What Makes Tower Defence Games Good?

I've spent many hours clicking away at various tower defence games, and there's something so addicting about them. Taking time to set everything up and watching them demolish everything in it's path. I know I'm certainly not the only one who has played hundreds of hours of TD games, but maybe I can try to pick apart certain mechanics of the game to show and explain to you why me and so many others love it so much.
Links to all the games in the description! (Sadly, many of these will not work anymore).
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Escaped Reality Aftershow:
• Escaped Reality Podcas...
Sorry if I didn't mention your favourite game! I know I missed a few I meant to get but I wanted to get this out at a reasonable time and didn't want it to be a 45 minute overview of just different TD games.
Non Game Links:
IGN Article "Why We Love Tower Defense"
ca.ign.com/articles/2012/09/2...
AVGN Episode on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:
• Teenage Mutant Ninja T...
Battlefield 2 Trailer:
• Video
List of games featured in the video (Alphabetically)
Age Of Empires II: HD Edition
store.steampowered.com/app/22...
Age of War:
www.maxgames.com/play/age-of-w...
Bloons Tower Defence 5:
ninjakiwi.com/Games/Tower-Def...
Bubble Tanks TD:
onemorelevel.com/game/bubble_t...
Canyon Defence:
onemorelevel.com/game/canyon_d...
Dungeon Defenders:
store.steampowered.com/app/65...
Gemcraft:
onemorelevel.com/game/gemcraft
Kingdom Rush:
kingdomrush.com/play/
Mini TD:
onemorelevel.com/game/mini_td
Onslaught 2:
onslaught.playr.co.uk/
Plants VS Zombies:
store.steampowered.com/app/35...
Tower Defence by Roman Sanine:
onemorelevel.com/game/tower_de...
Ultimate Defence:
onemorelevel.com/game/ultimate...
Vector TD:
www.coolstreaming.us/forum/arc...
#RealityEscape #TowerDefence #TowerDefense

[@RealityEscape]

Hey guys! I didn't cover Bloons TD 6 because I haven't had a chance to play it yet. If I wanted to do it justice, I would have had to spend a lot of time playing it (Time I didn't have) and this video wouldn't have been out for another month. I chose 5 because I spent multiple periods of years playing it, I wanted to bring up co-op which from my understanding, 6 doesn't have, and I wanted to talk about Bloons TD Battles which uses the same system as Bloons TD 5 so it made the explanation a lot easier. I understand you may be confused or upset that 6 isn't in there, but please stop leaving comments implying I don't know what I'm doing, that I ignored the game on purpose, or as someone put in a now removed comment "that I have wronged the entire community by not mentioning it." I praised Bloons td 5 because I really really like it, and I will eventually play 6, but I only have so much time in a day and didn't want to delay the video any further. I'm going to dive into this a little bit more in about a week and a half on "Escaped Reality" which is an aftershow podcast I do, so I'll talk more about this then. Until then guys, I'm not disrespecting 6 by not talking about it. If I was going to talk about it, I wanted to do it justice, which I wouldn't have been able to do with the time frame I had set for myself.

[@ajizod]

It's okay, the video was great anyways

[@Xanthopathy]

nice

[@veryhard8548]

Yeah I get it. I would recommend you play it when you have time, though. 13 different game modes per track does take a while if you want to really get the game, lol.

[@hanneskillerblue6282]

Hey RealityEscape, i don't think so, but have you tried Plants vs Zombies Garden Warfare, it has a bit in common with the first person game you showed in this video, but it' mostly based on pvp, where you have to defend/capture a garden, and a standard defend the garden mode, only playing against bots. I whould really recomend it too, liked the video, bye.

[@workingbutnotreally]

is you wanted the full td5 experience you should have got the steam version which has better graphics and more towers... (But you probably already new that)

[@gonemad_r6404]

Ah yes, my favorite dungeon defenders character, heavy from tf2

[@SJohann]

POOT HEALING AURA HERE!

