First Day: Home Defender

About

First Day: Home Defender is a single player casual strategy game with a violence theme. It was developed by BadWolf Games and was released on January 29, 2020. It received neutral reviews from players.

Build and protect your home after a nuclear apocalypse!

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

Skip User Reviews

56%

Audience ScoreBased on 16 reviews

replayability3 positive mentions

graphics3 negative mentions

Engaging mix of fast-paced shooting and base defense strategy with rewarding progression.
Intuitive controls and enjoyable variety of weapons and upgrades to keep gameplay fresh.
Affordable indie title with a straightforward survival challenge that offers tense and satisfying defense gameplay.

Lacks polish and depth, featuring repetitive enemies and wave structures that can become monotonous.
Subpar graphics and audio with minimal visual detail and simplistic sound design.
Technical issues including imprecise aiming, unreliable AI assistants, lack of save feature, and poor quality standards leading some to view it as an asset flip or low-effort project.

gameplay
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
43%
14%
43%
The gameplay blends smooth shooting mechanics with tower-defense elements to create a tense and rewarding experience, though it can feel rough and lacks variety. Controls are intuitive, and the core concept of building, defending, and surviving is engaging. However, some issues like poor mechanics and lack of clear day-end warnings detract from the overall experience.
- “The shooting mechanics are incredibly smooth, and the controls feel very intuitive.”
- “Its concept is simple yet appealing—build, defend, survive—and it delivers a fast-paced hybrid experience that mixes direct shooting mechanics with tower-defense elements.”
- “The result is a tense yet oddly rewarding gameplay rhythm where each victory feels earned, especially when you’ve just barely held the line.”
- “Its concept is simple yet appealing—build, defend, survive—and it attempts to deliver a fast-paced hybrid experience that mixes direct shooting mechanics with tower-defense elements.”
- “Bad mechanics.”
- “No warning as to when the day ends (see gameplay).”
graphics
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
20%
60%
The graphics are simple but well-detailed, ensuring smooth performance even during intense, chaotic waves. While visuals improve as the game progresses, there is a lack of resolution options and meaningful graphics settings for customization.
- “Graphics and details are really good.”
- “There's no option to change the resolution and no useful graphics tweaks.”
- “Don't let the initial sparse graphics and early waves fool you, it ends up quite hectic from level 30.”
- “However, the simplicity of the visuals ensures that performance remains consistent, even during the more chaotic later waves when dozens of creatures swarm your defenses.”
monetization
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The monetization is criticized for being a greedy cash grab, with a $10 price considered overpriced compared to older AAA games. Additionally, there are serious ethical concerns due to uncredited use of assets from other developers, suggesting plagiarism and unethical practices by the publisher.
- “The "developers" here didn't credit any of the artists and real, actual game developers who created the assets here, so this is plagiarism, as well as cash grab shovelware.”
- “Badwolf games/handmade games have shown a repeat pattern of unethically dumping other people's work onto Steam as a cheap, nasty cash grab, through this account or through closely linked/alt accounts.”
- “First day: Home Defender has the greedy, cash grab price of $10 USD, for which you could easily get any number of older AAA games.”
replayability
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
67%
The game offers limited replayability, mainly appealing to players interested in refining tactics and improving leaderboard rankings, though the lack of save points may hinder longer play sessions.
- “The game offers good replay value, especially for those keen to refine their tactics and improve their leaderboard ranking.”
- “Although it can be lengthy before reaching the really interesting section, the challenge keeps players engaged for multiple playthroughs.”
- “Replayability is enhanced by the strategic depth, encouraging repeated attempts to master the gameplay.”
- “Would have liked a save point as it can go on for quite a while and takes a bit of time to reach the really interesting section.”
- “Don't know that there is much replayability unless you are keen to refine your tactics and go up the leaderboard.”
stability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game is stable with no crashes or unexpected quits, but it suffers from bugs and repetitive, unengaging gameplay.
- “Buggy, boring, and repetitive.”
music
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The music is minimal or absent, effectively enhancing the bleak and urgent atmosphere of the survival-themed game.
- “The soundtrack, while minimal, underscores the bleakness of the world with a faint sense of urgency that fits the tone of survival.”
- “No music.”
story
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The game lacks a storyline, offering no narrative or plot development.
- “No storyline.”
optimization
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's simple visuals contribute to smooth and consistent performance, maintaining stable optimization even during intense moments with many on-screen creatures.
- “However, the simplicity of the visuals ensures that performance remains consistent, even during the more chaotic later waves when dozens of creatures swarm your defenses.”
atmosphere
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The atmosphere is effectively supported by basic audio elements like weapon sounds and enemy growls, but it lacks depth and layered richness that could enhance immersion.
grinding
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game features a noticeable amount of grinding, which can feel repetitive but may appeal to players looking for a time-consuming, low-pressure experience.

Skip Game Offers

Buy First Day: Home Defender

First Day: Home Defender
€9.99
See offer on Steam

3h Median play time

3h Average play time

3-3h Spent by most gamers

*Based on 1 analyzed playthroughs

Skip Videos

Videos

Skip Games Like First Day: Home Defender

56%29reviews

Attack Of Insects

2024

Action Adventure

43%36reviews

Defendoooooor!!

2017

Arcade Platformer

40%50reviews

Mortos

2016

Casual Shooter

73%38reviews

Defense: Abominations

2018

Strategy

67%18reviews

3D PUZZLE - Courtyard

2024

Casual Role Playing Shooter

More games like First Day: Home Defender

Skip FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

First Day: Home Defender is a casual strategy game with violence theme.

First Day: Home Defender is available on PC, Windows and Linux.

On average players spend around 3 hours playing First Day: Home Defender.

First Day: Home Defender was released on January 29, 2020.

First Day: Home Defender was developed by BadWolf Games.

First Day: Home Defender has received neutral reviews from players. Most players liked this game for its replayability but disliked it for its gameplay.

First Day: Home Defender is a single player game.

Similar games include Attack Of Insects, Defendoooooor!!, Mortos, Defense: Abominations, 3D PUZZLE - Courtyard and others.

First Day: Home Defender

Platforms

About

Buy First Day: Home Defender