Focusing on the efforts of protagonist Aeron to rid his love Elena of a curse that is turning her into a monster, the player explores thirteen towers, solving environmental puzzles and taking part in platforming while battling enemies—a key part of gameplay is the Oraclos Chain, a weapon that aids in both combat and navigation.

Due to recurring problems implementing the relationship mechanics and working with the Wii's controls, Pandora's Tower went through an extended development period.

Pandora's Tower had modest commercial success and was met with mixed to positive reviews; praise went to the story and elements of combat, while the graphics and character development were faulted.

Elements within the Towers, such as what enemies are active and what items may be found, vary with the time of day Aeron visits them.

[1][4] If the time limit is exceeded and Elena completes her transformation, or Aeron falls in battle, the game ends and restarts from the last active save.

Mavda reveals that the only way to lift the curse from Elena and prevent her transformation is to feed her the flesh of "Masters", powerful beings living inside the Towers.

Five hundred years before, in an attempt to end the War of Unification, the people of Elyria and the Vestra decided to embody the twelve deities of Imperia in physical forms—the Towers' Masters—with a thirteenth vessel providing balance between them in a project dubbed Experiment Zero.

The husband and baby were rescued using the Oraclos Chain, but the wife became Zeron, a dark monster consumed with a want to reunite with her descendant and bring 'peace' to the land.

The concept of the heroine needing to eat meat did not come until much later, when producer Chikako Yamakura was talking with another staff member about the then-prevalent fashion for ekiben, boxed lunches served on trains, and the idea came to her "out of the blue".

[17] The Oraclos Chain was present in early concepts as a means of contrasting with Elena's feminine image, and was born as a gameplay device from discussions on how to best create an action-based experience with limited controls.

[7] According to director Toru Haga, creating an original world and scenario after their time working on licensed properties was challenging.

[7] This concept was applied so as to keep the Towers from being repetitive for players, using different shades and designs while retaining their shared symbolic color.

[18] The law against eating meat present in the world was inspired by a social phenomenon noted by Yamakura where men and women approached each other counter to popular views on gender relationships, translated as "carnivorous girls and herbivorous boys": this concept gave birth to the scenes of Elena having trouble eating the flesh offerings.

As a result of these developments, the character was portrayed as a strong-willed woman who did not want to be a burden on Aeron despite her condition, in addition to helping him rather than just letting him handle the entire quest.

[7][17] Mavda and her husband were designed to contrast with the relationship between Aeron and Elena: while they looked odd, they were in fact a devoted couple similar to the main protagonists.

[7][18] Pandora's Tower was first announced in January 2011 during Nintendo's three-quarterly financial report, which was followed shortly by the opening of the official website.

[22] It was localized in English by the same team that had done Xenoblade Chronicles and later Project Zero 2: Wii Edition, utilizing a British voice cast.

[36][37] On aggregate site Metacritic, Pandora's Tower received a score of 73/100 based on 48 critic reviews, denoting "mixed or average" reception.

[38] Destructoid's Tony Ponce praised the game's premise and how fleshed out Elena was despite her role as a damsel in distress, but felt that there was too much background lore, and that Aeron's lack of personality hurt the relationship aspect.

[4] Andrew Fitch, writing for Electronic Gaming Monthly, praised the world design, but faulted the lack of character development given to Aeron and Elena.

[40] Eurogamer's Matt Edwards referred to the game's plot as "a soppy and yet surprisingly sinister love story", saying that moments between the couple raised a genuine smile.

[41] IGN's Chris Schilling said that while the story was "slight", it was bolstered by a good localization and voice acting, in addition to darker elements in the plot and during cutscenes.

[3] Heidi Kemps, writing for Joystiq, noted genuine emotion in the relationship mechanics of Aeron and Elema,[43] while Steve Hogarty of Official Nintendo Magazine referred to the scenario as "a boy-meets-girl love story with a Clive Barker twist" in addition to praising its dark tone.

[44] The game's time limit mechanic and its impact on Elena's condition divided opinion: some praised its implementation,[3][4][40] but some critics noted that it might put too much pressure on the player.

[42] Computer and Video Games, reviewing the Japanese version, praised the combat's versatility despite some faults, but found the puzzle elements tedious and criticized the camera.

[39] The gameplay was generally praised by Ponce despite some repeating puzzles and enjoyed both the extensive post-game content and level of challenge.

[3] Kemps found normal weapon combat boring when compared to the Chain, and felt that each available control scheme had advantages and drawbacks related to them.

[39] Ponce panned the English voice work, saying that it added to the unlikeliness of Aeron and Elena's relationship in addition to poor lip-syncing, and called the textures "very ugly" despite a large color spectrum.