Tower Tactics: Liberation
- February 6, 2023
- asraworks
- 4h median play time
Get on Steam"Tower Tactics: Liberation" is a deck-building roguelike game that fuses tower defense mechanics, where every playthrough offers a unique experience through procedurally generated maps and randomized deck combinations. Collect valuable relics to enhance your deck, and choose your arsenal wisely to defend against the Salkoth! The challenge increases with each ascension, making the power of the Shrine essential to your success.
PC
Windows
Reviews
- Innovative blend of tower defense and deck-building mechanics, reminiscent of Slay the Spire.
- Incredible variety of towers, spells, and trinkets that allow for diverse strategies and playstyles.
- Active developer engagement with the community, leading to regular updates and improvements.
- Game can feel grindy, with separate ascension levels for each deck, making progression tedious.
- Some balance issues, with certain towers and strategies being overpowered compared to others.
- Lack of variety in enemy types and maps, leading to repetitive gameplay over time.
- gameplay139 mentions
- 31 % positive mentions
- 66 % neutral mentions
- 3 % negative mentions
The gameplay of "Tower Tactics: Liberation" is a unique blend of tower defense, deck-building, and roguelike mechanics, offering a satisfying and addictive experience. While the core mechanics are solid and provide depth through various decks and strategies, some players find the execution lacking in balance and clarity, leading to moments of dullness and repetitiveness. Overall, the game is praised for its fun concept and potential, though it could benefit from further refinement and additional content.
“Incredible depth of mechanics which different decks play for and against.”
“The deck-building mechanics and trinkets help make each run unique, and the themed decks each come with a different core strategy to work with and enhance through smart (or dumb) card selection.”
“Great tower defense game that uses the deck-building and roguelike mechanics really well.”
“While this is a roguelike, gameplay is dull.”
“All of the mechanics introduced feel half-baked, like the author just borrowed from each genre without putting much thought or showing awareness of how well they would mesh together.”
“The gameplay is simple, mindless drivel.”
- music68 mentions
- 32 % positive mentions
- 62 % neutral mentions
- 6 % negative mentions
The music in the game receives mixed reviews, with many praising the soundtrack as catchy and enjoyable, particularly during boss fights, while others find it repetitive or unengaging over time. Some players highlight specific tracks as standout pieces, describing them as "absolute bangers," while others express disappointment with the overall variety and quality, suggesting that certain tracks are annoying or poorly suited to the gameplay. Overall, the music is seen as a notable aspect of the game, though it could benefit from more variety and refinement.
“Absolute banger soundtrack.”
“And don't even get me started on the music, which has no right to go this hard - the boss theme is an absolute banger and might just be my favorite single piece of video game music.”
“The music is relaxing and easy to get into, and the sounds of projectiles firing all over the screen are quite satisfying.”
“The music is just one terrible loop that I had to mute, very disappointing.”
“The game concept is pretty good, but it could be better executed: there isn't a lot of variety in combat, the balance is a bit off, the music is sometimes pretty bad, the events are very underwhelming.”
“The visuals are neat, but I had to mute the music after 10 minutes, or I would have fallen asleep.”
- replayability34 mentions
- 53 % positive mentions
- 38 % neutral mentions
- 9 % negative mentions
The game boasts high replayability due to its roguelike elements, diverse starting decks, and extensive deck customization, allowing players to experiment with various strategies and combinations. While some users note that the game is still in early access and could benefit from additional content, many find it engaging enough to return to frequently. Overall, it offers a solid mix of fun and replay value, particularly for fans of tower defense and deck-building genres.
“Rogue-like elements bring a lot of replayability.”
“A surprisingly creative and engaging variety of towers, spells, buffs, and scenarios, with cool relics and tons of deck customization to aid replayability.”
“They have literally taken a very fundamental and hard to manipulate genre of gaming (tower defense) and made it extremely unique, highly replayable, and easily customizable to your own play style.”
“I do enjoy playing this game, and there's lots of variety and replayability, until the performance improves, I can't really say it's perfect.”
“It is still in early access, so of course I understand that new content will be coming, I just want to stress to the developer that the number one thing limiting replay value is just that there aren't enough spells and towers to make an unfathomable amount of combinations.”
“This incoherent mishmash of genres ends up being a tightly cohesive challenge with enough depth to the card choice to provide a ton of replayability - though being a roguelike helps!”
- graphics34 mentions
- 38 % positive mentions
- 53 % neutral mentions
- 9 % negative mentions
The graphics of "Tower Tactics: Liberation" receive mixed reviews, with some praising the charming pixel-art style and aesthetic reminiscent of classic flash games, while others criticize the low resolution and basic visuals. Many players find the graphics functional but lacking in detail, suggesting that improvements could enhance the overall experience. Despite the graphical shortcomings, the game is still recommended for its engaging gameplay and strategic depth.
“Great UI, graphics, animations, and a super low price make Tower Tactics: Liberation and its DLC a very easy recommendation.”
“The art style - the background in particular - is beautiful and the music as well is very nice to enjoy, especially during hectic boss fights.”
“Overall, Tower Tactics: Liberation has great graphics and exciting gameplay.”
“The graphics leave a bit to be desired and the gameplay is very dry for a tower defense.”
“Graphics are pretty small and some people will certainly struggle with seeing units, text, and icons.”
“Also, the graphics would have been low cost to make twice as good - it's just simple things like static sprites and explosion effects.”
