Defect

About

Defect is a single player strategy game with a science fiction theme. It was developed by Three Phase Interactive Pty Ltd and was released on July 28, 2016. It received mostly positive reviews from players.

As a lowly captain on a dead-end planet, you must build a ship, complete a mission and wave it goodbye when your crew defects to the other side. Then design a new ship to hunt down those mutinous traitors in an endless cycle of punishment and revenge. Don't make your designs too good, because odds are you'll be fighting them pretty soon.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

Skip User Reviews

74%

Audience ScoreBased on 47 reviews

story12 positive mentions

grinding2 negative mentions

Innovative and clever core concept of building ships and fighting your previous creations creates a unique gameplay loop.
Deep and flexible ship construction system with a wide variety of parts allowing creative and strategic designs.
Challenging and rewarding missions that encourage tactical thinking, with satisfying progression and balanced combat mechanics.

Steep difficulty spikes and some frustrating missions lead to repetitive grinding and progression bottlenecks.
Control scheme, camera behavior, and pacing issues (such as unskippable cutscenes and slow restarts) hinder gameplay fluidity.
Limited replayability due to repetitive mission structure and slow unlocking of new components, which can cause player fatigue.

story
102 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
12%
83%
5%
The story in this game is minimal and primarily serves as a backdrop for the gameplay loop of building ships, completing missions, and fighting previous ship designs. While the writing has some entertaining moments, the narrative is not a central focus, catering more to players interested in the strategic ship-building and mission challenges rather than a deep or engaging storyline.
- “The game is not shy in making fun of itself a bit, and the dialog and story while simple are absolutely sufficient to allow gameplay.”
- “The story is as good as it needs to be.”
- “Think X-Com, the story is there but that’s not why anyone is playing this game.”
- “I've tried to finish this game, I tried to be patient with the UI, the lack of a quick retry function, the constant zooming of the camera, the flashes that blind you but allow the AI to just fire on you, the missions that wipe your ship away every time you fail, the constant monologues that each character has to say before every mission even though you've seen it for the 20th time.”
- “Build your ship, choose a mission on the map screen, watch the unskippable opening dialogue, play, die, get spat back out to the map screen, watch the unskippable opening dialogue, play, die, etc. If the game didn't waste so much of your time when you died, and allowed you to get straight back into another attempt to finish the level, it may not be so bad.”
- “Some of the writing is kind of entertaining, but for all intents and purposes there isn’t really a story.”
gameplay
22 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
32%
54%
14%
The gameplay is centered around a clever ship-building mechanic where players design ships to complete missions and then face their previous creations in combat. While ship customization and mission variety add depth and strategy, the space combat can feel tough and occasionally hampered by controls and AI. Overall, the gameplay is smooth, polished, and enjoyable, especially for those who appreciate strategic design challenges, though it may require patience to reach more powerful ship builds.
- “Gameplay is smooth, graphics are very correct and there is some good humor in it. The developers took time to make it, polished it correctly, and I'm having very-correct fun playing it.”
- “The core mechanic of fighting your own previous ship is clever, and part and weapon variety is significant. The game contains a variety of missions testing your ship's ability in different specializations.”
- “The ship building mechanic is a whole lot of fun, and it makes me wish they'd gone with a survival mechanic instead of the mission mechanic - survive, destroy enemy ships, gather salvage, upgrade your ship.”
- “The ship design itself is okay, although the game does a very poor job of explaining the mechanics.”
- “The final fight mechanic is a bit undermined by bad controls and limited AI, but I still appreciate it because it forces you to design against two constraints - the requirements of the mission and the ship you last designed.”
- “It showed him making a goliath ship with masses of power available, which is what I wanted from this game, but to me, it would take another 10-30 hours of gameplay just to get to that stage.”
graphics
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
30%
40%
30%
The graphics are generally praised for being polished, visually appealing, and fitting well with the top-down shooter genre, though some users note they are relatively basic and occasionally overly saturated. The art style and ship design freedom are highlights, contributing to a smooth and enjoyable visual experience overall.
- “Graphically the game is pretty, and it's possible to design some gorgeous ships.”
- “I love the graphic style and the freedom you have in ship building.”
- “Very polished for an early access title, great art style, funny writing, in-depth ship creation and challenging missions.”
- “The graphics are relatively basic but that is all that they really need to be.”
- “However, the developers did go a little overboard with the neon and the over-saturation of the graphics.”
- “Graphically the game is pretty, and it's possible to design some gorgeous ships, but you see all these pretty screenshots of spaceships above - beautiful aren't they.”
humor
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's humor is well-received, featuring clever sci-fi references and genuinely funny writing rather than clichéd jokes. It adds an enjoyable layer to the polished gameplay, contributing to a fun and engaging experience.
- “There is some good humor in the game; the developers took time to polish it correctly, resulting in a very enjoyable experience.”
- “It's fun for a bit and has some funny sci-fi references.”
- “The game features funny writing alongside polished art style, in-depth ship creation, and challenging missions.”
music
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
60%
20%
20%
The game's music is dynamic and engaging, starting soft and intensifying with enemy encounters, and players can even create custom tracks by placing ship components. While generally praised, there was an occasional glitch that resulted in unpleasant music.
- “When you place components on the ship, you are actually creating a completely custom music track that plays while flying it.”
- “I really liked the dynamic music in the game; as you play a mission, the music starts relatively soft but gets more intense as you fight more enemies.”
- “I really liked the dynamic music in the game; as you play a mission, the music starts relatively soft but gets more intense as you fight more enemies.”
- “There was one time where I think the music messed up; if that wasn’t a bug, then that was some horrible sounding music.”
replayability
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Users generally find the game offers substantial replayability with challenging and engaging content that encourages multiple playthroughs. While some feel it could offer a bit more variety, the difficulty and unique mechanics provide hours of fun, making it a worthwhile experience.
- “Fun, replayable, with a nice level of difficulty, and levels are always difficult thanks to having to beat your own ship. Hours of fun and plenty of things to do, it's well worth the 6 bucks.”
- “As a result of this feature, however, the replayability of the game is extended.”
- “Maybe needs a little more replayability, but who am I to say after 40 hours, haha.”
grinding
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game forces players to engage in repetitive grinding, especially when facing overpowered bosses that require farming completed missions for better weapons. However, the need to frequently redesign your ship is less tedious than anticipated.
- “Then, out of nowhere the game requires that you defeat these two way overpowered bosses to progress, which forces explicit grinding of the completed missions to unlock better weaponry.”
- “One thing I was worried about was having to re-design your ship over and over and thought it would be very tedious.”
atmosphere
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The atmosphere is distinct for each ship, creating unique moods, but the lack of quality voiceover work limits the overall immersion and depth of the experience.
- “Had the developers been able to add quality voiceover work it would have added depth to the atmosphere and allowed for a far more immersive experience.”
- “Each ship has its own 'mood' or 'atmosphere'.”
optimization
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game is well-optimized, featuring smooth performance and good graphics without any noticeable lag or stuttering.
character development
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Character development is noted for its unique and somewhat unusual designs that fit well within the sci-fi theme, offering a distinctive visual style that some players appreciate.