Twisted Tower Preview: 3D Realms' BioShock-Style Horror FPS

This Twisted Tower preview sticks to what's actually confirmed about 3D Realms' first-person shooter, not the speculation that filled the gap before launch. The short version: it's a first-person shooter about a haunted 1950s amusement resort, released August 18, 2026. What's less obvious is that the studio behind it is essentially one person: Thomas Brush, previously known for the 2D platformers Pinstripe and Neversong, now shipping his first full 3D shooter after more than five years of work.

Nothing here is a review. This article was researched as a pre-launch preview and does not substitute for hands-on coverage of the final build. What follows is the verifiable setup, the store and trailer evidence, the early demo reception, and the questions this preview still cannot answer from screenshots alone.

TL;DR: Twisted Tower released August 18, 2026, built by a small studio (Atmos Games) under 3D Realms, and it's explicitly styled after BioShock: a corrupted 1950s resort, gunplay against corrupted mascots, and toy-inspired weapons like a mallet and a bubblegum chain-gun. The 2025 demo picked up positive press coverage and the game had crossed 125,000 Steam wishlists as of the developer's August 10 update. The live Steam snapshot lists $14.99 and Very Positive at 93% from 1,762 reviews.

Twisted Tower release date and platforms (quick answer)

Twisted Tower released August 18, 2026 on Steam for Windows PC. There's no confirmed console version. Developer Thomas Brush announced the date directly on Steam on July 8, 2026, and reconfirmed it in an update eight days before launch. The listing is Steam Deck Verified. The live Steam snapshot lists $14.99 and Very Positive at 93% from 1,762 reviews.

Twisted Tower current status: September 2026

The live Steam snapshot checked on September 18 lists $14.99 and Very Positive at 93% from 1,762 reviews. The official feed's August 25 v1.0.4.4.2 patch fixed Secret Journal totals, old-save route data, secret-route tracking, and backtracking gates; a September 4 post also confirms the soundtrack release. This remains a verified-facts preview rather than a hands-on review of the final build. Sources: Twisted Tower on Steam and the official announcements feed.

Key Takeaways

• Twisted Tower released August 18, 2026, published by 3D Realms and developed by Atmos Games.
• Solo-adjacent studio: creator Thomas Brush previously made Pinstripe and Neversong, both 2D games. This is his first 3D shooter.
• The official Steam description compares the game to BioShock and Disney World directly, not just in press coverage.
• Five confirmed levels: a hotel, a waterpark, a clown casino, a carnival forest, and a space station.
• As of an August 10, 2026 developer update, the game had passed 125,000 Steam wishlists.
• The current Steam snapshot lists $14.99 and Very Positive at 93% from 1,762 reviews.

The pitch: BioShock meets a haunted 1950s theme park

Steam's own store copy doesn't dance around the comparison. It describes Twisted Tower as an "abandoned 1950's resort reminiscent of BioShock and Disney World," and that framing shows up in the actual footage too. The tower itself is candy-striped, lit in warm neon against grey rain, with a glowing sign that spells out the game's name over water and ferris wheels. It's less a subtle homage than a stated one.

The opening approach to the resort by boat, the same framing 3D Realms used in its own release-date trailer.

The story setup: you're climbing the tower to save "the love of your life" from whatever curdled this place into its current state. Steam's description leans into mystery over exposition, and the developer's own posts have avoided spoiling specifics. What is confirmed is the structure: five named levels (hotel, waterpark, clown casino, carnival forest, space station), each reachable through branching paths that Steam's copy says are meant to make repeat playthroughs feel different rather than identical.

That carnival framing extends to the enemies. The corrupted mascots aren't a single reused model: a bear-headed clown, wheeled telephone creatures with teeth, and other reworked resort staff have all shown up in official screenshots. It's a smaller, weirder cast than a typical horror shooter roster, which tracks with the game's toy-box aesthetic more than a traditional zombie-horde approach.

For a sense of how crowded the 2026 retro-and-horror shooter space has gotten, PAPERHEAD's cardboard-aesthetic demo and SPRAWL zero's prequel demo both ran Next Fest showings this year chasing a similar niche: small teams, strong visual hooks, boomer-shooter-adjacent mechanics. Twisted Tower's angle is the amusement park setting and the narrative hook layered on top.

GODEEPER: This site ran the same pre-launch treatment, gathering only what's verifiable before hands-on time, for another small-studio 2026 release with a strong demo reception. Mina the Hollower Preview →

Weapons, traversal, and what's actually confirmed to play

The weapon list reads like a theme park gift shop got a gun license: a whack-a-mole mallet, a rubber-band pistol, a dart-throwing Tommy Gun, a farting shotgun, a bubblegum-spitting chain-gun, a sniper slingshot, and a skull-popping ray gun. Steam's copy confirms all of these are upgradeable over the course of the campaign, not just cosmetic reskins of the same three gun types.

One of the smaller corrupted mascots: wheeled, phone-shaped, and not subtle about the teeth.

Traversal gets similar treatment. Rather than a single grapple hook, the store page describes collectible toys that grant jumping, dashing, and grappling abilities separately, layered on top of the tower's vertical level design. Combined with the branching-path structure, that suggests the levels are built for some amount of backtracking and rediscovery, not a single linear corridor.

