Tower Defense for One and All

I remember the first Dungeon Defenders being my initial introduction in the Tower Defense Genre and I was intrigued and quite smitten by it in the beginning. I find it hard to believe that was almost 10 (!) years ago as it seems like more like 20 years ago in light of recent events. Over the years, the genre has been blessed and cursed with some solid and some absolutely mediocre titles. Dungeon Defenders: Awakened is definitely one of the higher quality entries that I have played as of late. If you are new or a veteran to the series or genre, you’ll find something to like about Awakened.

Switching between build phases (where you set up your defense and offensive units) and combat phases is a breeze in Awakened and loved the no-nonsense transition between setting up your strategy and then diving right into combat. Like traditional titles, there are several waves of baddies that you have to dispatch using your own skills, spells, etc and of course, your units to blast them to bits. Easy to learn, hard to master.

The graphics and effects are the biggest improvements you notice right of the bat with Awakened but overall, mechanics are very lockstep with the previous title so nothing is revolutionary but rather, evolutionary. Either way, Awakened is an awesome place to start if you’ve never played these types of games and great for us old folks who have been there since the very beginning…