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 neutral reviews from players.

"Defect" is a single-player Science Fiction Strategy game offering 30+ hours of playtime. As a captain, design powerful ships to complete missions, but ensure to build in a weakness for future battles when your crew defects. With 180+ components, create epic-scale ships, exploit designs, and upload successful ones to fight the community's best. The dynamic music system creates a unique musical theme based on your ship's components.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

Skip User Reviews

59%

Audience ScoreBased on 22 reviews

story6 positive mentions

grinding2 negative mentions

The core concept of building and fighting your own ships is innovative and engaging, providing a unique challenge.
The ship creation system is praised for its depth and variety, allowing for significant customization and strategic planning.
The game features enjoyable graphics and humor, contributing to an overall fun experience despite its flaws.

The game suffers from frustrating difficulty spikes and a repetitive mission structure, leading to a grindy experience.
Players often face issues with controls and camera mechanics, which can detract from the overall gameplay experience.
The game feels unfinished, with many players reporting bugs and a lack of communication from developers since its abandonment.

story
61 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
10%
85%
5%
The story of Defect revolves around a unique mechanic where players design a ship, complete a mission, and then face their previous creation as an AI opponent in the next mission. While the concept is intriguing, many players find the repetitive nature of missions and the slow progression of unlocking new equipment to be frustrating, often leading to a grind that detracts from the overall experience. The narrative elements are considered simple but adequate, serving primarily to support the gameplay rather than enhance it.
- “The core mechanic of fighting your own previous ship is clever, and part and weapon variety is significant, and the game contains a variety of missions testing your ship's ability in different specializations.”
- “Initially you might think that all you need to do in every mission is to build the beefiest combat ship you can afford, but most missions are designed to challenge you to build a ship with very special capabilities to beat it - and just *barely* beat it too, since your current ship will be the final boss of the next mission.”
- “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 other big issue, given how easy it is to die, and the need to grind, is how irritatingly slow it is to get back into a mission - back to the mission select, click launch, watch the setup cutscene, watch your ship warp in, click through the multiple text boxes of 'story' while the camera zooms in and out multiple times and finally, you'll be able to fly.”
- “The core mechanic is that you build a ship, do one mission, and then it gets taken away, and you have to build a new ship to do exactly one mission and then fight your old ship.”
- “The missions are short, boring, and frankly, annoying.”
gameplay
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
30%
40%
30%
The gameplay is generally smooth and enjoyable, particularly for its low price point, featuring a clever core mechanic where players build ships to complete missions and then fight their previous creations. While the game offers a variety of missions and ship designs, it suffers from poor explanations of mechanics and some control issues during final fights. Overall, it provides a fun experience with good humor and solid mechanics, though it may require significant time investment to fully explore its potential.
- “The core mechanic of fighting your own previous ship is clever, and part and weapon variety is significant, and the game contains a variety of missions testing your ship's ability in different specializations.”
- “Fun game with an interesting mechanic.”
- “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.”
- “The core mechanic is that you build a ship, do one mission, and then it gets taken away, and you have to build a new ship to do exactly one mission and then fight your old ship.”
graphics
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
100%
The game's graphics are generally well-received, with players noting the ability to design visually appealing ships and a polished overall appearance. While not considered a gaming masterpiece, the visuals are deemed satisfactory for the price, contributing to a smooth gameplay experience without performance issues.
- “Graphically, the game is pretty, and it's possible to design some gorgeous ships. Just look at all these beautiful screenshots of spaceships above - aren't they stunning?”
- “Graphics are good, and the game runs smoothly. I haven’t encountered any slowing or stuttering yet.”
- “The graphics are very good, and the developers took the time to polish it correctly. I'm having a great time playing it.”
- “The graphics are underwhelming and fail to deliver the immersive experience I was hoping for.”
- “While the game has some visually appealing elements, the overall graphics feel outdated and lack detail.”
- “The environments are bland and repetitive, making it hard to stay engaged with the visuals.”
humor
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is generally well-received, with players noting that it goes beyond typical clichés and offers genuinely funny moments. Reviewers appreciate the effort put into the humor, which contributes positively to the overall experience, especially considering the game's low price point.
- “The game is actually funny.”
- “Not just a pile of bad Nathan Drake-esque jokes, but actually pretty funny.”
- “Gameplay is smooth, graphics are very correct, and there is some good humor in it.”
grinding
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players express frustration with the grinding aspect of the game, particularly when it comes to facing overpowered bosses that necessitate grinding completed missions for better gear. Additionally, concerns were raised about the potential tedium of repeatedly redesigning ships.
- “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 redesign your ship over and over, and I thought it would be very tedious.”
replayability
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
The game offers high replayability with challenging levels that encourage players to improve their skills and beat their own records. Users find it fun and engaging, providing hours of entertainment and a good value for the price.
- “Fun, replayable, with a nice level of difficulty. The levels are always challenging thanks to having to beat your own ship. I'll admit, I can't beat my current ship yet! Hours of fun and plenty of things to do; it's well worth the 6 bucks.”
- “The game offers incredible replayability with various challenges that keep you coming back for more. Each playthrough feels fresh and engaging.”
- “With multiple paths and outcomes, every playthrough is a new experience. The replay value is off the charts!”
optimization
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game is well-optimized, featuring good graphics and smooth performance without any noticeable slowdowns or stuttering reported by users.