Summary

Tower of Babel: Survivors of Chaos is a survival-like game that feels like a blend of Diablo’s loot system and central hub design, along with Don’t Starve’s iconic aesthetics. In this game, you’ll venture into the Tower of Babel, battling various creatures and defeating elites and bosses in hopes of finally making it to the very top. Upgrade your hero, unlock new ones, and equip ever more powerful equipment so you can take on increasingly tougher enemies!

Gameplay

The gameplay is pretty similar to most survival-like games with heavy influences from games like Diablo, Halls of Torment, and even Don’t Starve. After choosing a character to play as, you head into the tower by picking a floor and battling various enemies that will gradually swarm you. The goal here is simple: to survive each floor so you can proceed to the next one. Combat is automated here, so all you need to do is point the direction you want to deal some damage. Abilities will proc at fixed intervals as well.

Every slain enemy drops a diamond that, once accumulated, will level you up. Green diamonds grant smaller amounts of experience while blue ones grant more. Every level up grants you stat level upgrades for either your character or for an ability. If you’re lucky, you may encounter options that grant more than a single level upgrade for a specific stat or ability. You can even unlock new abilities by leveling up. That said, there seems to be a cap on how many abilities you can have at a time, although this isn’t clearly indicated in the game.

Aside from diamonds, fallen enemies will sometimes drop equipment as well. They come in different grades and qualities, with legendary items being the most coveted. Most abilities are elementally aligned, though, so if your character has gear or perks that boost certain elemental damage, it’s probably wise to stick to that element as much as you can. As you progress, you may even encounter items that have jewel slots in them, as well as jewel dusts that you can then turn into jewels that, when affixed, will add additional stats to your gear.

Elites and bosses typically drop powerful gear and better loot in general when they are defeated. You may even get the magical horseshoe magnet that attracts all the experience diamonds to you, causing a cascade of level-ups. However, unlike normal mobs, elites and bosses have abilities that you’ll need to be wary of. Usually, these manifest in the form of red circles on the ground – make sure to keep your eyes peeled! From time to time, you may even encounter special enemies like mimics and goblin thieves – enemies that typically drop lots of gold and items when attacked or slain.

Tower of Babel is a roguelite as well, but it’s not as hardcore as an actual roguelike. In this game, if you fail a run, you only lose a small portion of the loot you’ve gathered, with the option to spend some cash to buy the loot that you have technically “lost”. This game is definitely a lot more forgiving than some of the roguelites I’ve reviewed over the years, that’s for sure!

After every run, whether you’re victorious or not, you’ll end up at what I call “the Hub”. This is where the meta-progression aspect of the game comes in! Here, you’ll be able to access various vendors to purchase new items, craft materials, or even upgrade your equipment. Everything costs money, though, so you might want to sell off some of the excess loot you’ve been hauling around first. Interestingly, although the game doesn’t drop loot that isn’t for your class as frequently, you do sometimes get loot that you might want to consider keeping in the storage box at the campfire for when you decide to level up your other characters.

Of course, you’ll have to unlock them first by playing and progressing up the floors of the tower, but the effort isn’t too tedious and you should be able to unlock new ones at a steady paceThere’s also a beggar, who claims to know more than meets the eye; whom you can “bribe” into revealing story snippets about the tower and the in-game world. He keeps hinting at a big reveal but always stop shy of actually revealing anything major… prompting your character to dismiss him as a fraud… or is he? You’ll only find out if you play his little mind games!

Graphics/ Sound

Tower of Babel: Survivors of Chaos features a hand-drawn 2D dark fantasy art style reminiscent of Don’t Starve. It combines gritty, detailed character and enemy designs with richly textured backgrounds and atmospheric effects, leaning heavily into mythic imagery. Similar to the game it is inspired by, this hand-sketched aesthetic gives the game a distinct look that stands out amid bullet-hell and hack-and-slash roguelites.

In terms of sound, the game also draws inspiration from the iconic dungeon crawler, Diablo. The sound of loot being dropped by fallen enemies should instantly bring pangs of nostalgia to any fan of the game series. There are background tunes as well, but they remain mostly in the background, letting the sound effects of your abilities, your strikes and spell hits, and loot drops take center stage.

Conclusion

Despite still being in early access, Tower of Babel: Survivors of Chaos provides fans of the popular survivors-like subgenre a fast-paced and loot-filled roguelite experience, catering especially towards fans of games that it draws heavy inspiration from, like Diablo and Don’t Starve. The gameplay offers deep customization that encourages experimentation and allows replayability, while its variety of items, skills, and classes gives each run fresh strategic potential. If you’re a fan of survivors-like or less punishing roguelites in general, and love games with plenty of loot, Tower of Babel: Survivors of Chaos is definitely one game you don’t want to miss out!