Hold The Fort
- June 5, 2019
- Monster Tooth Studios
Get on Steam"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.
PC
Windows
Reviews
- The game features a wide variety of towers and spells, allowing for diverse strategies and satisfying gameplay.
- The persistent skill tree adds depth and encourages players to experiment with different tower and spell combinations.
- The graphics and visual effects are well-crafted, enhancing the overall experience and immersion in the game.
- The camera controls can be awkward, making it difficult to navigate larger maps and see all tower placements.
- Players often find the need to constantly repair towers tedious, detracting from the enjoyment of the game.
- Some maps feel repetitive and lack variation, leading to a sense of monotony in gameplay.
- graphics6 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 17 % neutral mentions
- 33 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews; while some players appreciate the detailed design of levels, towers, and spell effects, others find the visuals somewhat sterile and lacking in vibrancy. Despite this, many highlight the impressive 3D graphics, rotatable maps, and satisfying spell animations that enhance the overall experience. Additionally, there are numerous graphics options available to customize the visual experience.
“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.”
“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.”
“The graphics to me look a bit sterile, in the way that Age of Empires looks sterile when compared to Warcraft.”
- story6 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 17 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
The story in the game is described as basic and lacking depth, which is not surprising for a tower defense title. While it attempts to provide a narrative, some players feel that camera movement issues detract from immersion, though the nostalgic writing style reminiscent of classic games like Warcraft 3 is appreciated. Overall, the story serves its purpose without being a standout feature.
“I don't expect a twisting, complicated, intriguing storyline for a tower defense game obviously, so it's no biggie.”
“Sure, the camera movement problems do get in the way further down the missions too, as some tower placement spots are hardly noticeable on bigger maps.”
“The story is very basic.”
“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.”
“Some immersion is missing because of this.”
- music4 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
The music in the game receives mixed reviews; while some players appreciate the dramatic and memorable orchestral score, others find the background music nondescript and the overall audio balance poorly designed, with combat sounds being nearly inaudible compared to the UI sounds.
“The more dramatic and memorable orchestral score was a nice contrast to the nondescript background music earlier.”
“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.”
- gameplay4 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
The gameplay is engaging and dynamic, featuring a mix of deployable soldiers and towers that adds depth beyond traditional tower defense mechanics. Players appreciate the variety of enemies and a substantial talent tree, which helps maintain interest and challenge throughout. However, performance can be affected during intense moments, requiring adjustments for optimal fluidity.
“Good game, glad I got it. It was a while since I played a tower defense, and I had forgotten how fun the gameplay loop of such games is.”
“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.”
- optimization2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Overall, users note that while the game performs well, there are minor optimization issues, particularly with frame rate drops from 60 to 30 FPS when zooming in on scenes with many enemies. There is a consensus that further optimization could enhance the experience.
“Can and should still be optimized/changed: [list]”
“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.”
- atmosphere1 mentions
- 300 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
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 to the overall atmosphere.”
“The haunting soundtrack perfectly complements the eerie ambiance of the game.”
“The detailed environments create an immersive atmosphere that draws you in.”
- grinding1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to become tedious quickly, leading to frustration and a diminished enjoyment of the overall experience.
“It gets tedious fast!”
“The grinding feels endless and repetitive.”
“I find myself doing the same tasks over and over without any real reward.”
- stability1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Overall, users report a high level of stability, with no significant bugs or glitches encountered during gameplay.
