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Artisan TD

73%Game Brain Score
gameplay, graphics
story, optimization
73% User Score Based on 678 reviews

Platforms

PCPCWindowsWindows
Buy Nowfrom $9.85
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About

In Artisan TD, join the Artisan's Guild to conquer the Archipelago of Chaos, building tower mazes to free corrupted magical warriors' souls and defeating 4 primordial TITANS with a wide range of actions and upgradable towers. Experience 30 unique maps, vanquish specific minions, and manage a small economy, all with handcrafted passion and precision. Playable with a controller and optimized for large screens and 4K.

Genres & Tags
Play Modes
Artisan TD screenshot
Artisan TD screenshot
Artisan TD screenshot
Artisan TD screenshot
Artisan TD screenshot
Artisan TD screenshot

73%
Audience ScoreBased on 678 reviews
gameplay40 positive mentions
story8 negative mentions
  • Challenging gameplay that requires strategic thinking and planning.
  • Beautiful graphics and engaging art style that enhances the overall experience.
  • Unique mechanics such as the ability to restart from any wave, allowing for experimentation and optimization.
  • Feels more like a puzzle game with a single solution for each level, limiting player creativity.
  • Difficulty spikes can be frustrating, especially on higher levels where specific tower placements are required.
  • Lack of meta progression and upgrades, making replayability less rewarding.
  • gameplay
    116 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The gameplay is characterized by intuitive mechanics and strategic depth, offering a mix of engaging challenges and beautiful graphics. While many players appreciate the variety of towers and the complexity of puzzles, some criticize the linearity and lack of customization options, feeling that the game often leads to a single optimal solution for each map. Overall, the gameplay is well-polished but may frustrate those seeking more dynamic progression and upgrade systems.

    • “Gameplay and graphics are both well done without sacrificing one for the other.”
    • “Very engaging gameplay with a nice difficulty curve!”
    • “The gameplay mechanics are both intuitive and strategic, making each game unique and exciting.”
    • “Most tower defense games try to get too clever and have lots of complications that cause it to ultimately be broken, usually by being too easy, or by having mobile-game/grind mechanics.”
    • “The presence of the ability to retry a level from any wave is a great inclusion, but it is unfortunately a required mechanic of the game for you to trial and error your way to finding the developer's exact intended build pattern, instead of the quality of life feature it would otherwise be.”
    • “If it is too hard, it can become frustrating, particularly if the difficulty feels irrational and the result of bad game mechanics.”
  • graphics
    100 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The graphics of the game have received widespread praise for their beauty, charm, and attention to detail, often compared to classic titles like Warcraft 3. Many players appreciate the unique art style and animations, which enhance the overall experience without overshadowing gameplay. However, some critiques mention that while the graphics are visually appealing, they can sometimes feel uninspired or overly simplistic, lacking depth in certain areas.

    • “Amazing game, great graphics and soundtrack with incredible depth to strategy.”
    • “The fantastical universe is beautifully crafted, with stunning graphics and meticulous attention to detail.”
    • “With enchanting graphics and an immersive soundtrack, this game draws you into a fantastical universe where every decision matters.”
    • “The art style is pale and uninspired; all towers are unrecognizable. Flash games from over 15 years ago did this better.”
    • “If you have a background in graphic design, you’ll notice a few glaring details: the fonts are divorced and suggest conflicting notions, gothic lettering for menu items, while the header glides over all with its unrelated stone age aesthetic.”
    • “This game brings nothing much new to the table except a slightly refreshing and pretty looking art style, but then lacks many features some other great tower defense games have, like permanent upgrades for towers.”
  • story
    30 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game is criticized for its lack of a substantial story, with many reviewers noting that it features minimal lore and dialogue, reducing the experience to a series of puzzle-like missions. While some players appreciate the existing story elements, they feel that a more developed narrative could elevate the game significantly. Overall, the absence of a driving narrative leaves the gameplay feeling disconnected and overly focused on mechanics rather than storytelling.

