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Repel the Rifts

Repel the Rifts Game Cover
85%Game Brain Score
Most mentioned positive aspects:graphics, gameplay
Most mentioned negative aspects:replayability, story
85% User Score Based on 170 reviews

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Repel the Rifts Game Cover

About Repel the Rifts

Repel the Rifts is a single player tactical management game with a science fiction theme. It was developed by RefinedBearGames and was released on November 24, 2025. It received positive reviews from players.

Repel the Rifts is a roguelite tower defense game set on an alien world. As a Commander of a mining expedition gone awry, you must defend against relentless waves of inter-dimensional creatures emerging from mysterious rifts. Progress your expedition, survey further into the unknown and track down the source of the rifts. Key Features Survey the UnknownEvery other day, survey the unknown to ex…

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Repel the Rifts screenshot
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Reviews

85%Audience ScoreBased on 170 reviews
graphics10 positive mentions
story3 negative mentions
  • The game features charming pixel art and a great soundtrack that many players find appealing and nostalgic.
  • Multiple distinct commanders and unique towers provide varied strategic options and interesting synergies.
  • The roguelite elements and meta progression offer satisfying gameplay loops with decent replayability, especially in early access state.
  • The game is considered too easy and somewhat repetitive, with limited depth in tower upgrades and enemy variety reducing challenge and strategic complexity.
  • Content is limited, with few towers, limited map variation, and lack of story mode or campaign leading to low long-term engagement.
  • Balancing issues, performance problems at late-game stages, and some bugs detract from the experience, while meta progression and achievements could use improvement.

  • graphics

    21 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    48% positive mentions, 47% neutral mentions, 5% negative mentions

    The game’s pixel art graphics and retro-inspired art style receive widespread praise for their charm, variety, and resemblance to titles like Into the Breach and FTL. Reviewers highlight the visually appealing tower designs and overall aesthetic as major strengths, often describing the visuals as a key reason to enjoy the game. While the graphics are consistently lauded, some note that gameplay and content depth could be improved to match the standout art style.

    • “Pros: very cool pixel art graphics, various towers with unique features, great rogue-like features.”
    • “The graphics are also very nice reminding me of FTL and Into the Breach.”
    • “The pixel art graphics suit the gameplay very well, giving it a slightly ‘old school’ feel.”
    • “Somebody copied a quarter of the content of Tower Dominion, with Into the Breach aesthetic, and released it under Repel the Rifts.”

  • gameplay

    21 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    33% positive mentions, 53% neutral mentions, 14% negative mentions

    The gameplay offers a fun and approachable tower defense experience with a good balance of roguelite mechanics and an addictive core loop, though some find it repetitive and lacking depth, especially in progression and hero differentiation. While early gameplay is engaging with a solid difficulty curve, it can become easy and short-lived, with limited tower variety and upgrade pacing that may feel like a slog for some players. Overall, its simplicity and charm appeal to both casual and tower defense fans, but it may benefit from more content and complexity in future updates.

    • “Love the mechanics; there is a great balance between the variety and consistency of the roguelite runs.”
    • “Fun and simple tower defense game that seems very challenging at first but becomes fairly easy to play once you start to really grasp the game's mechanics and invest in upgrades.”
    • “It has a super approachable and fun gameplay loop with a solid difficulty curve!”
    • “Leveling up is a slog and makes for some repetitive gameplay as you try to unlock the tech tree.”
    • “There is no real gameplay difference between all the heroes and no progression is made after wave 25.”
    • “The game is super easy even on max difficulty and the gameplay loop is very repetitive.”

  • music

    14 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    36% positive mentions, 43% neutral mentions, 21% negative mentions

    The music is widely praised for its catchy, retro-inspired chiptune style and fitting arcade vibes, contributing strongly to the game's atmosphere. However, some users note the soundtrack lacks variety and can become repetitive over time. Overall, the soundtrack is considered excellent and enhances the gameplay experience despite its limited breadth.

    • “Earworm-as-hell chiptune battle music and nice little dee-doos when stuff lands.”
    • “The music reminds me of old school arcade games.”
    • “The OST isn't very varied, and there aren't many different towers yet, but the game is still addictive with all the possible gameplay combinations!”
    • “The soundtrack is still limited, but what’s there is genuinely excellent.”
    • “Another point of criticism is that the soundtrack, while upbeat, is pretty repetitive; I guess you can just tune out game music and put your own, then.”

