A List of Tower Defense Games and Variations

[Unity]

I'm always on the lookout for TD games and variations on Steam, yet some slip past me and I only find them later. To help out others, here's my list of TD-related games I've played on Steam.

I'm not a purist like some of the TD fans. I enjoy every variation on the TD theme -- the more creative, the better. I've collected nearly every TD game on Steam. I'm waiting for a few of the newest ones to go on sale.

I welcome any additions to this list, even if you think the game is only vaguely TD-related. Or if you just want to throw in your views on any of these games, please do. The more, the merrier!

Probably my favorite flash (non-Steam) TD game was Gemcraft (all parts). After that would be Kingdom Rush. I hear that KR is likely coming to Steam soon. I'm looking forward to that.

I'll give a 1 to 10 rating on each game. These are just my opinions of course. I'm going to capitalize game names just for clarity, since I'm writing a lot of other stuff in the list. When I list hours played, keep in mind that Steam counts time paused or afk, so some might give less play time than shown. NOTE: I play all games on the hardest difficulty available, so if you don't do this, your experience may vary.


Tower Defense Games:

DEFENSE GRID -- 10 -- Nearly everyone agrees, this is the best pure TD game out there.

SOL SURVIVOR -- 9 -- I have spent many, many hours on the endless survival boards, trying to do a little bit better. If you're a fan of good endless/survival TD gameplay, get this one. Warning: you must read the in-game encyclopedia of towers and mobs to do well. This game can get very beautiful, especially on the darker maps with lots of lasers going.

DEFENSE TECHNICA -- 9 -- This game looks like a blatant copy of Defense Grid, but it definitely has its own style and flair. I love the ability to unlock and upgrade different tower effects. Since you can change these on the fly, you can try out different tactics on each map, or even on replays of the same map. It starts out a bit slow, but becomes a lot more fun as the maps get more challenging and you unlock more towers and effects.

REVENGE OF THE TITANS -- 8 -- Weird, fun, stylish, great TD gameplay.

SANCTUM TD -- 8 -- Very fun classic TD. It has extremely low rez graphics, so would be good for mobile, but not for the PC gamer who must have everything pretty and shiny. If you've played Sanctum and/or Sanctum 2, you'll be familiar with the towers and creeps, which definitely helps. The thing I loved best about this one is that it has a complex upgrade system for your towers and abilities, which you can change at any time.

HARVEST: MASSIVE ENCOUNTER -- 7.5 -- I had a blast with this game for a short time. It's a bit simple, but it can generate massive battles.

FIELD RUNNERS 2 -- 7.5 -- This is a fairly pure TD (except for some RPG tower-upgrading elements), fun, nearly all boards are build your own maze to some extent. Some boards are completely build your own maze.

FIELD RUNNERS -- 7

GRATUITOUS TANK BATTLES -- 6

iBOMBER DEFENSE -- 6

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These are all first-person/TD crossovers, with you building towers and playing a character:

ORCS MUST DIE 2 -- 10 -- 10 with a friend, 9 solo

ORCS MUST DIE – 8

SANCTUM -- 8 -- 8 with friends, 6 solo

SANCTUM 2 -- I hear it's way better than the first, but haven't played it yet.

DUNGEON DEFENDERS – 6 to 10 -- Your mileage may vary. This is a very well-designed, beautiful game. I was addicted to it (312 hours played) when it first came out, but an update wiped out my shop (which had all of my valuable items in it). This was a full release game, well into its run when this happened. The devs took over a month to provide a less than acceptable fix (hundreds of us never got our shops back), and by that time, I had moved on. Before that, they always impressed me with their constant updates. I would hope it's much better now. I keep it in the back of my mind to try again some day. Warning: while it is very fun, it is extremely grind-heavy.


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Head to Head TD games, as in you release your army to fight the oncoming army:

ALIEN HALLWAY -- 9 -- Seemed like a quick game (26 hours), very fun.

CASTLE STORM -- 8.5 -- love the castle-building (and destroying) aspect.

SWORDS AND SOLDIERS HD -- 8

POWER OF DEFENSE -- 7 -- a bit simple, but 12.1 hours of good fun.

CUBEMEN -- 5.5 solo, 6.5 with friends -- the low price helps the score (already factored in).

DEFENDERS OF ARDANIA – 2.5 – It was so unbalanced that, for me, it was unplayable. It's a shame, since I loved the dev's other games (See Majesty 2 below).

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Other partially-TD or TD-related games:

Plants vs Zombies -- 10 -- This is, imo, one of the best games, of any type, ever made, in large part due to excellent balancing, creative game design, nice pacing, and a fun attitude. Anyone who hasn't played it should.

