Gnomes

About

Gnomes is a single player survival city builder game with fantasy and economy themes. It was developed by DYSTOPIAN and was released on April 4, 2025. It received overwhelmingly positive reviews from players.

Defend Your Garden From the Goblin Horde Use your gnomes to defend your crops from the goblins on a map that expands every day. Use your turn to position your gnomes, prepare your defenses and grow your economy. Test your strategy against endless, procedurally generated encounters and survive long enough to face the goblin king. Every run in Gnomes is one of a kind and is created using a caref…

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96%

Audience ScoreBased on 1,303 reviews

gameplay58 positive mentions

grinding24 negative mentions

Unique and engaging tower defense with roguelike elements and dynamic maze building.
High replayability due to varied maps, guilds, relics, and randomized enemy paths.
Charming retro pixel art, excellent sound design, and immersive music atmosphere.

Steep difficulty spikes late in the campaign and in endless mode can feel frustrating.
Heavy reliance on RNG can result in tedious restarts and some unbalanced builds.
Micromanagement of moving units every turn may become tedious and impact pacing.

gameplay
137 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
42%
56%
2%
The gameplay of this tower defense roguelike blends strategic maze-building, unit positioning, and dynamic enemy pathing to create a fast-paced, addictive experience with significant depth and variety. Players appreciate the fresh and elegant mechanics, meaningful synergies, and multiple playstyles, though some find the learning curve challenging and the gameplay occasionally reliant on luck or exploitable combos. Overall, it offers a satisfying core loop with high replayability and a polished, nostalgic feel.
- “Gnomes is a very challenging game that with its mix of rogue-like and tower defense mechanics makes it feel a bit like chess where every move has to be meticulously planned out before each round begins.”
- “And while the concept of a pixel art roguelike tower defense game sounds generic and played out, Gnomes actually delivers above and beyond on making its mechanics and systems feel meaningfully different than your standard genre title.”
- “The creativity of the system inspires branching playstyles that go beyond just choosing a farming-heavy build, and instead force gameplay that utilizes the rest of the game's mechanics in fresh and interesting ways.”
- “The upgrades and gameplay feel like they don't give you a chance to know what you should be doing, so the outcome is based on exploitable conditions, which the game isn't really about - so if you know the game mechanics, you can exploit these conditions, and it becomes unfun, because the game is so much more based on not having good luck as opposed to strategy and RNG.”
- “Gameplay loop feels weird to me and not fun.”
- “The gameplay is also fairly tedious, requiring you to constantly micro-manage your units and items.”
graphics
98 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
38%
59%
3%
The graphics feature a charming, retro pixel art style that effectively complements the game's roguelike tower defense theme, offering a cozy, visually appealing atmosphere. While not highly ambitious or diverse, the visuals are clear, functional, and enhance the overall experience with a fitting aesthetic and soothing music. Some users noted minor issues like lack of visual distinction between units or occasional simplistic design, but the art style and mood consistently receive praise for their engaging, nostalgic appeal.
- “A stunning and welcome addition to my library, and the colourful pixel graphics scratch my retro itch.”
- “The theme, art style and music are flawlessly executed and it's a pleasure to simply look at and experience.”
- “The simple graphics are easy on the eyes and readable, making it easy to look at for hours.”
- “The graphics also look like trash.”
- “I like pixel graphics to an extent but this is just pathetic.”
- “Graphically, everything is very similar to each other; lacking clear visual distinction between different units, both yours and the enemy.”
music
61 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
34%
59%
7%
The music in the game is widely praised for its captivating, atmospheric, and stage-specific tracks that enhance the cozy pixel art and gameplay experience. While most find the soundtrack relaxing, memorable, and well-matched to each level's mood, a few note repetitiveness or simplicity but overall it contributes significantly to the game's charm and immersive vibe.
- “The music is a masterpiece.”
- “Music also very catchy and atmospheric, matching every level.”
- “The theme, art style and music are flawlessly executed and it's a pleasure to simply look at and experience.”
- “Sound design and music are very poor.”
- “Had to shut off the repetitive music and just listen to Spotify instead... but I don't mind doing that sometimes.”
- “Given the fact that literally everything else about the game is so well thought-out, deep and polished, I just wish the music was a little less repetitive and perhaps also a bit more upbeat.”
replayability
52 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
54%
40%
6%
The game offers strong replayability through its roguelike elements, varied starting options, randomization, and multiple strategies, appealing especially to tower defense fans. While many praise its depth, synergies, and daily challenges for near-endless replay, some note it lacks the complexity and lasting engagement of top-tier roguelikes, making its appeal more niche beyond initial playthroughs. Overall, it provides excellent value and enjoyable replay for its price and genre.
- “Once you beat the campaign, the daily leaderboards provide nearly endless replayability if you enjoy the mechanics and style of the game!”
