Tower Fortress took a while to grow on me. I found it frustratingly stiff for the longest time, and struggled to make it past even the first area. By the end though, i'd gained enough skill to beat the third area (last thing i needed to call it done), and got a few pixels away from beating the final boss

The closest reference point would probably be Downwell, but we're moving upwards. You can double-jump and fire your gun as you climb; find weapon chests for some limited ammo variety; and choose a random upgrade at the end of each level (if you've earned it). The main character is modelled after Samus Aran, so the second jump is a like her screw attack, damaging enemies on contact

I think it was this "spin attack" that messed me up at the start. Rather than headbutting everything on my way up the tower as i expected, it's actually more useful to shoot things. This means that the game is more about getting to the side of enemies - it's often hard to move back down, so enemies you've missed are usually forfeit

Once i got into the rhythm of "move up but sideways then shoot", as well as some muscle memory for the level layout, things started to click together, and i could reliably make it to the third area. After that, i just had to work on some trick achievements - and i squeezed this in just before month end