Highlights
- Kubera offers a similar long-running journey with magic, gods, and epic quests.
- UnOrdinary shares themes of fighting an authoritarian power and exploring complex worlds.
- Red Storm focuses on grounded combat and large-scale battles, emphasizing strategy and tactics.
As one of the longest-running manhwa, Tower of God has garnered many fans and maintained high popularity. Many readers are drawn to the expansive world, thrilling adventure, and wonderful characters that make the story memorable. Its popularity even warranted an anime adaptation.
After reading a good manhwa, it’s common to want more or to crave something that will evoke the same feelings and emotions, but finding another piece of media to fill that void is hard. This is especially difficult for Tower of God lovers because very few titles can match over fourteen years of work.
1 Kubera
MyAnimeList Score: 8.03
- Published: 2010 to Present
- Genres/Themes: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy, Romance
- Author: Currygom
- Illustrator: Currygom
Kubera is another long-running manhwa that was released around the same time as Tower of God. It follows the story of a teenage girl named Kubera as her life becomes involved with magic, gods, and the fate of the world. What starts as a humble journey turns into an epic quest that changes how Kubera perceives herself and everything around her.
Perhaps a product of its time, Kubera has a slow start, but after a certain point, the story becomes much more interesting, and the characters much more fun to follow. The art style is also something people may be hesitant about, but like Tower of God, it’s something that gets better over time.
2 UnOrdinary
MyAnimeList Score: N/A
- Published: 2016 to Present
- Genres/Themes: Action, Fantasy, Super Power
- Author: Uru-chan
- Illustrator: Uru-chan
There are many facets to Tower of God and one of the most important ones is the fight against an established, authoritarian power and the history it hides. UnOrdinary is much the same, taking place in a world where people are born with superpowers and are given value based on how powerful they are.
Just as Bam and his friends fight against the system created by Zahard, John and his friends fight against the government to protect the people who are being exploited. This manhwa may appear like a normal school story at first, but it actually has a lot of complexity as it continues.
3 Red Storm
MyAnimeList Score: N/A
- Published: 2012 to 2020
- Genres/Themes: Action, Adventure, Fantasy
- Author: Cyung-Chan Noh
- Illustrator: Hyun Ahm
When it comes to epic sagas and extraordinary adventures, Red Storm is a fantastic manhwa to pick up. This story is about the life of Yulian, a boy born in the desert and the son of his village’s chief, as he learns the responsibilities of a leader and trains to become stronger. His journey is similar to Bam’s but instead of traversing many floors of a tower, most of the events happen in his village.
This manhwa doesn’t have flashy fights or magic with special effects. Combat is much more grounded, focusing on physical capability than anything fantastical. There are many large-scale battles in the story, and strategy and tactics matter much more in those scenarios than personal skill.
4 SSS-Class Suicide Hunter
MyAnimelist Score: 8.23
- Published: 2020 to Present
- Genres/Themes: Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Time Travel
- Author: Sinnoa
- Illustrator: Bill K
When it comes to tower and dungeon manhwa, SSS-Class Suicide Hunter is one of the better stories. Like Bam, Kim Gongja is an extremely sympathetic character, and following his emotional growth feels very rewarding. Rather than focusing on strength and power, he aims to reach the top of the tower in his own way.
Although this manhwa uses some traditional dungeon themes as its basis, it expands on those ideas to help contextualize the setting. Each floor has its own story, and each story feels important while Gongja is challenging them. The tower is more than just a setting and affects the narrative in many ways.
5 Player
MyAnimeList Score: 7.79
- Published: 2020 to Present
- Genres/Themes: Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Isekai
- Author: Jongseok Park
- Illustrator: Hyeonjun Oh
Manhwa about climbing a tower are extremely popular, often using a dungeon-like format to make each floor interesting for the story. However, in Player, that is not the case. Each floor is its little world that has its own rules, and part of the challenge is learning them, just like in Tower of God. Although it’s still the beginning of the journey, the depth and complexity are similar.
One of the best parts of Tower of God is Bam’s growth as a fighter and as a person. Heo Seol-JIn is much the same, starting as an outcast with no confidence, and it’s his growth that makes the story worth reading. This manhwa may feel like a pedestrian tower story, but it has a lot to offer.
6 Black Haze
MyAnimeList Score: N/A
- Published: 2014 to 2017
- Genres/Themes: Action, Comedy, Fantasy, Supernatural, School
- Author: YongYong
- Illustrator: YongYong
Black Haze is an older manhwa like Tower of God, and it also has a slow start. It takes about thirty chapters for the story to get exciting, and many people stop reading before they reach that point. However, it’s a very charming story that has a good balance of slice of life and action.
The story follows Rood, a powerful dark mage, as he infiltrates Helios Academy to protect Lidusis Dien Artian, the son of a duke. Like Bam, Rood must learn how to socialize with others, and he eventually develops deep friendships with his peers.
7 Noblesse
MyAnimeList Score: 8.11
- Published: 2007 to 2019
- Genres/Themes: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Supernatural, School
- Author: Jae-Ho Son
- Illustrator: Lee, Gwang-Su Lee
Noblesse is about a vampire who has just awoken after 800 years of slumber. Now in the modern age, he must learn to adapt and blend in. With the help of his long-time servant Frankenstein, Rai enrolls in high school, pretending to be a student and learning, but it doesn’t take long for problems from the past to appear once again.
The plot of this manhwa is very different, but it’s a good choice for readers who enjoy action and magic. Despite starting as a slice of life story, it quickly becomes more exciting and dynamic as more vampires appear and as Rai regains his powers.
8 The Legend Of The Northern Blade
MyAnimeList Score: 8.51
- Published: 2019 to Present
- Genres/Themes: Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Martial Arts
- Author: Woogack
- Illustrator: Min Hae
Bam is a dynamic and sympathetic protagonist who continues to grow in the face of adversity, always considering his past to inform his choices. He feels very real and genuine. Jin Mu-won is very similar, so The Legend of the Northern Blade is a great manhwa to pick for people who enjoy these types of protagonists.
Just like Bam, Jin Mu-won finds friends and allies through his kindness and loyalty, and although his end goal is the most important thing to him, he doesn’t let it dictate every decision. He’s also very powerful but not overpowered, so his journey to get stronger is fun to read.
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