You got you RPG in my Tower Defense game!
The first tower defense game I played was Desktop Tower Defense, a simple game that is on a grid and sends wave after wave of enemy at you. This was a fun game mechanic and it would pop up with different themes in different games through the years. But, it was not until Defender’s Quest: Valley of the Forgotten that I found a game that used that mechanics to great effect in an Role Playing Game fashion.
The opening of the game shows you as the main character being dragged out of her house and thrown into the Pit. She has the plague but also realizes she has special powers. From here it opens the ability to play the game. She can bring warriors into the Half-Way Realm and allow them to kill the revenants, monsters people turn into after they die of the plague. The story starts taking twists from there as you follow what has really been happening to two kingdoms and what the ultimate goal is.
There are a host of characters that arrive in the game and each comes with their own personality. The first people you find are barbarians, who wear no armor and are humorously suicidal in their combat tactics. Then you meet the rangers, who are far more practical about their need for survival. Each of the units you meet has a person who is going to be seen in cut scenes and helps give you a feel of the personality of that unit.
Each of the units levels up, gains new skills, and can even be upgraded with new equipment. Most of this is done in towns. When in a town you can recruit units you have access to, but need to keep a close eye on the cost as the more units you have, the higher the price for the next one. Gear comes in two main forms armor and weapons. There are also things that your main character can equip, but those mainly augment her abilities and are not purchasable. When a character gains experience they level up just like you would expect in a normal RPG. Each unit has a skill tree with two branches. This means one barbarian might do a lot more damage and another might recover from wounds faster, it is up to you how you want them to work.
This game was not anywhere on my radar and that is sad because it is a great game. The units seem well thought out so as to be different and fit a certain use at a certain time. The story told through still frames is well done with attention to facial expressions and a great sense of humor. This game is a great one, and the team at Level Up Labs is already working on another.