MAJESTY 2 COLLECTION -- 10 -- more of a build and explore RTS, with quests, but it has some TD elements in that you must have towers and some of your heroes at your town due to constant incoming attacks. I played out the base campaign and all three expansions: Over 120 hours of great fun!

DEFENDER'S QUEST -- 9.5 -- Excellent SRPG/TD crossover. Simple graphics, but great gameplay.

TWO WORLDS II: CASTLE DEFENSE -- 9 -- I blew through this TD-like game very quickly (15.1 hours), but I remember enjoying the experience immensely.

MANN VS MACHINE in TEAM FORTRESS 2 -- 9 -- 9 with friends, 7 with random players. I've played hundreds of hours of MvM. This one is almost entirely first person, as TF2 is a first-person shooter. The players are the towers, except for the engineer, who gets a turret. It's a bit expensive if you want loot, but if you just want some first-person TD fun, you can't beat the great price of Free. It can be very chaotic and challenging until you learn the ropes. The harder boards are challenging for even very experienced teams.

PRIME WORLD: DEFENDERS -- 8.5 -- I loved the mix of CCG, RPG, and TD. They do this combo very well. Also, it has good graphics and great voice acting. The main storyline boards are very well balanced. My biggest gripe is that the grinding boards that you absolutely must grind on to make it through the whole game are way too easy, to the point that they're not very fun.

SHAD'O -- 7.5 -- Possibly an 8 or more if you're a big fan of quality art. This is one of the more classic TD games in this section, with RPG elements (upgrading towers from level to level), but it definitely has some twists. Everything about the game is telling a story. This game is rich with art and style.

UNHOLY HEIGHTS -- 7 -- It's pretty fun, but sometimes it feels a little repetitive/tedious. Collect rent, upgrade, take a quest, call your tenants out to fight the incoming heroes ( which is where the semi-TD comes in). The creativity of the game boosts its score.

DWARFS!? -- 7 -- Base building and defense. You get a lot of mini-game-type games in this pack.

UNSTOPPABLE GORG -- 6.5 -- If you're a big fan of spoofs and/or old sci-fi movies, the score could be a lot higher for you. It has a great sense of humor. The actual TD gameplay is creative but slightly below average in fun value.

Tower offense:
ANOMALY: WARZONE EARTH -- 5 -- I wanted to like this game, but each time I tried to play it, I got bored very quickly. It has good graphics and decent game design.

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OTHER PEOPLE'S REVIEWS (Thanks for the input, guys!)

eram's review of Pixel Junk Monsters Ultimate -- 9 -- Clearing PJM stages with 100% perfect is HARD! :D Took me a while to work out how to start beating this game. The steam version comes with all DLC included so is huge, It may have around 80 maps if islands 3 and 4 are as big as 1 and 2. It's a great addition to the td genre but it does make you work for it. Perfect levels gives you RAINBOWS! :)

eram's review of Dwarfs!? Base Defend Pack -- 7

eram's review of Super Sanctum TD -- 7

dubstepdeejay's review of Go Home Dinosaurs -- "Tower defense for a seven-year old who's eventually gonna need help from an adult anyway."

dTTb's thoughts:
+1 on Sanctum (afair you could let your towers handle the jigg more times than in Sanctum 2, so far at least; only about 20hrs into S2)
-1 on OMD1/2 (they were a good bit of fun, but there's a reason I haven't ever felt the need to reinstall part 1 or even finish part 2)

JTheJackal: I played a heap of Dungeon Defenders; I'd definitely give it a 10 considering how much playtime I've got for the price, how deep it is and how it keeps me coming back again and again.

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Edit: added a couple of games to my list, and added "Other Player's Reviews" section.
Edit: added more game reviews.
Edit: added more player reviews.

[Black Blade]

thanks looks nice...

[eram]

Pixel Junk Monsters Ultimate -9/10


Dwarfs!? Base Defend Pack -7/10


Super SANCTUM TD -7/10

[eram]

Originally posted by Black Blade:

Originally posted by eram:

Pixel Junk Monsters Ultimate -9/10

some more info if your not too busy :D: please

Perfect levels gives you RAINBOWS! :) I updated with the steam link, the videos are cool and loads of reviews for the game. I've always played td game and own most on the 1st post but these 3 were missing and came to mind right away.

[Black Blade]

thanks

[Unity]

Originally posted by Black Blade:

thanks looks nice...

Thanks!

Thanks for the additions, eram! I'd forgotten about Dwarfs!? I played it a while back. I'd agree with that score. I'll add it to my list right now, since I have played it.

I played a little PJM on a friend's PS3, but haven't picked it up on Steam yet.

How the heck did I overlook Super Sanctum TD? I just now bought it, looking forward to playing it!

