It’s been a long time coming, but TowerFall: Ascension is finally ready to launch on the PlayStation Vita and PlayStation TV. And when I say “ready,” I mean it’s coming next Tuesday, Dec. 15.
One of the best party games of all time, TowerFall, is finally ready to make the jump to Sony’s portable console. Originally released on the Ouya and eventually making its way to the PlayStation 4 and PC, TowerFall pits up to four players against one another in arena-based bow and arrow combat. If you slapped an SNES skin on a game like Smash Bros. and gave all of the characters bows (the Katnis kind), you’ve basically got TowerFall.
The announcement was made official this afternoon on the PlayStation Blog, where developer Matt Thorson explained that the Vita/PS TV launch of TowerFall marks the end of a long three-year development period for the hit indie game.
PS Vita has undoubtedly become my favorite way to play TowerFall single player. But TowerFall is a local multiplayer game at its heart — designed for you to squeeze onto a couch with your friends to compete on the same screen. On PS Vita, you’ll use ad hoc wireless to fight your friends on other PS Vita systems in the same room. Playing on a handheld feels like a fresh experience, but the familiar joy of local multiplayer remains the same.
Thorson explained that the Vita/PS TV versions of TowerFall are cross-buy, so you’ll be able to download the game on either (or both) of those platforms if you’ve already purchased them on the PlayStation 4. Otherwise, the core game will set you back $14.99 while the Dark World expansion will cost an additional $9.99. In case that seems like a lot, you’re getting several new characters, new maps, extensive new modes, new arrow types and more with that expansion. It just about doubles the size of the original game.
As an added bonus, cross save support will eventually be patched into the Vita and PS4 versions of TowerFall. If you’ve been playing the game and unlocking content over the past couple of years on your console version of the game, you’ll soon be able to share that file with the Vita version of the game to make sure you’ve got all of the same content.
It’s nice to see Thorson continue to support TowerFall, especially since a dedicated community has sprouted around the game. It’s kind of the perfect blend of simple yet deep mechanics and hugely rewarding gameplay, so it’s great to know that it will soon be on more platforms than ever before.
