so angry so please add a saves like when you finish the first boss then you stop start at the library stages so plz make that happen thx.
Ive had this game for over a year now and it is by far our most played game it is challenging but not overly difficult however it does take a little time to start to get good.
The game reminds us of mega man but you go up.
Best game for mobile. Easy controls, no ads, no in your face marketing. Challenging and rewarding.
This is a great game. We waste countless hours on this masterpiece. We just have one question. We spent a long time grinding for the chameleon suit, just for it to not work. Its supposed to let you pick its color, but it doesnt. We spent 2500 gems on that.
This game is so much fun and exactly what we've always wanted from a mobile game! It's like Kid Icarus/Metroid and we love it! Our only problem is that the game starts to lag a big after ads, but it seems to fix itself after a couple seconds. Overall great game worth downloading.
Make green boy mode look more like an actual game boy game and if you could add 8-bit sounds.
Im not a professional and not writing a long review but..this game is absolutely incredible and stays fun pretty much no matter how much you play it. Still trying to get to the top after a while of gameplay.
This game is pretty fun, of course it has ads as a lot of games do, but you can just turn on airplane mode to get rid of them. Theres also a weird problem we have where sometimes the game just becomes slow, and it kinda ruins it for us because we have to end the run and restart it to get it to normal. But overall, the game is pretty fun. Its a lot like Downwell, but instead of hosing down you go up.
Its pretty fun overall, but exiting the app and reentering it freezes it and the only way we found to get out is to kill the app. It also happens when you try to exit an ad and it takes you to the App Store.
ADD A SAVE SLOT FOR WHEN YOU EXIT THE GAME, IT MADE ME LOG OUT ON THE FINAL BOSS.
The game itself is very good, but thats not why Im writing this review. The game crashes constantly; you turn off your phone and turn it back on? Crash. You accidentally clicked the ad that popped up? Crash. You beat a boss? Crash. This Can be very frustrating when youre trying to farm gems since a crash doesnt seem to give you the gems you gathered.
Its a pretty good game and its really hard which makes it fun but we have one more question please add more health boxes.
If only bosses could give a key, didnt end your combo, and the game wasnt such a grind. Not to mention how short it is, relying on its difficulty for content. Ghosts come outta nowhere in like, point blank range and damage you instantly. Some buzzsaws and spike are undodgable, the falling drill guys in area 3 cant be combatted with most weapons or the spin, The witches in area 2 should lose their projectile upon death, and their spawn rates should be limited, even with shotgun. There should be a feature to go back down as well.
We loved this game once we downloaded it. We finally beat the first boss and we thought that it would save our progress. Then we died and we got put back at LEVEL 1!!! We could handle the grind for coins if it saved our frickin progress. This game NEEDS checkpoints after every boss fight because now we have to go kill the first boss a thousand times!!! Its WAY to repetitive. Other than that its a decent game. BUT ADD CHECKPOINTS AFTER BOSSES.
Really good premise for the game but having it in portrait really holds it back. Please just make it to where its in landscape mode for better accessibility.
Yooooooo we loooooovvvvveeee dis Metroid fan game! Got some MegaMan elements too! Jus to hard doe.
We love this game! It has an awesome theme and a large assortment of weapons and characters. But for some reason every time we finish a level an ad pops up and it gets frozen so we have to leave the game and go back into it which resets our progress so we can only really play level 1. Other than that its a great game but you should really look into that problem.
The game in our opinion is very good and addictive but whenever we try to get a power up we have to watch and add but sometimes it just kicks us out please fix that thanks.
The overall game is interesting and fun, until you get to nearly unavoidable mobs of flies or frogs or saws, and thats just the first zone. So Id say take the difficulty down a notch, we want to feel like Im actually getting somewhere with this game rather than just being stuck in the first zone.
