Lucy recommends: Sovereign Tower

Hey there folks, welcome to the weekend!

If running your own kingdom has ever crossed your mind, and come on, I know you’ve all thought about it, I recommend giving Sovereign Tower a whirl. Recruit and manage your own Round Table, become a benevolent ruler (or not), and if all else fails, there’s a Demon locked in the tower crypt who can always turn back time for you.

Reign on.

This week, paid LFG Supporters had the chance to win a copy of Desktop Explorer in the Discord! I’ve have some more giveaways lined up, including copies of Ambrosia Sky ahead of Act II’s upcoming launch, and in next week’s Supporter-only newsletter, I’ll have playtest keys for a fun clumsy co-op game called Sponge Break. I spent an hour with it this week and had a really great time, I hope you will too! Supporters get access to the Discord and extra newsletters, so I hope you’ll consider subscribing. Thank you so much to everyone for your support so far, it means the world! Okay, back to Sovereign Tower!

What is it?

Sovereign Tower is a management and relationship sim where you rebuild a collapsed kingdom from a magical tower. In the morning, take audience with the people, nobles, and scholars of your fledgling realm: listen to their requests and engage in court formalities. Then, time for action. You have a band of knights at your Round Table who are itching to serve, and serve they will. Send the best knight for the job out to do your bidding, and hope that they’re successful: the happiness of your people and the growth of your kingdom depends on it.

There are relationships to build, romances to have, and even a court-appointed gossip monger to cozy up with.

Why it caught my eye

One thing I absolutely adore is when game mechanics and systems and narrative coalesce. It’s an elegant way of making the player engage with everything the game has to offer, and, crucially, rewards them for doing it. Take Persona 5, for example. Talking to your squad mates by day not only rewards you with story beats and relationship progression, but also unlocks new moves for them to use when fighting Shadows in the metaverse. Spending free time reading or attempting the Big Bang Burger challenge ups your skill points. Even the things you think don’t matter, matter, and feeds in to every other facet of your experience.

Sovereign Tower is much the same: chatting to your knights (or asking the gossipy Alwena) reveals attributes that could help them or hinder when they’re out on quests. Listening to your people and doing things for them may bring new people into your tower, which in turn could unlock new rooms, items, or quests. The game starts out with a reliable rhythm, but quickly throws you curveballs: criteria or demands that need to be met within a certain number of cycles, putting the pressure on your diplomacy skills and your knights’ prowess. Luckily for you, if things go really wrong, there’s a Demon lurking in the crypt who offers to turn back time for you… it remains to be seen whether there’s a catch, but chances point to probably, yes.

Sovereign Tower is also packed with charm, from its art style and music to its joke-filled writing. I can’t wait to see how everything continues to meld together next month when the game releases, but if the demo is anything to go by, it’s going to be great.

For fans of

Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Dispatch, Metaphor: ReFantazio

Enough from me, try it yourself!

Thanks so much for reading, and do let me know if you check out Sovereign Tower! Big thanks to Max Scoville for getting it on my radar. Have a great weekend, and I’ll see you next week.