If you’re sitting there thinking, “what the hell is Burggeist,” you’re most certainly not alone. It’s clearly flown under the radar of just about everyone: it has less than 60 reviews on Steam as of now, the solo developer has under 300 followers on X, and it doesn’t even exist on OpenCritic.

I’m here now to tell you why that is an absolute crime.

WHAT IS GOING ON

There is a story with cutscenes in Burggeist. That’s about as far as I can get while still being 100% confident in my words. The main character, Ignace, is looking to cure his wife from, well, something that has made her motionless. His stepdaughter (I’m reading the Steam page for this information) gets a mysterious message that says he must build a tower that reaches the heavens.

And you’re off! I have sat and listened to every single cutscene in the game (and there are a decent amount), and it really feels like I’m reading “Dune” again but without the payoff. In other words, it feels like I’m being thrown into the middle of something that I should know about, but don’t. The biggest takeaway from the plot isn’t the lore or the ending, but the character interactions throughout the journey. While the player has a handful of different location choices to erect their “tower to the heavens,” each one contains a character with their own sidequests and mini-story, and it’s here that the memorable moments come into play. 

I’ve never seen a piece of media by David Lynch, yet somehow, I came away with most character interactions thinking, “this feels Lynchian.” The accuracy of this statement aside, the characters truly are bizarre; I’m not sure how many other games would have the player picking up a stranger’s face that fell off when they rolled down a hill. There’s also a witch that dual-wields brooms on her feet and can even teach the player to ride a broom after helping her out.

ME AND MY BURGGEIST

Needless to say, I didn’t stick around for the plot, but the gameplay. Most of the player’s time spent in Burggeist will be spent wandering around its empty, open world, moving between objectives. This is, quite literally, a tower defense game, but not in the traditional sense. As mentioned earlier, the protagonist has to construct a really tall tower (5000m) to save his wife. Players can visit one of the various tower locations around the map to achieve this goal. Whenever construction of a tower begins, that’s when the baddies show up.

Defending a tower comes in two forms: Ignace himself and the titular Burggeist– a demon with a big slab over its head that can hold armaments like sentry guns and mortars. The latter can be commanded to move to a location, follow the player, and fire on a certain location. This creates an interesting duality when defending the tower: where do I put the Burggeist, and where should I go myself? 

To compound this, Ignace is frequently unlocking new powers, called gyromantia, while keen explorers of the open world will find more and more armaments for the Burggeist. Although, I will say that spotting Burggeist’s armaments can be incredibly difficult, as they blend in with the overworld way too well. I’m all for exploring to find new goodies, but the amount of focus I had to have while looking for armaments bordered on annoying. While not an issue until later, Ignace can only take 6 gyromantia with him into battle. Some will be powerful (and often badass) spells while others are specifically movement-related, and at some point the dilemma between picking power versus movement becomes very real and difficult. 

Oh, and I’d be remiss not to mention how fluid and badass the movement in this game gets. It’s a bit clunky at first without certain gyromantia, but after upping Ignace’s arsenal of movement powers, chaining them together and cruising across the map feels incredible. Those six powers become locked in once construction of a tower begins, so the decision to leave powerful abilities off the table in favor of quick movement is again at the forefront of the player’s mind. 

BEAUTY IN EMPTINESS 

The goal is to get any tower up to the 5000m mark, which can take quite some time. As waves of varied enemies rush in, the player and their Burggeist must do their best to keep the tower alive. After a certain amount of height has been reached, the player can end construction and regroup; not all 5000m has to be completed in one shot. In between building a tower, players can enter the tower to reinforce it (and maybe meet a side character) or explore the map and maybe build up some other tower locations.

I love exploring this map. I didn’t expect to; there’s nothing here. That is to say, no enemies exist if a tower is not being built — the map is devoid of life. There is still plenty to do, however. Exploration is more than rewarded in Burggeist, whether it be in the form of the game’s currency (heretic lime), armaments for the monstrous Burggeist itself, or equipment for Ignace to boost certain stats. It also helps that the beautiful soundtrack seems to kick in at perfect times while exploring, adding that extra cherry on top to the exploration.

Hell, even scoping out the land has validity here, as many gyromantias gain a bonus from having a height differential from its target, and every tower has a very different layout. And after starting a tower, the player will have a pretty decent idea of where the hordes of enemies will be coming from, so it’s easier to pick out an ideal location or two for the Burggeist. A successful strategy always feels satisfying — truly analyzing the terrain and making the best use of both Ignace’s gyromantia and the Burggeist’s armaments isn’t often easy.

A TOWERING TOWER

The enemy designs are very bizarre and no two are alike. Seeing a new enemy type show up and having absolutely no clue what makes it unique is, to be honest, a bit terrifying considering that if the tower goes down, its height progress resets to 0. A couple bosses will show up on the road to 5000m as well, which put interesting spins on how to approach them, and are massive in size (and so having some movement tech helps!). Towards the end of the game, I did feel a little overpowered, but that could be because I did just about all side content and even “farmed” a little bit of currency here and there. That being said, there is still one side quest I’ve yet to complete because of its difficulty, so there is more to strive for.

I must address one more thing, which is the “good ending” final boss. It’s not hard to get this ending, in fact Steam’s achievement numbers show that just about everyone who gets this far gets the good ending. Which, unfortunately, means they fight this specific final boss. A final boss that has its own tutorial pop-up because it plays absolutely nothing like the entire game. Which, sure, could be neat, except it also controls horrendously and its new mechanic is obtuse. There’s no story payoff, because what even is the story, the moment is far from epic due to frustrating controls, and its sour taste is unfortunate given how much enjoyment came from the game leading up to this. In fact, it’s easy to argue that those who don’t get this ending truly are better off.

TELL YOUR FRIENDS

Turns out, I really dig a world where little to no life exists in it. Sonic Frontiers felt like this to me, and I was a big fan of that adventure. Just give me an objective or two and a big space to play around in and I’m a happy camper. While the side characters certainly are a highlight, Burggeist‘s plot did nothing but confuse me. The gameplay and the overworld elevate this to a game that is easy to recommend, and I hope to see it get the recognition it deserves elsewhere.

This is such a passion project from a solo developer, and there’s even a “major update” that was just announced, planned for later this year, and adding a slew of new content. It feels like a game that fell off a truck in 2003, and I say that as a compliment of the highest magnitude. It’s bizarre in all the best ways, and the unique gameplay and fluid movement abilities come together to create a game that deserves an audience far bigger than what it has currently. 

Go play Burggeist, you won’t regret it!

8/10

This review was conducted using a digital Steam version of the game. It was paid for by the author.