None of this section is hands-on confirmation of the final build. It is consistent across the trailers, store copy, and demo coverage from last year, which is useful context but not a substitute for a post-launch review.

The Clown Casino level entrance, one of the five confirmed zones inside the resort.

Five years, one small team, and a demo that got noticed

Thomas Brush wrote directly to wishlisters on July 8, 2026, confirming the date himself: "I'm thrilled to finally announce that Twisted Tower launches on August 18th, 2026, right at the start of spooky season!" He followed with the kind of detail that only makes sense from someone who's been in it a long time: "After five long years of blood, sweat, and way too many late nights, it feels surreal to finally say the words out loud."

That five-year timeline matters for context. Brush's prior two games, Pinstripe and Neversong, were both 2D. Twisted Tower is a full first-person 3D shooter, a genuine jump in scope for what's described as a "tiny but mighty team."

The free demo, live on Steam since roughly February 2025, is the closest thing to independent confirmation this game has right now. VICE's demo impressions called it something they'd keep watching "while drooling as I wait to play the full game." GamesRadar+ separately noted the demo had racked up around 500 "Very Positive" user reviews on its own listing well ahead of the full release, and drew a direct BioShock comparison in its own coverage: "It obviously recalls BioShock in its tone and gunplay and enemy design, but that crazy carnival setting and a bigger emphasis on traversal... also work massively to set it apart." A separate outlet, Tim Bowman Media, made the same comparison independently after playing.

In an August 10, 2026 update, eight days before launch, Brush shared a specific number: 125,400 Steam wishlists. He also confirmed the demo build has changed substantially since that 2025 press round, including a full audio rework and a new black-and-white "Noir Mode" added late in development. Bug-fixing was still ongoing as of that post.

If retro-leaning first-person shooters are your thing beyond this one specific comparison, Blood West's Scavengers roguelite DLC is worth a look for a very different weird-west take on the same broad genre space.

What this preview still cannot answer

The live price is no longer an open question: Steam lists Twisted Tower at $14.99. What this preview cannot establish is exact campaign length, how much the five-level branching structure changes on a second run, and how the final difficulty curve feels in play.

There's also no reliable runtime figure in the official sources, and the "multiple paths per playthrough" language still needs hands-on testing to distinguish a meaningfully different second run from a more modest branching-corridor structure. Treat this article's weapon and level list as sourced setup, not a verdict on final pacing.

GODEEPER: BioShock's fingerprints keep showing up across 2026's smaller narrative shooters, not just in carnival settings. INDUSTRIA 2 Out Now →

Frequently Asked Questions

When does Twisted Tower release? Twisted Tower released August 18, 2026 on Steam for PC. Developer Thomas Brush confirmed the date in a July 8, 2026 Steam post, timing the launch to land at the start of spooky season.

Who is making Twisted Tower? Atmos Games, a small studio led by Thomas Brush (creator of Pinstripe and Neversong), developed Twisted Tower. 3D Realms Entertainment ApS publishes it. Development took more than five years.

What kind of game is Twisted Tower? A first-person action-adventure shooter set in an abandoned 1950s amusement resort. Steam's own store copy compares it to BioShock and Disney World, with corrupted fairy-tale mascots as enemies across 5 levels.

How much does Twisted Tower cost? $14.99. Pricing wasn't public as of this article's original research, days before the August 18, 2026 launch, but the game has since released at that price with no discount active.

Is there a Twisted Tower demo? Yes. A free demo was live on Steam by February 2025 and drew coverage from VICE, GamesRadar+, and other outlets comparing it to BioShock. A separate playtest build also appeared on Steam in June 2026.

What weapons are in Twisted Tower? Confirmed weapons include a whack-a-mole mallet, rubber-band pistol, dart-throwing Tommy Gun, farting shotgun, bubblegum-spitting chain-gun, sniper slingshot, and a skull-popping ray gun, all upgradeable.

Does Twisted Tower have multiplayer? No. Twisted Tower is single-player only, per its Steam store page. It does include Steam Achievements, Steam Cloud saves, full controller support, and Steam Deck Verified status.

Related Reading

• Mina the Hollower Preview: the same pre-launch, verified-facts-only preview format applied to Yacht Club's new IP.
• PAPERHEAD Demo: Cardboard Boomer Shooter: another small-team retro shooter demo from the same 2026 Next Fest window.
• SPRAWL zero Demo: Boomer Shooter Prequel: a different studio's take on the same retro-FPS resurgence.
• Blood West Scavengers DLC Review: a weird-west first-person shooter with its own strong visual identity.
• INDUSTRIA 2 Out Now: another 2026 narrative-driven FPS sequel worth comparing notes with.
• Static Dread: The Submarine launch: another atmospheric 2026 horror launch from a small team.

References

• Twisted Tower on Steam: official store page, release date, screenshots, and store copy.
• Twisted Tower official announcements: launch updates, v1.0.4.4.2 fixes, and soundtrack announcement
• Twisted Tower: Release Date Announcement Trailer on YouTube: the official 3D Realms trailer confirming the August 18, 2026 date.
• 3D Realms on X: publisher's official account.
• GamesRadar+ demo impressions: third-party coverage of the February 2025 demo and its early Steam review count.