- “A near infinite number of strategies forces you to make strategic decisions on-the-fly, allowing for extensive replayability and skillful-play potential.”
- “It's endlessly replayable since there's so many different builds, synergies, strategies and maps.”
- “Lacks some of the depth and replayability of gold-standard roguelites due to balancing issues.”
- “I saw many reviews saying it had no replayability and that after 20 hours it's boring.”
- “For me it wasn't worth full price ($10) as there just isn't much replayability.”
grinding
25 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
4%
96%
Grinding in this game often feels tedious and repetitive, especially due to constant unit repositioning and micro-management each turn, which some players find overwhelming in later waves and endless mode. However, the integration of farming and strategic tower defense adds depth and replayability, with early gameplay being engaging and satisfying despite the potential for monotony. Overall, grinding may detract from the experience for some, but others appreciate the complex, evolving systems it supports.
- “You have to keep moving the towers every turn, which is super tedious and feels awful.”
- “Instead of having fixed points for your tower, you have to move your units (and potentially other things) around every single time, which gets a bit tedious.”
- “The gameplay is also fairly tedious, requiring you to constantly micro-manage your units and items.”
humor
14 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game’s humor is characterized by subtly amusing, quirky elements such as funny gnome names, playful sound effects, and humorous combos that enhance the enjoyable, nostalgic pixel art tower defense experience. Players appreciate the lighthearted, clever comedy woven into gameplay and character design, making the game both fun and entertaining.
- “The mechanics are fun, the humor is subtly amusing, and it's been worth every penny.”
- “This game will challenge your brain and punish bad planning (in the most hilarious ways).”
- “It literally hits every beat - the sound design, the funny gnomes, tower defense, bit of economy / base management.”
optimization
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
34%
33%
The game is highly optimized, running smoothly even on modest hardware with a small file size and fast performance. While overall performance and interface are excellent, controller support and Steam Deck optimization remain somewhat underdeveloped but playable. Tactical optimization elements are well-implemented, and performance issues have been addressed promptly by the developers.
- “It heavily encourages experimentation and optimization.”
- “Performance-wise, the game runs smoothly even on modest hardware.”
- “The tactical aspects of traditional tower defense games regarding revenue and runway optimization are greatly implemented in Gnomes.”
- “However, it’s worth noting that the controller support and Steam Deck optimization feel somewhat underdeveloped at this stage.”
- “My main issue that I had with the game was performance issues, and after the community asked, they fixed them!”
- “Controls are still not optimized for the Steam Deck but I've been playing it no problem using the right trackpad.”
atmosphere
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
Users praise the game’s atmosphere for its dark, mystic, and retro aesthetic combined with catchy, moody music and fitting sound effects. The unique blend of quirky themes and immersive audio-visual elements creates a cozy yet intriguing ambiance that stands out in the tower defense genre.
- “Music is very catchy and atmospheric, matching every level.”
- “I love the dark, mystic atmosphere.”
- “The graphics, sound effects, and music add a very nice and cozy atmosphere to the game.”
story
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
43%
14%
43%
The game's story is minimal to non-existent, with no narrative or writing elements present. The campaign focuses on varied biomes and gameplay rather than a cohesive plot, making it more of a gameplay-driven experience than a story-driven one.
- “Campaign missions are essentially a different biome each time with different enemies.”
- “Currently I have nearly conquered the list of standard non-endless biomes in my quest to defeat the Goblin King everywhere he stands, and I have to say “Gnomes” is truly an indie masterpiece!”
- “I recently bought Space Marine 2, a game that I've wanted to get for a long time on discount; I played the first two missions then started playing this again.”
- “Story: non-existent.”
- “There also is no story or writing.”
- “No persistent RPG elements, no story, but it's a great buy all the same.”
monetization
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
33%
Users appreciate that the game avoids microtransactions, offering a pure gameplay experience without monetization distractions. However, some felt earlier versions became overwhelming due to excessive microtransactions and additional content.
- “No microtransactions”
- “No microtransactions—just pure gnome mayhem”
- “When I played the newest Blooms game on Steam a few years ago, a lot of the simplicity was gone and I was overwhelmed with microtransactions and maps. It was all a little too much.”
stability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The game is praised for its solid stability, with users reporting no bugs or glitches and a smooth, bug-free experience throughout extended play sessions.
- “Cute art style, bug free, hours of chill defense time, solid purchase”
emotional
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game delivers a wholesome and charming emotional experience, with players enjoying the quirky and endearing activities like gardening and creative in-game humor.
- “Such a nice and wholesome game, I love tending my gnome garden, and who knew goblin entrails make such great fertilizer!”