Defender's Quest

A very well made blend of Tower defense and RPG. This game manages to encapsulate everything that is fun about RPG without bogging you down with tiny details. It also is a well designed Tower Defense game with lots of different maps that present a good challenge without getting too repetitive. The story is one of the better aspects of the game. It is well written and fun to follow and has a good sense of humor without getting too silly. The story is tied into the maps and enemies that you face in each map, so it give more depth and proportion to each encounter. The game has good pacing, so you can play it for hours on end, or you can play it in 20 minute chunks. It can get challenging but is never too difficult to make you want to stop playing and it rarely forces you to grin for experience or money, rather the flow is quite natural that you can keep playing on normal and go back to the old maps on a higher difficulty for when you are stronger or want a challenge. Also, on the higher difficulties the tactics that you have to use are sometimes very different from the ones that you used on the lower levels, so it's not just a matter of being stronger. This game is full of small details that show how much attention the game designers gave to the various aspects from the music, to the attention to character details, the ability to customize characters, the humorous dialogs, the back-story of the world and the retro but well executed look and feel. I don't usually like Tower Defense games since they feel like a huge waste of time, but this game never makes you feel that way. You feel that you have walked away with a meaningful experience and that is something rare in games these days. As a plus, the main game programmer is active in the forums and very responsive to requests and suggestions. Finally as a future bonus, the game is modable, so I expect future maps and stories release by users to expand the game experience even further. If you love adventure, RPG, a good story and don't completely hate Tower Defense games, this is a must pickup.

One of main reasons I like GoG is "DRM free" rule. While I absolutely understand that necessity to install Adobe AIR and phone-home/tracking option is not a DRM, I would prefer if developers took it as a standard not using such a thing, when releasing game here on GoG,. However, that is the only reason why I lowered my rating, it's a good game, 4-5 stars IMO.

Are you also tired of games that describe themselves as "tower defense" but somehow require you to manage six cooldown abilities while platforming? This may be the best TD that I've played. The "towers" are people of various classes (barbarian, ice mage, archer, etc) that you hire and level up while buying better equipment. And then you just let them hit monsters on the path. That's it. If you want to press your luck or click on the screen, there's some meta game abilities, like fireball, but it's perfectly viable to put all your meta progression points into a speed boost for your units that you can use no more than every 90 seconds. This may sound simple, but there's a lot of variety in the maps and enemies, especially at higher difficulties that combines with the "tower" choice and leveling. And you'll get experience and currency even when you lose a level, so you'll never just be banging your head against the wall. It's almost shockingly generous and civilized. AND it's got a sly sense of humor, a reasonable narrative, and decent writing. I just really can't praise the game enough, especially for anyone who used to play tower defense maps in WC3 and wonders what happened to the genre.

...and this comes from somebody, who didnt like real-time and tower-defense games in the past, and doesnt really enjoy virtual gaming, in general... This game, however, drew me in from the very beginning, and i had to stop my first play after more than 4 hours, because i needed to go to bed. Otherwise, i could have easily continued the whole night through... So, what is it, that makes this game so very special...? First of all, the great RPG mechanics: After each battle, no matter if won or lost, all heroes gain experience, with which skills can be learned and improved, and currency, with which new heroes can be hired, and equipment can be bought. Which makes the game highly enjoyable and rewarding. Then, the balance is amazing! Each stage can be played in four difficulties, each with their own rewards. These difficulties synergy extremely well with the campaign-difficulty, which means, that if you are not able to proceed in the campaign, you will be able to beat older stages at a higher difficulty, and vice-versa, so that there is always a progression to make, and that you never have to replay the same levels just for grinding! Furthermore, the game is extremely comfortable and polished, and plays and feels very intuitive, with all options to play the game as you like. On top, the story is well written and charming, and finally, the amount of content that you get for your money is more than satisfying (especially when taking into account, that DQ received a free overhaul, that added a lot of content, replayability and improvement to an already great game). There still is room for improvements. For example would i have wished for more complex talent-trees, more and more different classes, and equipment with different attributes. But, that still doesnt change the fact, that the game is extremely good, and absolutely deserves 5 of 5 stars...

I too find it almost inexcusable that GOG allows, and the game developer thought it prudent, to include Adobe in their otherwise completely enjoyable product. The developer claims he can and will remove AIR spy-ware, I challenge and encourage him to do so. Gamewise: The ever-scaling costs of upgrades means you have a real reason to specialize your tower-defenders and you can attach personalities to them in a sense, or at least know where they should be placed on the map. While the sprites and art reminds me of a cross between Puzzle Quest and Battle for Wesnoth, I do think they are almost a little too primitive and could use some improvement, but the gameplay is excellent and combines many un-combined elements lacking from existing Tower Defense games. I look forward to future improvements!