Let's get this out of the way first, Druidstone is an isometric tactics/puzzle game with light RPG elements. It is NOT a full-fledged role playing game and you should not expect character creation or dialogue decisions. But if you come to it expecting the tactics game it actually is. you'll find it's pretty fun! Your starting trio is a fighter, a healer with a bow, and a wizard. They have one move and one action per round, and they can use their remaining movement points after taking an action. Special moves can only be used a limited amount of times per map. Characters with melee weapons exert a square-shaped zone of control and get a free opportunity hit if someone tries moving through without a special avoidance ability. (Earlygame protip: the fighter's melee-overwatch "defend" ability is VERY USEFUL!) Like Into the Breach, combat is a dice-free affair with small numbers and clearly displayed consequences. Mousing over enemies shows their movement range and basic stats, your health bar blinks the expected damage if your movement path leads you through an enemy's zone of control, and holding the "Alt" key highlights the grid and all enemies and interactive objects. Unfortunately there's no display of special abilities or firing range. I hope they patch that in! Unlike Into the Breach, maps are hand-crafted and can sometimes be huge, sprawling affairs with things like exploding barrels or pressure plate traps. Things aren't completely predetermined, however. Chests contain random consumables (that don't carry over between maps) ranging from healing potions, to area-damage sticks of dynamite, to items that summon AI-controlled monsters to fight on your side. It takes a few missions to really open up, but there IS character customization between unlocking new abilities at level-up, buying new equipment that grant certain skills, and using rare upgrade gems to enhance certain skills and equipment. It's not Grimrock 3, it's its own thing, and it's fun!
Don't let the awful title deceive you, this is a visually spectacular combination of twin-stick shooter and tower defense that resembles the classic Sega Genesis RTS Herzog Zwei. You play an alien race that's like a cross between the borg and Michael Bay Decepticons (minus the fart jokes and product placement) invading and assimilating the Earth. You fly a transforming command ship whose job is to protect the assimilation core from ridiculously numerous columns of tanks, jetplanes, and battlemechs sent by the puny Earthlings trying to save their world. Gameplay is a combination of twin-stick shooting the enemies directly (protip: the right-click charge ability you start with blocks bullets from one side and hits way harder than your left-click rapid-fire pea shooter shot) and turning invisible to suck up scrap from dead enemies and turn it into defensive towers. This is a "shape the enemy's path" style of tower defense but way more granular than I've ever played before. You can cut off paths by creating free energy fences between two of your towers, or you can use a super bomb to topple a skyscraper with realistic physics. Towers come in many varieties, but you don't upgrade them and there's no "slow" tower, it's all about shaping the path to take as long as possible. Special mention must be made of the production values, the explosions and particle effects are glorious to behold, coupled with the fully destructible scenery, it really feels like you're bringing a kinetic war to the Earthlings. My only real complaint is how many missions it takes for the game to unlock all your tower types and give you your full strategic options, but that's a matter of personal taste. Whether you're looking for action, strategy, or puzzle, X-Morph: Defense is a wild ride and I recommend it!
Although 10tons did several games between them, Tesla vs. Lovecraft is the first one that can be seen as a true sequel to Crimsonlands. Meaning you're facing such a massive crowd of monsters the DPS from your weaponry just isn't enough alone, you need to bob and weave through the scenery to survive and only by grabbing temporary powerups can you gain the necessary firepower to turn the tables temporarily. It's more exhilarating in practice than it sounds. You have a few more abilities than in Crimsonlands, namely a teleport dash and limited ammo secondary weapons, but the perk and weapon selection is much smaller and more focused. There are no longer any garbage weapons like the blowtorch or garbage perks. Less is more with this game. TvL is played out in distinct story levels with a (huge) set number of enemies to take out, destructible scenery, and bottomless chasms to tactically teleport over. Once the main map is over a new difficulty level, or "plane of existence" is unlocked. One thing that might be a negative for some players is the game has a workshop of unlockable permanent perks that require special crystals that can only be unlocked in serious numbers by finishing daily challenges that won't refresh for 24 hours. Another thing that's a slight disappointment is only one of the maps is used for endless survival mode, though it is probably their most complex map in the game. This is 10tons' best game to date and I easily recommend it.
