Sovereign Tower goes in the opposite direction to many new games, RPGs, and even the best indies, by dropping grand scale for a single stage – a magical tower – and just letting the wonderfully elegant art direction do all the work. Developer Wild Wits' art director, Gobert, uses line art and colour to draw out density in his character design; visual storytelling and game systems merge as Autharian knights' egos clash as much as their swords.
The art, painted in Photoshop and brought into the Godot game engine, is designed to communicate intention quickly and clearly, and it's this illustration-led art direction that has been capturing players' imaginations, with 2.2 million views on Instagram alone. The game draws on Gobert’s own style for its design, one that can imbue a character with instant personality and draws on fine art traditions and style; he cites Russian painter Ivan Bilibin as an influence.