[@U-Trance]

Brass beast heavy with a medic haha

[@qyline8008]

I miss the modded weapons from that game - Staffs that killed the entire map, pets that just expolded

[@peckledpeepers2958]

Cool you noticed to! Pootis!

[@gonemad_r6404]

@@qyline8008 I really didnt, it ruined the game on Xbox 360 for people like me who wanted to play legit

[@Aliensrock]

Would love to hear your thoughts on Bloons TD 6 once you try it, it's without a doubt the pinnacle of the genre. And you summed up my thoughts on Co-op really well: it needs a major overhaul before it gets added to 6, because right now, it just isn't very fun.

[@ravinmarokef]

Lol I don't think I've ever seen you comment on a video that's not made by the bloonstubers. Love the challenges and collabs btw!

[@yellowbed]

Ayyy Tyler love ur vids. I don’t even play BTD6 but I’ve been watching since Battles and you’re so funny I watch the BTD6 videos becuase of you. Keep doing what you’re doing, keep it up

[@RealityEscape]

Wow, thanks for the comment! I remember watching your stuff back when I was really into Bloons TD stuff. I'm thinking I'll most likely make a follow up video on it at some point once I've actually had the time to sit down and play it properly.

[@AxyDC]

Love the collabs man keep doing it

[@sanjadg5066]

I love ur vids

[@Intrafacial86]

I grew up playing against the AI in Starcraft, unknowingly treating it like a tower defense game where I would absolutely saturate my bases with defensive structures - almost to the point of not having enough resources left to build an army. When it finally felt like my base could handle anything that came its way, I would then build a massive fleet of units and just attack-move them across the map. This was most satisfying to do as the Zerg with like 80-90 Guardians, as they had that nice long range and heavy air-to-ground firepower. It was quite a rude awakening to find out much later that _that_ wasn’t how the “professionals” played the game at _ALL._

[@philiptetherow71]

Totally same. I wouldn't move out of my base until I had 200 supply of carriers.

[@JamesListener]

Exactly how I played Warcraft 3 xD Many towers and would not leave my base until I use up all the unit limit))))

[@zzasdfwas]

I'm surprised you didn't include anything on Warcraft 3 custom maps. That was a huge part of the tower defense history. One advantage of the WC3 maps was that they were for the most part all multiplayer, and usually had several "classes" you could choose from, so your towers were usually distinct from the other players. Most were either coop or had independent players, but some of the coolest were competitive. Line tower wars was really good, since it forced you to balance defense and attacking other players.

[@petiks6391]

I miss Mafa TD

[@MrZml0001]

Shibi's still the best td ever!

[@angelo4678]

Azure TD was one of my favorite TD's. As I'm writing this, I remember pokemon TD as well but there are some maps that I definitely forgot that were my most played maps back in the days

[@skyguy713]

Element TD was a favorite

[@carver3147]

I thought he would go into WC3 custom TD games as well, so many good ones. Wintermaul, WMW, Power Towers, LTW, Burbenog TD just to name a few

[@RealityEscape]

I can't believe I never caught "Cameo Bloons". Don't write and record and edit late at night, kids.

[@gonemad_r6404]

Lol

[@RealityEscape]

I had just bought something on the cameo site and welp. As a kid I always got it confused. I really want to delete the whole video and redo that bit but oh well.

[@gonemad_r6404]

@@RealityEscape There's really no need for that. Its such a minor thing that it doesnt matter.

[@jacedal]

@@RealityEscape Don't delete the whole video, it's a little typo, it doesn't matter. Besides, it sounds cooler.

