Tower defense games

How it works

A tower defense game is a race between a march and a plan. Enemies come in waves along a path towards something you have to protect: a castle, a base, a garden gate. You cannot fight them by hand. Instead, you build defenses that fire on their own, and then you watch to see whether your plan was good enough.

The real game happens between waves. You earn coins for every wave you survive, and you spend them on new defenses, better ones or a different mix. Most games tell you what is coming next, so the question is always the same: what does this wave need that my defenses do not have yet? Fast swarms want splash damage, armoured enemies want big single hits, and bosses want everything at once.

What makes a good one

• A clear warning before each wave, so a loss teaches you something.
• Enemies that each ask a different question, not just more hit points.
• Choices that combine: two defenses that are better together than apart.
• A planning phase with no clock, so you can think.
• A fair retry, so one bad wave does not cost a whole run.

Strategies that help

Read the preview first. Buy for the wave in front of you, not the one you just beat.

Mix your damage. A defense that wins one wave often loses the next, so keep a little of everything.

Use combinations. Boosters and links usually add more than one more shooter would.

Sell without guilt. Late in a run, space is worth more than what you paid.

Our take

Our tower defense game is Satchel Siege, where the tower is a backpack. You pack shaped items into a growing satchel, place them so they boost their neighbours, and send the wave. For more games built on planning and placement, see our puzzle games.