Hold The Fort

About

"Hold the Fort" is a fantasy tower defense game where you must protect your kingdom with eight different tower types and ten heroic spells. As you gain experience and level up, you'll unlock new towers, upgrades, and spells through an in-depth talent tree. With full camera rotation and zoom, hold out as long as you can in survival mode and progress through the campaign mode.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

88%

Audience ScoreBased on 40 reviews

graphics5 positive mentions

story3 negative mentions

The game features a wide variety of towers and spells, allowing for diverse strategies and playstyles.
The persistent skill tree adds depth and encourages players to make meaningful choices regarding tower and spell upgrades.
The graphics and sound design are well-executed, enhancing the overall immersive experience of the game.

Camera controls can be awkward, leading to frustration when trying to navigate larger maps or manage towers effectively.
The game can feel repetitive over time, with limited map variety and a lack of engaging story elements.
Tower maintenance can become tedious, requiring constant attention to repairs during gameplay, which detracts from the strategic elements.

graphics
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
42%
33%
25%
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with some players praising the detailed design of levels, towers, and spell effects, while others find them somewhat sterile and lacking in vibrancy. Many appreciate the functional and well-delivered effects that enhance gameplay, though some note that the controls can be awkward. Overall, the graphics are considered a strong point, contributing positively to the game's appeal.
- “The graphics overall are very detailed and the levels, towers, enemies, and especially the spell effects are obviously lovingly crafted.”
- “Overall, it's worth the price, because it's quite different from most tower defense games with a very impactful, interesting skill tree and great 3D graphics with rotatable maps and impressive, satisfying spells that make you really feel like a godlike mage.”
- “The graphics are the best of maybe any tower defense game I've played at least and that adds to the game a lot.”
- “Some bad controls, difficult to see which towers are upgraded, only a few techniques really work, and the graphics and music are meh.”
- “The graphics to me look a bit sterile, in the way that Age of Empires looks sterile when compared to Warcraft.”
- “Graphics are fair but I find controls a little weird.”
gameplay
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
50%
25%
The gameplay is characterized by a solid tower defense experience that balances challenge and enjoyment, featuring customizable difficulty options and a mix of deployable soldiers and towers. Players appreciate the variety of enemies and a comprehensive talent tree, which helps prevent repetition and keeps the gameplay engaging. While the graphics are functional, they do not detract from the core gameplay loop, which remains rewarding and fun, especially as difficulty increases.
- “The game also has several gameplay/difficulty customization options where you can adjust certain parameters to increase or decrease the difficulty of the tower defense levels you play.”
- “The game is actually quite challenging, which makes the gameplay even more fun and rewarding.”
- “With a Ryzen 5 2600 and a 1070, I can maintain 144 fps at 1440p on maxed out settings only when no enemies are on the screen. For fluid gameplay during large waves, I had to scale back.”
- “The mix of deployable soldiers and towers taking damage from the enemies spices up the gameplay enough compared to a too classic tower defense style, while a pretty big talent tree and a good variety of enemies and towers prevents it from getting too repetitive.”
- “Then, you have some active tasks to manage during the gameplay, which intensify as the maps and difficulty increase.”
music
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
38%
24%
38%
The music in the game has received mixed reviews, with some players finding it immersive and well-composed, particularly praising the dramatic orchestral score. However, others noted that the background music can be nondescript and that sound balancing issues detract from the overall experience. Overall, while some players enjoyed the soundtrack and found it engaging, others felt it was merely average.
- “The more dramatic and memorable orchestral score was a nice contrast to the nondescript background music earlier.”
- “Both music and sounds were well picked to be immersive and after a few hours I still haven't switched them off to play my own music (which is saying something in my case!).”
- “Controls and visuals are excellent - also the music is epic!”
- “Some bad controls, difficult to see which towers are upgraded, only a few techniques really work, and the graphics and music are meh.”
- “This is realistic but bad design in this case, as you're almost always zoomed out and the combat sounds are almost inaudible while the UI sounds and music stay at full volume, so you're almost shocked every time you get an error sound because the spell you want to use is still on cooldown.”
- “This constant tasks tower defense (TD) is a bit similar to Marz in pacing once the map starts, with a soundtrack.”
story
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
37%
38%
The story in the game is minimal and basic, with players noting that it lacks depth and immersion, which is somewhat expected in a tower defense genre. While the nostalgic writing style reminiscent of classic games like Warcraft 3 is appreciated, the limited narrative and mission structure may leave some players wanting more. Overall, the story serves its purpose but does not significantly enhance the gameplay experience.
- “It's light on story but has that gimmicky classic tower defense writing style to it that made me pretty nostalgic for Warcraft 3 days.”
- “I don't expect a twisting, complicated, intriguing storyline for a tower defense game obviously, so it's no biggie.”
- “The story is very basic.”
- “Hold the Fort offers limited levels - up to 20 in total - with little to no story to keep things interesting.”
- “It's light on story but has that gimmicky classic tower defense writing style that made me pretty nostalgic for Warcraft 3 days.”
optimization
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
100%
The game requires further optimization, as players have noted minor performance issues, particularly a noticeable drop in frame rates from 60 to 30 when zooming in on scenes with many enemies. Overall, while the experience is generally smooth, there is room for improvement in handling high-density scenarios.
- “My only very minor complaint, if any at all, is very small performance issues, meaning an FPS drop from 60 down to 30 happening exclusively when zooming in with lots of enemies on-screen.”
- “Needs some optimization.”
- “Can and should still be optimized/changed: [list]”
- “My only very minor complaint, if any at all, is that there are very small performance issues, meaning an FPS drop from 60 down to 30, happening exclusively when zooming in with lots of enemies on-screen.”
stability
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Overall, the game's stability is generally solid, with some users reporting occasional camera glitches, particularly when using keyboard and mouse simultaneously. However, others have noted that they have not encountered any significant bugs or issues.
- “The game also has some slight camera glitches - one such glitch happens pretty consistently when I used WASD to move the camera and my mouse cursor was also moved to the corner of the screen (because I wanted to build a tower or something).”
- “- camera glitches - possible explanation is provided above.”
grinding
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players generally find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious, with many expressing that it can become monotonous quickly.
- “Might feel a bit tedious after a while.”
- “It gets tedious fast!”
atmosphere
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
300%
The snow effect in the game is highly praised for its quality, significantly enhancing the overall atmosphere.
- “The snow effect is very well done and adds a lot to the atmosphere.”
- “The haunting soundtrack perfectly complements the eerie visuals, creating an immersive atmosphere.”
- “The dim lighting and intricate details in the environment really enhance the overall atmosphere of the game.”
- “The snow effect is very well done and adds some atmosphere.”
- “The game feels lifeless and lacks any real sense of immersion.”
- “The environments are bland and fail to evoke any emotional response.”
replayability
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players appreciate the game's strong replayability, particularly due to its engaging tower defense mechanics and extensive unlock tree, making it a worthwhile experience for fans of the genre.
- “In short, if you enjoy a good tower defense game with replayability and a large unlock tree, give this a whirl!”