[@gggaming2009]

you should play the tower defence game on roblox called *mecha cubes* (edit) its good if you want 30 - 1 hour + games (edit edit) theres also coop and pvp mode and theres a speed button for the enemys and it has tower perks and you do get less starting money but you also get the same ammount of money liek the money shares too (edit edit edit)the video is great! no need to redo

[@1AmGroot]

"The most common themes are: Military themed, which, makes sense. Medival themed, which, makes sense. Futuristic themed, which, makes sense. And monkey themed. Well, sure. Why not"

[@atnorange5491]

Lol

[@DrenchedAlgae]

Haha it makes sense though xD

[@sheep7815]

Wow it’s almost like we watched the same video

[@deletedaccount3047]

Chris well, technically it wasn’t due to difference in system quality and pixel count

[@squareplaygaming7206]

as a "fellow gamer" ive got to say dd2 is a compete flop... its p2w now with crazy special OP tower mods you can "grind special coins" for or quickly hush over 10 bucks for a very much unbeatable flamethrower tower or massive AoE bosskiller dmg earthcuake towers... not only that but the devs dont respond to absolutely nothing from me after they pretty much trashed my gamefile of over 2 years and just gave me a few million coins and emblems witch are completely useless and can buy me a pretty crappy set of armor from the tavern... and then i would be broke again.. my file got so broke that i cant even finish the tutorial... all my chars are lvl 50(max) without any stats or points to spend.. all my legendary harbinger 7 nightmare stuff got tossed out and my legendary event pet dragon got dunped.. im all sorts of furious with this game but the things i listed are factually objective... and noone even took a look at my acc or tried to fix the mess

[@seraphendipity]

“Copying and pasting code” Well yes, that’s what coding is

[@fortnitesexman]

Seraphendipity unless you're a super brain genius who can code without doing that

[@daguido742]

but where does that code come from? what came first? the coder or the code?

[@fortnitesexman]

DaGido LP very obvious answer The coder did As I said if you're a super brain genius you can do it Well..or if you're a massive group of people collectively figuring out how code should function

[@coolbugfacts3953]

@@fortnitesexman a super brain genius would know not to waste their time reinventing the wheel and would know the best places to copy code from

[@archive2500]

Exactly. It is logic. It is consistent. We want order and organization.

[@tankiflo7155]

One Game I loved was Sanctum 2. It's like Dungeon Defenders but in 1st Person and with a lot of different guns and characters. You can (and need to) change the map by placing walls so the enemy takes longer to reach your base. I really have some fond memories of it!

[@ciCCapROSTi]

Who's the best? Sweet's the best! Ayyyeeeee!

[@balazsnagy7717]

Ahhhhh the Pain Station

[@Obi-Wan_Kenobi62]

*Laughs in Defense Grid: The Awakening*

[@bobbbbEE]

The story progression is pretty basic but also cool

[@GenericTerrorist]

Ah yes, cameo bloons, my greatest adversaries

[@uacrimsonbolt]

Ugh. As a die-hard Bloons fan, I just cringed every time I heard that. Seriously, dude, it’s CAMO, it’s even spelled out in the game hints!

[@douglaswetak9686]

Same here

[@TheBasikShow]

I know, right? You’re sitting with your defense, having a good time, when suddenly Will Smith Bloon turns up for no reason. How do they expect to keep long-term engagement with this kind of shit?

[@frostplays155]

I just die at the end of 98 because I like the Wizard Lord Phoenix because I like phoenixes, but how I get to 98 is the druid, super monkey.

[@frostplays155]

Sometimes I just spam necromancers or just a prince of darkness. But the Brewster always comes in clutch. Along with the alchemist to deal damage

[@Adamlovesvideos]

The Kingdom rush franchise is my favorite tower defense games. Although it was showed I was a little bummed that it wasn’t looked further into because it does bring unique elements to the table.

[@justthatonekid2491]

Yea ikr I think kr is a rival to btd6

[@Adamlovesvideos]

@@justthatonekid2491 It defiantly does.

[@hyd3334]

I agree Kingdom rush has just an unique charm to it.

[@fishergreer36]

Yes

[@Twitching_Stars]

unfortunately, he isn't going to spend hours playing every one of this games, I do agree kingdom rush brings up a lot of unique features, but he also missed many features about bloons series, and i'm sure he also missed features of the other mentioned games.

[@gringusgaming]

Pokemon Tower Defense and Minecraft Tower Defense are two that I remember loving a lot. All of the games mentioned in this video are super familiar, but I've forgotten the names of all of em except for PvZ and BTD

[@starryyknight]

pokemon tower defense was truly visionary, I'm surprised it wasn't more popular

[@DarkShadow8754]

@@starryyknight It was very tedious to farm xp to level up your pokemon, that's probably the main reason.