  • replayability

    8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    38% positive mentions, 24% neutral mentions, 38% negative mentions

    Replayability in the game stems from its roguelike structure, offering varied tower combinations, multiple characters, and meta upgrades that change playstyle. While some towers feel similar and progression options could be deeper, experimenting with tech trees, unique upgrades, and artifacts adds meaningful variety. Overall, it provides decent replay value, especially for players who enjoy unlocking achievements and exploring different builds.

    • “Great replayability with being able to somewhat influence the map design, and the multiple different player characters.”
    • “Considering all the passives, stat increments and the way some of them can be flexed onto anything, you'll certainly get more replayability out of it.”
    • “The current replayability is tied directly to the tech tree (meta upgrades), trying out tower upgrades (unique upgrades add additional variety to towers such as dealing damage over time and armor break), and different artifacts. A few different characters drastically change the way you play too, giving more replay value since it's not just the same build every time.”
    • “As a roguelike, its replay value is basic - there are about 12 towers in the game, and you get 6 every run (with 3 guaranteed each time by your hero choice) with several doing extremely similar effects.”
    • “Once you dig a little into the meat and potatoes, somewhere around five hours in, you'll realize that the game lacks replay value unless you're the sort to chase achievements and unlock all the upgrades.”
    • “On the whole, I've had a good time with Repel the Rifts, and it'll probably stay in my rotation for a bit longer, but since it's still in early access, a little more in the way of progression and/or replay value would go a long way.”

  • story

    7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    14% positive mentions, 43% neutral mentions, 43% negative mentions

    The game lacks a traditional story mode or campaign, with repetitive missions and minimal narrative progression. While some players appreciate the strategic gameplay and character unlocks, many feel that adding varied story content and meaningful progression would greatly enhance the experience.

    • “The biggest issue is that there is no progression/story or additional levels.”
    • “You do get to unlock additional characters, but you're only going to be doing the same basic surveying mission every time.”
    • “The biggest issue is that there is no progression, story, or additional levels.”
    • “I wish there was more story-like content integrated though.”

  • optimization

    3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    100% positive mentions, -33% neutral mentions, 33% negative mentions

    Optimization is generally solid, providing smooth performance even with large numbers of enemies and faster speeds, but some users report minor issues like lag spikes and performance drops in very late-game scenarios.

    • “I didn’t encounter any bugs; the performance was smooth even on double speed with 100+ enemies on the map.”
    • “It plays well; I only have some minor performance issues in the super late game (wave 100+) on triple speed.”
    • “I really want to like this game, but it has optimization problems, frequent lag spikes, and a few bugs that just ruin the game.”
    • “I really want to like this game but it has optimization problems, frequent lag spikes, and a few bugs that just ruin the game.”

  • grinding

    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    0% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 100% negative mentions

    The game involves some grinding, but it remains manageable and not overly tedious.

  • atmosphere

    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    100% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    Users find the atmosphere of the game adorable and highly immersive, contributing positively to the overall experience. However, some feel that the roguelite elements could be better developed and the difficulty increased to enhance engagement.

    • “Nonetheless, this is adorable, super atmospheric, and I think it is a pretty good game.”
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Play Times

8h Median play time
8h Average play time
8-8h Spent by most gamers
*Based on 1 analyzed playthroughs
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Frequently Asked Questions

Repel the Rifts is a tactical management game with science fiction theme. Common tags for Repel the Rifts include turn-based, indie, roguelite, 2d, pixel graphics and others.

Repel the Rifts is available on PC, Steam Deck, Windows and Linux.

On average players spend around 8 hours playing Repel the Rifts.

Repel the Rifts was released on November 24, 2025.

Repel the Rifts was developed by RefinedBearGames.

Repel the Rifts has received positive reviews from players. Most players liked Repel the Rifts for its graphics but disliked it for its replayability.

Repel the Rifts is a single player game.

Similar games include Nordhold, Tower Tactics: Liberation, Emberward, Tower Dominion, Die in the Dungeon and others.