I love games with a narrative focus, but the very best of the bunch involved me in the storytelling. Ever since playing Telltale’s The Walking Dead back in 2012, I’ve been a huge fan of any game that forces tough choices on me. I’m hardly alone in this either, given that the Loot Level Chill 2025 game of the year was Dispatch. There are such a variety of titles that let you craft your own story, and The Sovereign Tower is one that’s particularly unique.
I got to play the first hour or so of Sovereign Tower for this preview, and going in I had no idea what to expect. The premise is that you’re a nobody who unlocked a long sealed tower with a magic key, and because of this you’re made the sovereign of this place. You’re immediately granted an assistant, and a knight who you can use to help solve problems around the realm. There are quite a lot of elements to running the tower, but you’re introduced to them at a nice pace.
First up, it’s time to meet with everyone who seeks an audience with you. Every cycle you’ll have a line of people who want to talk to you, all with their own problems, requests or offers. Sometimes you’ll be asked to make a decision immediately, and these will affect various stats of your brand new kingdom. Some issues can’t be solved immediately though, and it’ll be up to your knights to go and help keep peace in the realm.
Once you’re done talking to your people, it’s time to head to the round table. It’s here where you can assign your knights to the various quests you’ve gathered. Each quest will test a specific few of your knight’s skills, so you’ll need to choose wisely if you want them to succeed. With rewards and potentially even their lives on the line, you really have to do your best to play to the strengths of your mighty warriors. Some will do great in diplomatic situations with their charming charisma, whereas others are just good at stabbing shit.
Once this cycle is done you’ll head back to your tower and the process begins again. Based on the actions of your knights you’ll often have a repeat audience with the subject who had the issue, which often leads to another charming interaction. Some successes will help you to unlock new parts of the tower too, with the help of a statue you can flirt with. Thanks to finding the blacksmith’s hammer I was able to add a forge which let me repair the armour of my battered warriors, and also buy weapons that upped their stats.
As a management game I really had a great time with Sovereign Tower, but it was the silliness and charm that really captured my attention. I immediately fell in love with my ridiculously self absorbed knight in shiny gold armour, even when he moaned about me allowing pigs in the tower. The people you talk to when you’re seeking an audience with your subjects are just as colourful, like the jester who smells awful and scares children because he’s too scared to go to the bathhouse guarded by an angry goose. It’s just gloriously daft, and I’m excited to see where the overall story goes with my expert guidance when the game releases in full.
The first hour of Sovereign Tower is a lot of fun, but I really want to know how it evolves as you progress. It was clear that my choices were going to matter going forward, but it was admittedly hard to see that in such a short time. The full game also promises time rewinding and taking on powerful rival rulers, and I’m intrigued to see how much management is required to succeed against these foes. The preview build had a single big deadline and battle to take on, but I’m sure the pressure will rise as you progress.
Sovereign Tower is an intriguing blend of management, decision making and even RPG elements, and I had a blast with the first portion of the game. On top of this there’s also a whole lot of charm and silliness, and I want to meet more of this world’s ridiculous characters. Happily we don’t have long to wait to become a sovereign when it hits PC in August, because I’m ready to rule already.
Sovereign Tower is coming to PC in August.