[@Slash4764]

I don’t know if you already knew it but there is also infinitode (1 and 2) as a tower defence game . If you didn’t know this game, his particularity is that towers can be upgraded with a skill tree in the menu which use materials that we collect through the levels.

[@konstick66-pepeland60]

Thank you! I've been searching for that game for a while now, and finally remembered it's name because of you. Thank you for help!

[@jakeread9668]

Kingdom Rush was really well designed. I loved how you could only build towers in certain places as it meant you had to think way more about placements than just dumping hundreds of towers in one place

[@fabian67307]

I feel like it's the best out of its entire genre

[@HellBlade-od2mf]

Its the best one, huge variety of enemies, a good variety of towers, post-game campign is really challenging, BOSSES, most things are easily understandable and the best thing is the wave reduction updates (mobile KR) where u dont have to play 30 waves for a boss to come out.

[@guilhermecandeias9697]

So true. Love all of them

[@zoont_]

I have trouble deciding which one is better. Kingdom rush or bloons

[@HellBlade-od2mf]

@@zoont_ Kingdom Rush, I've played both and, while Bloons is more complicated, the only goal in the game is to get as far as possible. In KR, there is the campign, post campign, challenges, bosses and other stuff

[@hiimapop7755]

6:51 The name's Kingdom Rush :)

[@hugo57k91]

He put it once early one and later fogot about it, it seems

[@tgnm9615]

great game! made my TD god of mobile Ironhide my favourite is kingdom rush origins

[@user-ms6yu3oy3l]

@@tgnm9615 What's your opinion on kingdom rush vengeance??

[@tgnm9615]

劉宇軒 haven't tried that games yet bc the game is 5$ my god

[@user-ms6yu3oy3l]

@The Shpee Or just buy the steam version to get all of them

[@Warliet]

And then with 2020 Arknights for Mobile came up on use to be played.

[@mechanomics2649]

I actually got my start in tower defense games in the early '00s with StarCraft. I've played tons of tower defense games but haven't come across many that scratch that particular itch for me.

[@angusmalcolm6883]

Tower defence games have to be one of the best genres of games, especially the large, notable ones like BTD5/6/battles, Kingdom rush and PVZ (OG) which practically raised children.

[@btd5dp3]

This series is my chillhood

[@missourifishing8732]

I wish I had the money for btd6

[@skeletizer]

Those 3 series raised me more than my patents did lmao

[@coldterror7576]

Gemcraft should be up there as well

[@adriaen3538]

@@skeletizer same

[@bp_cherryblossomtree723]

OCD people playing PVZ will always want to make their garden look nice

[@ianray8383]

I got too organized there was a time i kept losing bcus i do it by lane, and ignore the most vulnerable lane. Ahh, good times...

[@naiyamay2356]

I can confirm this.

[@aboomeraang1035]

Symmetry before anything

[@jasonbraun1469]

BP_CherryBlossomTree um....... I totally don’t try to do that...........

[@sniksnak559]

I agree so much

[@benjaminbrugger4719]

I’d absolutely suggest the game „Cursed treasure 2“ it’s a pretty classic td Soptopad with cool sound design that lets you actually act on your own by casting spells and such. It also lets you use parts of the map as towers after raiding/buying/whatever-ing them. Overall really cool Game and one of my favourite tds

[@qllams]

Absolutely the best. One of the rare games where I play with the sound on. And it's so pretty, too!

[@AranhaaTheSixtyninth]

I recommend Mindustry, It is Tower defence and ""'sandbox""" like factorio, and 2d, It is N I C E

[@leontius5502]

Mindustry is a good game but I think it's either too small or has too little content to be in this video

[@rafhaelgonzales3436]

@@leontius5502 ikr. i mean theres multi player but it doesnt satisfy my hunger for content

[@cancerguy5435]

@@leontius5502 tfw, I've spent 100 hours on the game on V5, which was like 2 times smaller than V6. Also, you can make mods for this game or play ones made by other players, possibilities are almost infinite lol.

