26 Sep, 2023
Monster Tiles TD: Tower Wars
Monster Tiles TD: Tower Wars is a unique roguelike tower defense game where we build a brand-new maze in each playthrough – all while improving our stats and towers through permanent upgrades in-between runs.We start each run with a tiny maze and a few spots to place towers. After each wave, we then get to place a new random tile to expand the maze. Before starting the next wave, we also spend gold and energy on placing new towers, upgrading existing ones, and buying power-ups that last until we die.
The towers differ vastly from each other, with unique skills and synergies with other towers. We can even equip weapons and armor on the towers, which we gain from defeating bosses.
As we expand the maze, we may reach special pre-placed tiles that unlock bonuses. But since trying to reach these can often lead to strange maze layouts that aren’t ideal, it’s a matter of finding the right balance.
The goal is to survive 50 waves and defeat a final boss. Succeeding lets us continue to a new difficulty tier with better rewards and equipment. And once all difficulties have been cleared, we unlock an endless mode.
The game also features a competitive mode where we’re ranked against other players based on our highest wave reached. Here, all towers are unlocked, and all upgrades turned off to create a completely equal playing field.
Monster Tiles TD monetizes via incentivized ads, iAPs for equipment, and a free and paid battle pass. These allow paying players to progress a lot faster, but there are thankfully no paywalls. It’s just more grindy for free players.
Overall, this is a very interesting take on the tower defense genre, and I like that each play is different because we create our own maps. There’s also cross-platform support between iOS, Android, and Steam.
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