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*Updated note, this review mainly points out based off memory how the Early Access was handled to inform those a little what to expect from PixelTail.
*Tower Unite is a game that was very slowly developed over the course of nine years then haphazardly pushed out with a 1.0 "release" that doesn't even reflect a finished early access state, let alone delivering on some of their indiegogo. To say I'm disappointed would be a massive understatement.
I purchased and played TU since August 20th 2018, just before the September 26th, 2018 0.6.0.0 player model workshop support update. Over the course of time there was not really alot of major gameplay related tweaks to the current existing party games outside of the Plaza. Tiny balancing here and there, but nothing substantial. I'll mainly go over major updates that has left some good and some bad impression memories of how things were managed during the early access period.
New maps for all the party games were cool but like.. why spend so much time on *14* fucking Minigolf courses and 13 Ballrace maps? Could we have like, mutators and other things to spice stuff up instead? Nope. Quantity over quality it seems for years with these guys.
Update 0.8.0.0, Fishing comes out and is cool, I guess. Tons of different fish and junk to catch but the XP to max is a massive hundred hour or more slog without fishing XP events. < May 29th, 2019
Update 0.8.4.0 introduced Ghoul Coins, currency that only drops every six minutes provided you're playing games, or doing the arcade in a future update. More time slog earnings, hooray. < October 27th, 2019
WarpZone Arcade introduced in update 0.9.0.0 brought in a massive arcade interior that resembles real-life arcade machines, but only a handful were playable of course. This one was probably my favorite as I grew up playing these alot. Skee-ball, whack-a-mole or shootin some hoops. You get tickets to turn them into prizes like real arcades too. Again though, giant time slog if you want to obtain most of the items here. < April 9th, 2020
What else we got... Accelerate comes out in alpha state for update 0.10.0.0. Has some super jank but overall a decent time. < June 25th, 2020
Planet Panic disappeared at some point, I forget which update did that. Was around since 2016, then the alpha was ripped out and was never to be seen again. Who knows if it'll ever be finished. < Unknown time frame
Other things.. minor UI updates, minor QOL, more holiday updates with more coin items for more time slog... I think there's an annoying pattern here.
Nightclub to play whatever music you'd like on a public big screen came out on update 0.13.0.0. With it came a massively bad memory leak issue. It did get fixed in an hour or so but you shouldn't suddenly have that kind of problem arise after you just had testing. Also the cool visualizer broke due to SoundCloud's API updating in mid 2021 and was probably never fixed LoL< November 27th, 2020
Some map re-designs and lighting changes.. more time that could've been spent towards more important things..
0.14.1.0 had an anniversary celebration which added more cool items to get. Please god don't tell me it's more coi- *Anniversary coins on the same drop system of ghoul coins*. Uggh... < April 8th, 2021
0.14.3.0 gave more arcade games. Still missing alot more that continues to be unfinished nor started work on. < August 18th, 2021
More basic fixes and hotfixes.. more plaza updates that either changed the scenery or more things added to the permanent Lobby 3 map..
More map re-designs again... more holiday coin items.. again.. more maps.. again.. where's the gameplay related stuff for the party games? Still none? Okay...
Alright a fairly decent one: 0.16.0.0 which was the long-awaited Casino Expansion. Roulette, Horse race betting, Bingo etc. This was where TU hit it's highest peak in player counts and never got past those numbers ever again. I wonder why. < September 15th, 2022
0.16.3.0 introduces the Dark Voyage shooting ride. It went about as well as you expected, visual bugs and issues that needed some hot fixes. I'm sure this isn't a bad omen or anything. < November 17th, 2022
More maps... minor but not major important bug fixes......
0.17.0.0: The one I decently awaited for, SDNL. It came out and because the netcode was not exactly worked on alot over the years, hit registration was all over the place. People also jittered everywhere in big lobbies because of the netcode for Unreal 4. Alot did not feel super smooth like Doom or Quake which is very very, *very* important for consistency in a arena shooter. Also you could use workshop models, which idk who had that as an idea but it was not a good one at all due to the consistency problem again. You can turn off custom models on your screen but one shouldn't have to do that for one gamemode. < August 31st, 2023
This is the point where I started to realize things are not being managed correctly and certain updates having more focus over other issues that needs higher priority. As such my time investment shot down over 90%, I barely get on now to play for an hour compared to before. Shit's just disheartening even after getting two custom player models created specifically for this. Sometimes I'll get into the plaza, then quit the game entirely a few minutes later just to go back to other more interesting games or older games again.
January 29th, 2024: Mac decides now is a good time to push out a dlc pack as a supporter pack. Instantly this screams out to me: "We're kinda running out of money. Can you gibe some pls and you get neat stuff in return?" Well why the hell should I do that? I have been shown over the years that the design vision of TU is all over the god damned place and lacks proper care into how to get a new social game off the ground. You scored it with Gmod Tower Mac, you obviously have the experience and know-how.
January 29th, 2025: Mac wants another support pack pushed out the door conveniently one year after the first. Okay hold your god damned horses. You want *me*, to fork over more cash for a project actively in major decline because things (to me at least) looked like they weren't managed properly? That is not my problem, I'd rather see everything I've built up here disappear due to online only than throw more cash into an unknown pit. You want extra money from me? Earn it. Show, don't tell. I got more than enough of the latter over the years via the Trello page.
April 19th, 2025: We come to the "1.0" release. VR's still not done. There's almost no major party game modifications; they still play the same as when they released. Arcade interior still isn't fully done. We're still not done with cooking cause it was on the backburner, teased since March 29th, *2016* btw. And a Condo I/O system which is just half-finished.
Quite frankly you're better off just playing VRChat or whatever else lol. Even despite the EAC controversy, you'll have a way better time there as long as you know how to navigate it. Don't bother here, this'll be likely dead in a few more years. But make sure to buy PixelTail's new Elevator game based off the original Source elevator mod!
Actually don't do that.