3Tower: Indie Horror Bridging Retro Nostalgia and Grief

Wechselbalg Studio’s debut title, 3Tower, combines a deeply personal storyline with a surprising retro twist. Released in Early Access on Itch.io, the game also ships a fully playable Commodore 64 edition. While the dual launch may feel like a quirky footnote, it underscores the developer’s commitment to both modern design and old-school roots.

Background and Development

3Tower originated as a tribute to lead developer Swen Kalini’s personal loss. The game’s premise and its Early Access release date coincide with the tenth anniversary of his newborn daughter’s passing. Rather than shielding players from that grief, the studio channels it into every aspect of the experience—story beats, environment design, and audio cues all serve a purpose beyond mere shock value.

Working as a small team in Malta, Wechselbalg Studio navigated platform challenges, including extended review times for text changes on Steam. Ultimately, they chose to move forward on Itch.io, ensuring that players could engage with the game’s emotional core without delay.

Gameplay and Atmosphere

3Tower emphasizes narrative exploration over jump-scare mechanics. Players traverse a fog-shrouded graveyard, solve context-driven puzzles, and uncover fragments of memory. The pace is deliberate, favoring psychological tension and ambient storytelling. Casual players familiar with walking simulators will recognize echoes of titles like What Remains of Edith Finch, while veterans of psychological horror may spot nods to Silent Hill’s mood and design.

The audio landscape is equally important: subtle ambient tracks and environmental sounds work in tandem with visual cues. Expect lighting shifts, sound bridges between scenes, and puzzle solutions that hinge on listening as much as looking.

Retro Commodore 64 Edition

In an era of post-processing filters, 3Tower’s Commodore 64 version is an authentic port, complete with original SID-chip sound and cassette-style loading. This is more than a nostalgia gimmick: it’s a genuine homage to the developer’s formative years on the blue-and-white machine. That retro build is available only through Itch.io, reflecting Steam’s current policies and technical constraints.

While you may need an emulator or original hardware to play the 8-bit edition, it serves as a playable museum piece—one that reveals how much modern design philosophy can coexist with early home-computer limitations.

Early Access and Platform Support

The PC build on Itch.io marks the first public version of 3Tower. Full Steam, Linux, and Steam Deck support is scheduled for later updates. Controller compatibility, performance optimizations, and expanded narrative content are planned based on community feedback.

This transparent approach—laying out known issues and update timelines—reflects the studio’s desire for a collaborative development cycle, rather than a closed “polish and ship” model.

Who Should Play 3Tower?

If you look for high-octane gore or multiplayer thrills, this isn’t your game. But if you appreciate atmospheric storytelling, emotional stakes, and puzzles woven into a haunting setting, 3Tower delivers. The retro C64 edition adds a layer of historical context for enthusiasts of vintage computing, while the PC version offers a more accessible entry point.

3Tower is best suited to players who value narrative depth and are curious about how personal history can shape game design. Early Access means the experience will evolve, but the core—honest tribute through interactive art—remains firmly in place.

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