There was a time in CRPG history when dungeon delving was considered the sole goal of these games and Tower of Time draws whole heartedly from this period. A party of fantasy stereotypes chews through combat encounters in hopes of reaching the bottom of a dungeon to save a dying world. Modernity also has its say in this retro mix, with progression being spread about half a dozen systems heavy on the randomization aspect. Whether crafting or finding items, Diablo-like affixes will shower the player's eyes as they optimize the party. A party which banters, bickers and offers player choice in how they resolve some dialog encounters found during exploration.

The central pillar here is the combat, which takes place in arenas different from the overworld traveled by the party while exploring the tower. Waves of enemies need to be handled in a manner not too dissimilar from a Tower Defense game with an action element. Tactical use of high resource cost non-damaging abilities such as summoning a giant cage to contain enemies while others threats are dealt with is where Tower of Time comes to life. Most arenas feature spawn points in all directions making it easy for enemies to escape the player's attention meaning that rewarding or punishing crisis management is the game's core.

This sadly only applies to the early game. The myriad progress systems along with the ever higher enemy count supersedes the tactical aspect of the player's choices within the context of the combat. Late game encounters boil down to how hard and fast can the party hit so as to not get overwhelmed. Resource management is also easily optimized to the point where the player is doing MMO style rotations rather thoughtful application of the party's abilities. Thus, the experience that the gameplay offers ends far before the narrative wrap ups.