Drawn: The Painted Tower takes place in a bleak land shrouded in shadows. The only hope there is, is a young girl who lives in The Painted Tower. According to the legend, she is the one that will bring the light back to the world. This isn't liked by the King and his evil Chancellor who has put a curse on the village.
The game starts with the player arriving at the entrance to the tower. The young girl, Iris, writes a message on her scarf and throws it to the player. She asks the player for help and to free her from the prison that the top of the tower has become. Once inside the tower the player meets Franklin, the girl's servant who has been turned to stone who tells the player what needs to be done. All the doors in the tower are locked by magic and the player has to find a way to open them so that he can get to the top and save Iris.
Drawn: The Painted Tower is a first person point and click adventure game targeted towards casual audiences. As the player moves around the tower, the player will find many different objects to interact with by clicking on them. Some of these can be picked up and added to the player's inventory, while others will open up a puzzle or pop up a new close-up image of the object. Objects that have been picked up can then be used to interact with the world.
Iris has a special magical gift. She can create paintings that act as magical doors to enchanted worlds. The problem is that most of these paintings have been marred by the curse, and one of the major features of the game is to restore these paintings and travel to the different worlds. This is done in a number of ways, for example finding the missing canvas pieces and then using these on the painting. Also, everything that Iris draws becomes real. For example, to enter the tower in the first place the player gets a drawing of a handle that can be used as a real handle.
Franklin the servant, who the player meets early in the game, serves as the game's hint system. The player has a list of objectives that needs to be done, and can ask Franklin for hints on how to accomplish these. After asking for a hint the player has to wait for a recharge before being able to ask again. The farther away from Franklin the player stands, the longer the recharge will take.