So the game itself is awesome! While yes the enemies and level formations can get annoying at times, the game is fun. However we have a few things we would like to say and would appreciate it if you responded. 1. What does the bar that gives you helmets do? 2. Could you make it to where the helmets are like pieces of the armor and if you get enough of them you can get the armor for free. If you dont get a helmet you want you can scrap it for gems( amount varies depending on helmet) or turn it into a different helmet for gems(again, cost varies depending on helm)3. Could you make skins a little less expensive 4. Could you make skins less expensive 5. Could you make more modes like time rush or gem ours 6. If anyone thinks this is a copy of Metroid, tell them we think their on drugs, While the suit is similar this seems like it was inspired by down well. This is not a cheap rip off! Plz respond plz! Also we just realized years later we misspelled good.
The game is entertaining but it keeps crashing at the end of levels so we lose all our progress. Maybe adding an auto save option would fix this issue for us. That way we could quit then dive back in later.
Jeez we just got done beating this game(4-3) (final boss) AND IF FEELS SO FRICKING GOOD!!!! Also the controls are a little wonky and we can understand why someone would get mad at this but honestly its not bad once you get used to it. Great graphics Great design Great Game.
We love this game, but when we end up reaching floor 7 just to have some add crash our game while we have at least 200-300 gems, and then on top of that you lose all of the gems you got that game, yet again great game but it would be a lot better if we didnt have to worry about our game crashing.
Tower Fortress is a great game, its fun, engaging, and easy to boot up and play a game or during another engagement. However, the ads are a bit of a problem. We just think that an ad after each level is a bit excessive. Otherwise, great game.
Some times when you have a certain gun equipped and you jump on a torch you will get stuck and we had to restart.
Its a great game but it crashes if you close the app for a second its especially frustrating when you accidentally tap on an ad that redirects you out of the app which then crashes the game.
We would give this 5 stars if you added a description to the menu or suits.like what is chest shot supposed to do?!?! And when you die there are 4 buttons which we have no idea what they do since it doesnt say. Lastly when you start the game you have 6 choices to choose but we always pick the giant play button since we dont know what the rest do.
Game is pretty fun but there needs to be 2 huge fixes! 1: Controller configurations need to be options. Many times Im in the thick of it and then the app tries to either close or minimize. It was optimized for a phone with a home button so we should be able to move things so as not to close it mid game on accident. 2: During the boss battles in stage 1:3 and 3:3, you can softlock yourself at the top of the screen with no way to get down other than letting the boss kill you. Its extremely frustrating at 3:3 where thats deep in the run. Remove the ledge at the top for a more pleasant boss experience.
We like this game we would love it if the developer could get it on Play station, Nintendo And Xbox it took us a while to figure out how to play the game but once we did we found it very fun and challenging reminds us of super Metroid a little bit if the developer could get this on PlayStation or any of the other formats we would definitely buy it this could be a very Fun retro style game the only fault that we see is that you have to use the touch screen on your phone.
Im having a blast with the game but our only problem is the move left arrow will just glitch out and not work around 40% of the time. It has been a major cause in our deaths because Ill need to carefully inch our way around some enemies or maybe obstacles. This makes the game incredibly frustrating when your having a good run but you keep getting hit because the game wont let you move where and when you need to. This is the only glitch Ive found and the only thing ruining our fun with the game.
Overall this is a really good game we could sink a lot of time in, however like we thought with down-well the clunky phone controls hold it back. Personally we would love a console or pc port, what wouldnt we give to play this with an actual controller. As Nitrome has recently delved into console gaming with bomb chicken we might get our wish (probably not though). We have gotten down-well on pc and the ability to use an actual controller saved our enjoyment of the game. We feel the same would happen with this. Otherwise, we dont see ourselves playing a lot of this as having it on a smaller screen with phone gamepad controllers (whatever they are called) doesnt let us enjoy it that to the extent we want to. There are probably quite a bit of reasons why it isnt ported and we do see the controls were made to accommodate for phones so theres that we guess and we wont put up a fight if it isnt ported. Otherwise the game is excellent with its progression and power ups, its the controls that ruin it for us.
User feedback from Apple App Store
App Details
- Version: 1.2
- Size: 36.12 MB
- iOS: 8.0 or later
- Languages: EN
- Content Advisory: Frequent/Intense Cartoon or Fantasy Violence
- Developer: Nitrome
Last updated: 14th February 2018 | Genre: Action, Casual | Developer: Nitrome