The Tower of 21: A blackjack roguelike of life and death
The Tower of 21 is another addition to the rogue-like deck-building genre that has exploded in popularity over the last half-decade, including games like RogueJack21 and CloverPit. While this genre of game owes most of its success to the standout title, Balatro, many others have attempted to replicate this popularity with similarly designed games.
The Tower of 21 is one such game, and as its release approaches, we feel now is a good time to go over the general conceit of the game and what distinguishes it from others in its genre, as well as expand on the developers and what makes The Tower of 21’s gambling distinct from other similar games.
What is The Tower of 21?
In The Tower of 21, you must play blackjack against opponents to climb the titular “Tower of 21”, with the final objective of reaching the top. It follows the standard blackjack ruleset, where the player closest to 21 wins the hand. The catch is that for every hand you lose, a string, precariously holding a knife above your head, snaps. After 5 losses, no more strings are left, and the knife descends, ending your run. Your objective is to cause your opponent’s knife to fall before they can do the same.
The more linear presentation on display in this game, paired with a clear end goal, makes us think that this game will contain some minor story elements to go alongside the usual gameplay loop. This could help compensate for the game’s simplistic presentation, as long as said story has an adequate amount of substance and is not an afterthought, as it is with many games in the genre.
To assist you with this objective is a litany of upgrades available to the player, which will make every run different. As for what these upgrades will provide the player in terms of changing individual playthroughs, that remains to be seen, as the trailers and promotional images are not descriptive in that regard. We can guess that upgrades that allow the changing of card values, and perhaps some that add more lives, could be seen.
Until the full release of the game, we won’t know what exactly will be available to the player, but we are hopeful that each run should feel unique and that reaching the top of the tower will feel cathartic and deserved.
When is The Tower of 21 coming out?
The original The Tower of 21 announcement was made through the developers’ Facebook page on August 10th, with the full game releasing on Steam on December 13, 2025. The game appears to have been in development for several months at this point.
As of writing this, The Tower of 21’s price has yet to be revealed. However, when considering the previous games released by this development team, it would be safe to say the game will not break the bank, most likely being under $10.
The Tower of 21 trailer was released on the Gingersoft YouTube channel and posted to Steam. It shows (what we can assume) is a fairly good look at the main gameplay loop. However, until the full release of the game, we will refrain from commenting on whether or not this is a good premise, as it may add something to the genre that none have before.
Who’s developing The Tower of 21?
According to GingersoftGames’ Facebook page, The Tower of 21 developers are a duo that constructs all their games from the ground up. From its social media, we discovered the team was formed in 2020, but other than that, we could not find a lot of information about the team. We can assume they are UK-based by the fact that their website URL is a UK domain (even though at the time of writing, the website is not functional).
Other than that, the developers do have a publicly accessible itch.io page with their previous game “Swapout” available, with the only other thing on there being a simplistic “educational” game called “Snowman Educational”.
Jokes aside, the developers are undoubtedly a small team with a comparably small catalogue, with The Tower of 21’s roguelike gameplay being the team’s first attempt at this style of game. We are hopeful it is fruitful for the team as they have likely been working hard on this game for some time now, as their previous game, The Hell Inside, was released on Steam well over a year ago.
How does The Tower of 21 compare to other blackjack games?
When comparing this game to other blackjack-based roguelikes, such as the previously mentioned roguejack21 or the recently released Black Jacket, one must remember the limitations the developers are under as well as the experience they have. While they are doing something more “adventurous” with having a visible game world with modelled opponents, the graphics of the game are not exactly stellar.
As well as this, judging from the trailers and a few posts from the developers, the game does not appear to have as expansive an available pool of upgrades as some of these other games we have mentioned. Whether or not a permanent upgrade tree is one of The Tower of 21’s features remains to be seen, but with a game like this, it’s almost a requirement to allow for more player customisation.
Whether or not this game is just another addition to an already very saturated market, or if it will bring something new to the table, is unclear. However, with what we know currently, it appears to be a rather simplistic game with an easy-to-understand premise. While it may not reach the same euphoric heights as other titles mentioned, it was never going to shake the earth with its release.
The best players can hope for is that The Tower of 21 gives them a few hours of entertainment, and that the game is successful enough that the developers continue to make projects with interesting premises, hopefully with enough unique features to set them apart in this sea of gambling rogue-likes.
FAQs
Is 21 and blackjack the same thing?
21 (also called “Spanish 21”) and blackjack share many similarities; however, some differences between the two games include the 10s being removed from the deck in 21, and 21 contains many more side bets. A notable difference, however, is that if both player and dealer hit 21, the player will win the pot, as opposed to blackjack, where no bet is paid out in that scenario.
What is the 777 rule in blackjack?
The “777 rule” is a ruleset of blackjack in which if a 7 is drawn in hand, the player will receive a portion of the side bet established before the game. Each 7 in the deck corresponds to a portion of the side bet, so if several 7s are drawn, the player will receive a higher percentage of the bet.
What defines a roguelike?
A roguelike contains procedurally generated levels or opponents and usually has permanent death. In many modern rogue-likes, you can obtain permanent upgrades or new items in runs to allow you to progress further every time you die.
What makes The Tower of 21 different?
Several things separate The Tower of 21 from other games in its genre. You very rarely see an actual opponent in games like this; however, in The Tower of 21, the whole game is spent facing the other player. Additionally, unlike other gambling-based roguelikes, the game may have a complete ending, unless the tower itself is endless.
References
- Gingersoft Games (Facebook)
- Gingersoft Games (itch.io)
- The Hell Inside (Steam)
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