- grinding25 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The reviews consistently highlight that the game is excessively grindy, with many players finding the progression system tedious and time-consuming. While some appreciate the genre's inherent grinding mechanics, they feel this game leans too heavily on them, leading to a lack of enjoyment and a sense of monotony. Overall, the grinding aspect is seen as a significant drawback, detracting from the overall experience.
“Grinding is an element of the genre, but this game right now is too grindy with not enough reward.”
“The problem is the game is immensely grindy.”
“There's literally no point except to pad the playtime with grinding.”
- story19 mentions
- 21 % positive mentions
- 63 % neutral mentions
- 16 % negative mentions
The game's story is largely criticized for being minimal and unengaging, with many players noting a lack of coherent narrative or character development. While there are story prompts and a premise involving a blend of magic and technology, most players found them forgettable or overshadowed by gameplay mechanics. Overall, the focus seems to be more on gameplay depth and mechanics rather than delivering a compelling story experience.
“This game reminds me a ton of Monster Train in the deck-making mechanic since you're building it as you move forward in the story.”
“This game is like Slay the Spire with tower defense (Defender's Quest maybe?) with the FTL story.”
“Moral of the story, you never know what life holds in store for you, and if I would have given up when all the odds were stacked against me, I wouldn't be where I am today.”
“The production feels rushed with its unpolished and rough UI, no explanations whatsoever for anything, a 'campaign' with no story, clunky UX, and the cherry on top, random Midjourney (or other ML) 'art' that not only raises some serious concern about the studio mentality but also doesn't match the event they're supposed to portray at all.”
“No notable story to be found.”
“There is no story, it's just Slay the Spire who had sex with a tower defense game and they gave birth to Tower Tactics Liberation.”
- stability9 mentions
- 22 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 78 % negative mentions
The stability of the game has received mixed reviews, with some players experiencing significant bugs and crashes that hinder gameplay, particularly in later stages. However, others report a smooth and polished experience, suggesting that performance may vary depending on individual hardware and playthroughs. Overall, while the game shows potential, its stability issues remain a concern for many users.
“I'm really positively surprised at how polished and bug-free my playthrough has been so far.”
“Fun and bug-free experience for me.”
“This had such potential but it is very buggy, to the point of being unplayable at times with cards flickering in and out of existence.”
“Way too many glitches that ruined very long and hard earned runs.”
“Why is the game so buggy? It literally crashes out of nowhere on one of the levels and ruined my run on the 3rd sector.”
- optimization7 mentions
- 43 % positive mentions
- 14 % neutral mentions
- 43 % negative mentions
The game's optimization is a mixed bag; while it offers a solid foundation and engaging mechanics, players report significant performance issues, particularly during endgame scenarios where frame rates can drop to 1fps. High attack speeds and numerous placed towers exacerbate these lag problems, detracting from the overall experience. Despite these challenges, the game features an interesting mana optimization system and encourages strategic tower placement, though the performance issues remain a major concern.
“It feels like this game gives players a lot of features when in reality it's just figuring out which ones you'll actually enjoy playing with and choosing for optimization.”
“Perfect crunchy tower-placement optimization, towers are played as randomly drawn cards from a deck and the game has a brilliant mana optimization system that challenges you to not spend all your mana every turn, and rewards you with increased mana production in future turns.”
“Tower composition can matter in terms of optimization, but doesn't really in terms of success.”
“It has a great foundation, it plays relatively solid although there are some rather annoying performance issues in the endgame runs where it can slow down to 1fps and that is absolutely brutal.”
“Unfortunately, as much as I do like this game, it has terrible performance.”
“Optimization-wise, it will lag a ton if you have high attack speed and placed a few towers and have auto-placing trinkets and such.”
- humor2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is derived from the awkwardness of watching enemies escape uncontested, particularly when players are hindered by ineffective cards, leading to comical situations. The contrast between the game's mechanics and the absurdity of the holy guild deck's limitations adds to the overall comedic experience.
“So you awkwardly watch enemies run with no way to stop them, which is a little funny.”
“The holy guild deck is especially bad against these, as it only has one spell (and a hilariously weak one at that), so often you just don't draw the cards you need to avoid taking damage while still building the economy you need for the purifiers.”
- monetization1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
The game features no in-app purchases, which is a positive aspect; however, players feel that the mechanic of selecting 6 stat modifiers at the start of a run detracts from the overall enjoyment and may disrupt game balance.
“Starting a run by choosing 6 stat modifiers is not fun and probably ruins the game balance.”
“The monetization strategy feels exploitative and detracts from the overall experience.”
“I feel pressured to spend money to keep up with other players, which takes away from the enjoyment of the game.”
- atmosphere1 mentions
- 300 % positive mentions
- -500 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
The game successfully establishes a dynamic atmosphere that evolves as players explore new sectors, ensuring a fresh experience throughout.
“It created an atmosphere, and when reaching new sectors, I found that it changed ever so slightly to keep it fresh.”
“The ambiance is immersive, drawing you into the world and making every moment feel significant.”
“The atmospheric design is stunning, with each location feeling unique and alive, enhancing the overall experience.”
“The atmosphere feels flat and uninspired, lacking the depth needed to immerse players in the game world.”
“Despite the potential for a rich environment, the atmosphere is often dull and fails to evoke any real emotion.”
“The game struggles to create a cohesive atmosphere, leaving players feeling disconnected from the world.”
