Defender's Quest

I played the game now for some hours and I am really enjoying it! The gameplay is solid and the music great. My only criticism so far would be, that there does not seem to be an incentive to diversify the skills of your classes, e.g. all my berzerkers are the same and that works well. But maybe that changes with further progression. I'd also like to clarify two points that are not immediately clear from the store page: This is the Defender's Quest Valley of the Forgotten edition, although not mentioned on the page. That also means, that adobe air is no longer necessary or even part of the game, thus it runs without any issues on my Linux / Kubuntu 18.10 desktop without any adobe shenanigans (which I was afraid of before buying the game after reading some of the outdated reviews). If you read the GOG DQ forum, the devs also seemed to have made a true effort to support Linux users, which is at least in my books always very positive. DQ1 is a nice time sink, I am looking forward to DQ2!

Tower defense fans rejoyce! DEFENDER'S QUEST is here! But wait, there's more, so much more. You not only get a tower defense game, but a great storyline. You want more, you ungrateful little... How about some strategy? Lots of strategy in this one. How do you feel about dragons, RPG-like upgrade system, EXP, Spells, interal struggle, conflict, strife, NEW GAME+ worlds? Yep. It's got it all. Also, do you hate grinding? Do you love grinding? Do you want more exp? Less exp? There are BUILT-IN-OPTIONS to adjust this from level-quickly to only 1,024 more kills until I reach level 6! Yeah, it goes from W0W emulated 100x EXP to Old-school 100 mobs for 6% exp EQ style exp gain/crawl. Pretty sweet if you ask me. Just do yourself a favor and buy it. Especially now while it's on sale. It's also kid-friendly!

I've enjoyed playing this game, but honestly the one thing that's seriously impressed me a lot here is the number and manner of responses by the developer. I'm a bit late in starting playing this, and as I poke around the forums (and some other sites via Google), I see a lot of responses by the developer and some large changes (like removing Adobe AIR & data tracking). I started after these removals, but that attitude is something I intend to support in the future.

Defender's Quest breaks free from the tower defence genre's reputation for crippling - and often unfair - late game difficulty, offering instead a game that remains challenging from beginning to end without alienating those unable or unwilling to do the demanding mathematics of other games. This is tower defence for the rest of us. Light RPG mechanics provide an interesting story, some funny dialogue, and the ability to mitigate the challenge of later levels by grinding to your satisfaction on earlier maps - although hardcore players can still find a grind-free path to victory with clever placements and efficient map use. I've had more fun with Defender's Quest than with any of the other genre icons - if you like tower defence games, or just looking for an entry point into the genre, this is a great buy.

I tend to avoid srategy and tower defense games because most involve a learning curve that I'm not invested enough to go through. I'm sure they're great games, but I want something more "pick up and play." With that being said, I also want depth. Defender's Quest provides just that. It's super easy to pick up, but there's also a lot of depth and strategy. For me the best feature is the replayablity -every map has four versions of the scenario that range in difficulty from casual to extreme. The rewards are greater with every tier, and the enemies are new and different in the higher tiers which forces you to adjust your strategy which keeps it fresh. It's a fun way to strengthen your party without having to repeat the same exact scenario in a grind. You can grow out your party members to give them new abilities, and there's a skill tree so you have control over exactly how you want them to grow. The dialogue in the story is good, and games like this tend to have a traveling journey which this does as well, but it doesn't feel forced. Some of the characters are very funny and memorable, and I like the ability to customize the new ones. The soundtrack is one of the best that I've ever heard in an indie game. It's beautiful, relaxing, and suspenseful in different moments and really captures the mood of the game perfectly. For the price I think this game is well worth it, and I've actually been playing it more than some recent AAA titles that have come out recently.