RJ Layton

Just under two centuries into the future, human civilization has been lost. Famine, disease, and war have pushed every known human civilization to the brink and over, leaving only the machines.

The machines had been built to push humanity forward, to lift it up beyond the grasp of nature, to bring it closer to godliness. Like never before, man could shape his own destiny. More than ever, the machine was held in high esteem, the shining example of the greatness of humanity. And so man yearned to join with the machine, to correct any deficiencies that came with being human. Combining the man with the machine meant strength and perhaps eternal life through persistence through machines.

In short, the machines were built to aid the progress of civilization, but also to serve in its destruction. The machines were unable to change human nature. With the advancement of personal power came power in groups, and power in nations. With the machines came once again the power to destroy.

After the humans were effectively gone, the machines continued the war. After the end had been decided, there was yet more controversy between the machines. Being gifted with autonomy, some of the machines viewed themselves as having inherited the earth, as being the new dominant form on earth. To ensure this takeover, these machines have taken to hunting down every last human on the planet. Their progress was aided by the reliance of humanity on technology, and it wasn't long after communicating with a networked, sentient machine that the human perished.

Other machines have viewed this as the wrong path, and feel that saving humanity is their duty as their creations. They argue that destroying one's creators is inherently self-destructive. They also reject the idea that they have taken control of the earth, and that it is wrong to destroy their creators as inherently self-destructive. These machines have managed to rescue a small number of humans and have attempted to protect them by storing them in giant stone towers. Most have perished, and recently the Towers have lost communications with each other. There is no certainty that any but one tower still remain.

All that remains now of humanity sleeps safely within The Tower. A young adult human awakens and for the first time sees with its own eyes. A large tower, composed of stone and mortar but constructed by machinery. Below the Tower, a sweeping, swirling grey fog shrouds the unknown below the adult's sleeping chamber. Along the outsides of the tower and jutting away from the walls are gardens, small environments designed to recreate the natural world that humanity once flourished in. Still, the entirety of this human's world is the Tower in which it currently lives.

The Tower is a single-player experience, where the player controls the human who awakens in the Tower. The player's experience centers around traversing and climbing the Tower while rediscovering humanity.