Taur
- February 19, 2020
- Echo Entertainment
- 9h median play time
Slightly above average or simply inoffensive. Fans of the genre should enjoy them a bit, but a fair few will be left unfulfilled.
Get on Steam"Taur is a single-player action-strategy sci-fi game with wonderful mechanics and fabulous visuals. Command the Prime Cannon, unlock and upgrade weapons and abilities, and build defenses to withstand different types of attacks. Every object in the environment is destructible, providing a tactically engaging experience, but beware of the heavy grinding."
PC
Windows
Reviews
- Great graphics and sound design, creating an engaging visual and auditory experience.
- Unique gameplay that combines tower defense with active shooting mechanics, allowing players to control the main cannon.
- Satisfying progression system with a tech tree that offers various upgrades and strategies.
- Repetitive gameplay with limited enemy and mission variety, leading to a lack of long-term engagement.
- Difficulty spikes can be frustrating, especially when losing a mission results in a significant setback.
- The random nature of weapon upgrades can lead to disappointing outcomes, making it feel less rewarding.
- story598 mentions
- 9 % positive mentions
- 84 % neutral mentions
- 7 % negative mentions
The game's story is minimal and largely underwhelming, with players noting that it lacks depth and character development, primarily serving as a backdrop for the gameplay. Most reviews emphasize that the narrative is simplistic, revolving around defending against invaders, and that the missions quickly become repetitive without significant variation or engaging storytelling elements. While some players appreciate the gameplay mechanics, they express a desire for a more substantial story to enhance the overall experience.
“The story is super simple but makes sense and needs little added.”
“The main issue here for me personally is that the story and campaign is quite underwhelming in the sense that you only get the actual gameplay.”
“What I would have liked to see, as you can probably guess, is that there needs to be an actual story... more bosses that encourage you to actually play the game more.”
“This is not a game you play for its story; it really doesn't have much.”
“There is really no story, neither campaign. The customization is nice, you could play the game again on different difficulty and using a different build, however the levels get repetitive very quickly.”
“The story takes about 7-8 hours to get through and is very bare bones.”
- gameplay358 mentions
- 40 % positive mentions
- 54 % neutral mentions
- 7 % negative mentions
The gameplay of the game is characterized by a simple yet engaging loop that involves mission-based resource gathering and tech tree advancement, but many players find it repetitive and lacking in depth after a few hours. While the graphics and sound design are praised, the core mechanics often feel unbalanced or frustrating, with issues like poor aiming and weak tower defense elements detracting from the overall experience. Despite its potential and some enjoyable aspects, the game struggles with content limitations and a lack of variety, leading to a mixed reception regarding its long-term replayability.
“It's a great game with nice ambience, sounds and graphics, with successful mechanics that make you play it over and over again.”
“The graphics and visuals are absolutely stunning, and the gameplay is very engaging.”
“The gameplay is enjoyable but, it feels lacking in variety.”
“Very frustrating as this has the potential to be a fantastic game, but currently the core gameplay/fun proposition is broken, as it's a bad 'shooter', with awful aim and unsatisfying/untactful player-controlled shooting, but also a bad tower defense, with turrets and units that are very weak and can't be relied upon for anything.”
“While the graphics and sound design are decent, the gameplay itself is lackluster and fails to engage the player in a meaningful way.”
“The gameplay loop gets old with no way to modify or alter the experience other than your tower build.”
- graphics282 mentions
- 70 % positive mentions
- 27 % neutral mentions
- 4 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game have received widespread praise for their stunning visuals, unique art style, and impressive effects, particularly during explosive moments. Many players appreciate the game's ability to run smoothly even during large-scale battles, although some have noted optimization issues that can affect performance on lower-end systems. Overall, the visuals are described as immersive and engaging, contributing significantly to the game's appeal despite some criticisms regarding gameplay depth.
“The graphics and visuals are absolutely stunning, and the gameplay is very engaging.”
“This game has been very fun and the visuals are fantastic.”
“The aesthetics, from the visual design to the sound effects, are awesome, and once you get these massive battles on screen it's chaotic and exciting.”
“On the other hand, optimization is still terrible as lowering the graphic settings does not change anything at all.”
“As such, the game requires a significantly better graphics card (and CPU) than what is stated in the system requirements.”
“Do not get suckered in by the visuals and sound design, and its promises of 'strategy' lest you end up like me; horribly disappointed by the actual gameplay.”
- replayability98 mentions
- 29 % positive mentions
- 51 % neutral mentions
- 20 % negative mentions
The reviews reflect a mixed perspective on replayability, with some players enjoying the ability to experiment with different strategies and builds, while others criticize the game for its limited content and lack of variety after the initial playthrough. Many users note that although there are elements that could enhance replay value, such as different difficulty levels and playstyles, the overall experience tends to become stale quickly due to repetitive gameplay and a lack of new content. Overall, while some find the game fun and worth revisiting, many agree that it falls short in providing substantial replayability.
“Over all 10/10 game that hasn't stopped being fun and replayable in my 929 hours of play time over the course of like 5 years.”
