'The Advanced Player of the Tutorial Tower' Review
Another LITRPG/Fantasy title...but is it worth the read?
Happy September, everyone!
I’m starting off the month with a review of The Advanced Player of the Tutorial Tower on Webtoon. It sits under the “Action” category and is set in a modern-day setting, but it heavily depends on a lot of LITRPG and Fantasy tropes.
I’ll be reviewing up to Episode 10 with no spoilers beyond that point.
Premise: 3 out of 5
After the mysterious Tutorial Tower appears on Earth, Kim Hyeonu finds himself one of the unlucky victims selected to go in and get tested. He reaches the final level, Level 100 with a group of friends, but when he steps into the portal to return to the real world, he instead is sent back to the beginning, while life outside the tower goes on. Kim Hyeonu is cursed, watching twelve generations of hunters go in and out of the tower—and when he finally manages to escape, he finds himself in a new society that has adjusted to the towers and monsters on Earth.
After more than a decade training in the tower, Hyeonu is highly sought after by popular guilds who want his strength. But Hyeonu only cares about one thing–-learning why he was the only player held hostage in the tower.
The Advanced Player of the Tutorial Tower has LITRPG elements that are normalized in their setting and society. Kim Hyeonu can conveniently pull up his statistics board at any time, in a very game-like way. The premise is nothing too special—especially for those of you who are avid readers of webcomics.
World-building: 2.5 out of 5
If you’re familiar with action-fantasy webcomics and decide to give The Advanced Player of the Tutorial Tower a chance, you will find the world very similar to Solo Leveling.
When monsters and mysterious “towers” began appearing on Earth, humans had no choice but to adjust in order to survive. What became known as the “Tutorial Tower” chose random victims, mysteriously transporting citizens inside to be tested. The few survivors become known as hunters who are widely respected and admired. The best hunters were sorted into guilds, leading to an imbalance in power when the richest and strongest guilds begin to monopolize control over dungeon gates.
After twelve years, the world has come to accept that this is the way things are run. Kim Hyeonu is a lot less willing to accept that he has to bend to these rules on his journey to discover the truth behind his curse, so he’s not afraid to challenge the system to get his way.
Plot: 2 out of 5
Still a twenty-four-year-old, Kim Hyeonu must learn how to navigate a world where he is twelve years behind everyone else. Despite being fresh out of the tower, his strength and power levels are the same—no, above—the levels of veteran hunters. He reunites with old friends who are now leaders of their respective guilds, but is shocked to see them twelve years older while he is the same age as before.
Hyeonu learns that he has built a bit of a reputation for himself through his adventures and experimentations in the towers. Other hunters have talked about the “Advanced Player” they had come across in the tower, and he has forums dedicated to finding out who he is.
Despite his friends and the association warning him otherwise, and the millions of dollars he is offered, Kim Hyeonu refuses to join a guild. He insists on living his life as a free individual without being tied down to a single organization. He makes enemies from his rejections, but is confident enough in his abilities to know he can bypass the threats coming his way.
By the end of Episode 10, Kim Hyeonu gets a mysterious pop-up to give him three new challenges. He is one step closer to finding out the reason behind his mysterious curse in the tower. This curse is the most intriguing element of the story so far, but the other tropes in the plot feel too repeated. The main, overpowered character, with missions to scour dungeons for truth, can be found in many overly popular webcomics, making it hard for
The Advanced Player of the Tutorial Tower to stand out in the genre.
Characters: 2.5 out of 5
Kim Hyeonu is a little… how should I say this… eccentric? Borderline unhinged? But if I’m going to be honest, I probably would be too if I were stuck repeating the same levels in a tower for more than a decade.
We learn a lot about Hyeonu though his actions in the tower in the earlier episodes. When he was still stuck inside even after a few hundred levels, he got… creative with the journey. Sometimes, he would roleplay as a guide to help other hunters navigate the tower.
And other times, he would try unconventional methods to beat the tower or scare hunters… also through roleplay.
The story so far is very dependent on Kim Hyeonu as an individual, since we have yet to meet any real enemies or allies of large importance. His casually unhinged, “I don’t really care” attitude carries over into the real world as well. His first scuffle with a guild leader ends when he uses his signature Adidas slides to win.
Hyeonu is funny, so far, but I hope to see his character grow more three-dimensional in the coming chapters.
Art: 2.5 out of 5
To put it candidly, the art from The Advanced Player of the Tutorial Tower is average. It gets the point across, but it doesn’t use the webcomic format to its full potential. The action scenes and fighting sequences come across as awkward sometimes, and stagnant always.
In a sequence like this, where the artist and writer are trying to convey quick movement that would be unseen to the normal human eye, the chain of events should be more exciting. Even if the main character were breezing through it with a bored expression, the shot itself should still be exciting. I would imagine a longer shot with a visual effect connecting all the Hyeonu’s together. Though the composition works to show the change in movement from Hyeonu as you scroll on your phone, it could also be mistaken as different people throwing different punches.
When stories have excellent art, I usually take my time with the action panels, slowing down to admire the colors and the movement. With this title, I’m more or less just trying to get to the next episode.
Conclusion: 2.5 out of 5
Readers should get enough background information on the worldbuilding and the main character by Episode 10, so I would recommend making your opinion of The Advanced Player of the Tutorial Tower then. I have already decided that the plot has potential, but not enough for me to become invested on a weekly basis. Maybe it changes as you keep reading, or maybe the end of the first season has an amazing plot twist that drops your jaw. Let me know if you think I should keep reading.
Well, I do agree with your conclusion for the first few episodes, but
as you said in the conclusion, (in my opinion) it does get really good later on, and the story does become really interesting, and it has several new characters introduced that adds flavor to the series, and comedy too, and how the story shows how Hyeonu gets serious opponents, and how he actually learns and improves, and legit real reliable (well kind of) allies later on, so I DO think that you should actually give it a try if you have time.
Yeah, it's not worth it. It doesn't get better after that. There are no actual mechanics for the powers used by the characters in the world, the fights are just people shouting cool sounding names and shiny drawings. You can't get invested when there are no rules and the author can pull anything they want without explaining anything.