Update: Oh, now I remember how I missed it. When it came out in May, a lot of people were saying it was broken and unbalanced. The dev released a huge patch at the end of September that completely overhauled and rebalanced the game.

So it looks like I was introduced to it at just the right time. I don't know what it was like before, but it seems they did a great job with the patch, because to me, it plays perfectly, with just the right amount of challenge. Everything is well-balanced. There's a nice flow through the levels as you acquire new skills and towers. I'm having a lot of fun with it!

Here's the link to the patch notes from that big patch:
http://steamcommunity.com/app/235250/discussions/0/846965705311562731/

Edit: Updated info about Super Sanctum TD.

[eram]

Clearing PJM stages with 100% perfect is HARD! :D Took me a while to work out how to start beating this game. The steam version comes with all DLC included so is huge, It may have around 80 maps if islands 3 and 4 are as big as 1 and 2.

It's a great addition to the td genre but it does make you work for it. :)

[Unity]

That's what I like to hear! Lots of maps and high difficulty!

[dubstepdeejay]

I want to say you are missing Go Home Dinosaurs.

[Unity]

Thanks for the addition, dubstepdeejay! I haven't played Go Home Dinosaurs yet. Can you describe your experience with it a bit?

[dubstepdeejay]

"Tower defense for a seven-year old who's eventually gonna need help from an adult anyway."

[Unity]

lol, nice description. Yeah it looks like they threw in as much "cute" as they could. Like most TD games, I'm sure I'll end up playing it anyway (after I catch it on sale). I'm always looking for a new twist on TD, and the Tetris aspect of it intrigues me.

When I started this thread, I was mostly thinking of all the other people who love TD and didn't know there were so many hidden gems on Steam. It took me a while to find some of these. I'm already getting more out of it personally than I thought I would. I've been having fun with Super Sanctum TD since eram's suggestion yesterday, and now I have two more to look forward to later :)

[eram]

A new TD game came out on Steam today. It's called Defense Technica.



from the images it looks like it could be a bit like Defense Grid.. edit.. From the video it looks a lot like DG. :)

[Unity]

Oh yeah! Thanks for the reminder! I had pre-ordered that one. Downloading it now. :)

[dTTb]

+1(00) on Desktop TD (real nice flash game, the race portion is the real deal)
+1 on Gemcraft (quite alright)
+1 on Sanctum (afair you could let your towers handle the jigg more times than in Sanctum 2, so far at least; only about 20hrs into S2)
-1 on OMD1/2 (they were a good bit of fun, but there's a reason I haven't ever felt the need to reinstall part 1 or even finish part 2)

And a somehow previously unmentioned contender for possibly best TD ever: Gem TD.
^The flash version is pretty sweet, but the real fun after a good bit of practice is (8 player max) multiplayer hardcore race in warcraft 3.
^^Haven't touched the starcraft 2 rework; has been done by someone else as well afaik.



And despite really liking Defense Grid, I would never refer to it as the overall best td game; just never quite struck me as such, having gotten to know the genre through countless of WC3 maps the bar was set quite highly before it. Haven't gotten my hands on the latest expansion though, but I doubt that would rocket it up to 'best evar'.
However, it might just be the best standalone released TD game ever; though honestly, that'd be a sign there's still a lot that should be released. Here's to hoping DG2 fills a few of those gaps. ;)

[Unity]

I've played a lot of Sanctum TD and Defense Technica now, so I'll be updating the main post.

Since Defense Technica is so new, and a lot of players are looking for info on it specifically, I'll give a longer description of it here.

When Defense Technica released, there was a huge problem with it: you had to mouse over little cubes that were dropped by enemies when they died. A lot of people, including me, complained about this. Thankfully, that is no longer the case. The devs responded quickly to the player base. All resource-gathering is automatic now.

Visually, this game is a copy of Defense Grid, but it does look nice. Another nice feature is the ability to upgrade towers with an upgrade tree. It costs medals to upgrade towers. You earn medals by doing well on maps, so there's a strong incentive and reward to replay maps for higher scores.

There is no saving during a map. If you mess up or you have to quit the game, you have to start that map over. Since maps only take about 20 minutes or so to complete, that's not a big deal. All activity outside of that is always saved. Any map you've completed is always saved with your score on that map, medals earned, etc.

Also, you can press the Reset Tower Unlocks button at any time to change how you've spent your medals for tower unlocks, so you're not locked into what you've done previously, other than how many medals you've earned. This gives you the ability to try different tactics, even on the same map.

The game starts a little slow, but it gets a lot more interesting as you go, especially as you unlock more tower upgrades and the maps get more challenging. Overall, this is a very fun tower defense game! My final score for it will probably be 8.5 to 9.