“I enjoy the experience and believe it has decent replay value, as there is room to try different builds and strategies.”
“Great replay value too since you can try different strategies and base layouts.”
“The only downside I see is the relatively short playing time, which is about 8 hours per run, and the lack of replayability, because you see all there is in the first run.”
“The game lacks replayability as a result.”
“There is no replay value in the game, since it is the same enemies, the same towers, and the same tech tree.”
- music76 mentions
- 47 % positive mentions
- 49 % neutral mentions
- 4 % negative mentions
The music in the game receives mixed reviews; while many players praise the soundtrack as amazing and fitting, they express disappointment over the lack of music during actual gameplay, particularly in battles. Some players find the absence of a dynamic soundtrack during intense moments detracts from the overall experience, leading them to seek external music to enhance their gameplay. Overall, the music is appreciated for its quality, but its limited application within the game is a notable drawback.
“On one hand, the game implements some great mechanics, is epic, has great music and decent visuals.”
“Brutal sound effects in the battles, and impeccable sci-fi feeling music in the preparations part.”
“The gameplay is immensely enjoyable, the soundtrack, graphics, and game mechanics flow smoothly with each other.”
“The problem with this game is there is no soundtrack.”
“The game itself is pretty decent, but for some reason, shooting a horde of minions with a lot of explosions without any uplifting soundtrack like in the trailer makes the game dull.”
“Firstly, no level music, so make sure to bring your own.”
- grinding24 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players generally find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and overly time-consuming, particularly after initial excitement fades. While the variety of upgrades and choices can be enjoyable at first, many reviewers express frustration with long wait times, repetitive gameplay, and a reliance on randomness that detracts from the experience. Overall, the grind can feel excessive, with some players noting that significant content is overshadowed by hours spent on repetitive tasks.
“You will constantly be cast into death spirals over and over with no hope of recovery; the progression can feel pretty grindy, and nearly everything the player does is dictated by pure randomness.”
“All in all, you're missing out on about 1 hour's worth of content with 5 hours of grinding.”
“A few cons: it got too grindy to upgrade weapons later on when you had to start using building cores, so I just focused on tower upgrades at that point.”
- optimization12 mentions
- 25 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 25 % negative mentions
Overall, the game's optimization is praised for its performance relative to the graphics, but players have noted issues with the user interface, settings, and font readability. There are concerns about performance dips later in the game and the reliance on RNG for upgrades, which can hinder early-game performance. While the core gameplay is enjoyable, improvements in menu navigation and clearer indicators of optimization effectiveness are recommended.
“To start off with, the optimization is fantastic for the level of graphics, and I absolutely adore the sound effects and the way enemies die and fall apart.”
“Although it has gameplay that I can definitely recommend at discounts, I recommend the devs improve the main menu UI, settings, fonts, and performance.”
“- A big part of the game is an upgrade mechanic (to increase your main weapon's damage) that completely relies on RNG, eats up a ton of resources, and can easily cripple your performance, especially early game.”
“Although it has gameplay that I can definitely recommend on discount, I recommend the devs improve the main menu UI, settings, fonts, and performance.”
“So there is no really good way to tell if your offense/defense configuration is optimized or which towers are doing what.”
“- A big part of the game is an upgrade mechanic (to increase your main weapon's damage) that completely relies on RNG, consumes a ton of resources, and can easily cripple your performance, especially early game.”
- stability12 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 67 % negative mentions
The game's stability is a mixed bag; while many users report it feeling polished and largely bug-free, there are notable issues such as freezing on exit, problems with tabbing out, and occasional crashes during gameplay. Some players experience minor technical glitches, particularly related to mouse functionality when using a controller. Overall, while the game is generally stable, it is not without its frustrating quirks.
“In fact, the entire game seems to be bug-free.”
“But while the game feels quite polished and bug-free, I quickly realized that while all the turrets you can call in add to the overall damage you will cause, exchanging a few towers here and there hardly makes a difference in the big picture.”
“The game sometimes doesn't close, and tabbing out of the game is buggy.”
“The game now locks up/freezes on exit.”
“There are small technical issues, such as mouse acceleration and the mouse not being usable when a USB-plugged controller is connected. The game also freezes when using the exit option from the main menu.”
- humor6 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game is praised for its humor, particularly through its ironic and cheeky tone that playfully mocks the player. The comedic elements are highlighted by the absurdity of the gameplay, where players engage in humorous combat scenarios. Overall, the humor adds a lighthearted and entertaining layer to the gaming experience.
“Funny game where you kill stuff with more stuff.”
“Funny pew pew.”
“I do love that irony at the beginning of the game though... sort of insulting the gamer in a cheeky, funny way... love that bit.”
- emotional2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The emotional aspect of the game is currently hindered by unresolved issues, leading players to express frustration and a reluctance to engage until improvements are made in future updates.
- atmosphere2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Reviewers consistently praise the game's atmosphere, highlighting the impressive soundtrack and level art as key elements that enhance the overall experience. The combination of these factors creates an engaging and immersive environment for players.
“The soundtrack, level art, and atmosphere are all amazing.”