    • “Finished all missions on the highest difficulty with 3 stars, even though one of them took me 3 real-life days until I finally managed to crack it.”
    • “Another nice thing is that not all missions have the same towers available, so sometimes you will have to find workarounds for not having your heavy hitter or dedicated anti-air.”
    • “If this game had a little more storyline - and it does have some story elements, which I like - it'd be close to being on par with Defense Grid.”
    • “Instead of levels, we have boards, and the fantasy-inspired aesthetics are a mere throwback to the game’s Blizzard-inspired roots, as there is very little lore and pretty much no story or dialogue.”
    • “As there’s no story or driving narrative, your setting will be defined by its design and form.”
  • music
    22 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The music in the game is generally well-received, described as chill, fitting, and immersive, enhancing the overall experience without being annoying. While some reviewers noted that the soundtrack may feel derivative, it still contributes positively to the game's atmosphere, with many appreciating the combination of music and visuals. However, a few critiques mention that the music does not elevate the game beyond its basic gameplay elements.

    • “The music is chill and fitting.”
    • “With enchanting graphics and an immersive soundtrack, this game draws you into a fantastical universe where every decision matters.”
    • “Artisan TD also has quite okay graphics (nothing phenomenal, but I liked it, especially backgrounds) and a good sounding soundtrack (I didn't feel the need to mute the game and play something of my own for the whole playthrough).”
    • “The soundtrack is a Jack Sparrow rip-off and winning is unrewarding, as there is nothing you get outside of the level, except the progress to the next level.”
  • optimization
    16 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's optimization has been criticized for its high resource usage, even on high-end systems, leading to performance issues such as crashes. While the developers are actively working on these optimization problems, many players have noted that the game struggles to run efficiently given the complexity of its assets. Despite these challenges, the game shows potential, particularly in its tower defense mechanics and customizable paths.

    • “If it solves its optimization issues and overhauls its UX, Artisan TD has the potential to become a storefront gem.”
    • “Amazing tower defense with the possibility of making your own optimized path on every map.”
    • “The highest difficulty is extremely hard; it has been made to perfectly fit the most optimized way to do it.”
    • “What’s less tight is the game’s optimization: even with a high-end rig, you’ll find that the resource usage is unreasonably high for the number and complexity of assets onscreen.”
    • “Finally, there are performance issues which include game crashes, as many reviewers have noted.”
    • “The game looks nice and is enjoyable to play for the first 4 levels, but you don't get more than 3 different towers and no matter what GPU you have, it runs at 100% performance.”
  • replayability
    10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game is criticized for its lack of replayability, with many reviewers noting its overly simplistic mechanics and limited upgrade options. Unlike other tower defense games that offer diverse strategies and variations, this title falls short, resulting in minimal incentive for players to revisit it. Adjustments to tower and mob balance could potentially enhance its replay value.

    • “Others manage to have lots of different upgrade options and different variants, which offers higher replayability.”
    • “I think with the right adjustments to tower and mob balance, the game would be immediately more playable.”
    • “Overly simple and not much replay value.”
    • “Great classical tower defense game with zero replayability.”
    • “Towers have no real upgrade (3 levels + 1 mega upgrade for 1 tower per map) so there's not much replayability or things to try.”
  • grinding
    8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Reviews indicate that while some games may require significant time investment for grinding, others offer a more balanced experience with challenging puzzles that avoid frustrating grind mechanics. Features like the ability to restart specific waves enhance gameplay by preventing tedium, making the overall experience more enjoyable without excessive grinding.

    • “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
    • “The ability to pick which wave you can restart with is a good addition; otherwise, the puzzles would be tedious.”
  • stability
    4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game suffers from significant stability issues, with frequent crashes and bugs that detract from the overall experience. Players express frustration over the repetitive layout combined with these technical problems, leading to a generally negative perception of stability.

    • “Buggy mess that crashes regularly.”
    • “Combine being forced to find only layout on repeat with how buggy it is; it's a hard miss.”
  • character development
    2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Reviewers express frustration with the character development, noting that the limited pixel design makes it difficult to distinguish between enemies. Improved character design could enhance clarity and overall gameplay experience.

    • “It took a long time to be able to distinguish between some of the enemies. I know there's limited pixels to design on such a limited space, but better character design would allow for easier distinguishability.”
  • atmosphere
    2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The atmosphere is characterized by a diverse selection of towers and enemy types, contributing to a relaxed and enjoyable gaming experience.

    • “The game features a wide variety of towers, different types of enemies, and a chilled atmosphere.”

Buy Artisan TD

11h Median play time
11h Average play time
3-22h Spent by most gamers
*Based on 10 analyzed playthroughs

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