[@redacted5937]

@@cancerguy5435 true. When I play time just flies by. It's also very satisfying to see your factories work and grow.

[@vwerlg9954]

omg I love that game

[@teamont5]

4:00 enemies: 300k people towers: usa military track: nevada deserts ME AND THE BOYS RAIDING AREA 51

[@gabijota11]

more like 3 people tbh

[@bearcatben4762]

7:30

[@KnightoftheSorryFace]

69 likes

[@pussinboots9983]

LOL even the destination is named "Area 51".

[@vappyenjoyer24]

@@gabijota11 more like 1

[@astrotortoise33]

I saw your clicker game video when it came out and scratched my head when I didn't see 100k plus subs. I'm glad I subbed. These videos are great! Great quality and you definitely deserve more subs

[@danzeelot4845]

I noticed that there are more channels with amazing content but not with many subs these days

[@b-rad9270]

You know channels who make videos like this? Videos that are really long and make a "documentary" about a topic. Those channels are amazing but don't get the recognition they deserve, well we are Lucky we found them at least.

[@crazymangoz9583]

Same

[@TheDeathOrange]

@@b-rad9270 Razbuten makes fantastic documentary style content about video games as well.

[@NilEoe]

The nostalgia as I see my whole childhood in those flash TD games :)

[@chadkruse6950]

A great underrated tower defense is the sanctum series, and it's a shame so few people know about them

[@burgerman72.]

Game: “Tower Defence” **shows kingdom rush**

[@iappeareverywhere6351]

It's still tower defense

[@noahvries3328]

A man of culture I see

[@assassincheese2307]

I know this is old and sry, but I really don't get what you mean

[@burgerman72.]

What

[@assassincheese2307]

@@burgerman72. Is kindom rush not a tower defense game now?

[@thisisiampie6946]

Rip battles. Also who else was low-key only here for bloons. Also also bloons and pvz have amazing music

[@dennisodischew7201]

Bloons

[@shirohae6430]

me

[@MINDAUGAS716]

What happened to battles?

[@bipitybop_]

Kingdom Rush also has legendary music

[@absorb5161]

Lol

[@rendomstranger8698]

Well, KZbin recommended this video just before I was planning to play some Creeper world. So I might as well tell those who don't know that Creeper World is a tower defence game that exists. A tower defence where you fight an ocean to be precise. Kinda puts the traditional tower defence games to shame.

[@AbsoluteChazmania]

Creeper World’s a good series, though 1 and 3 are the better ones, and 4 basically takes the way those two work and brings it into 3D, with some better realization of fluid dynamic. I’ve beaten 1, I’m stuck on day 12 (I think) in 2, I’m stuck at a particular system the number of which I don’t remember in 3, and I’m stuck on the final main story level in 4 not including the secret one after the story. On a scale of One to worse than the flood from halo how would you rate fighting an ocean?

[@davidarvingumazon5024]

Minecraft vs Zombies 2 by Zor Cuer

[@stevez2158]

I really do wish more people knew about this absolute gem of a game. It combines the best aspects of tower defense with the freedom of an RTS game.

[@angelo4678]

I remember logging in to Armor Games and played so much of it during my high school years. I really loved it

[@eric_pain.]

I like creeper world, it doesn't (usually) force a "get this level done before x" (apart from i think level 5 or 6 in cw1 level 18 or 19 in cw2 and the 2nd to last area in cw3) i just like the whole "surrounded by enemy" thing :/

[@ismlamaroof6438]

The open concept style is by far the more fun kind, imo. You get to make all kinds of mazes with your towers and that is a big part of the fun. It also allows for a lot more towers to be placed on the map. The best game I ever played for this was Tower Madness 1, which had a good choice of towers and you could upgrade them a lot. An AOE mortar tower eventually became a nuclear missile silo, rofl.

[@Loctorak]

I don't really agree. It always felt to me that there was the meta formation of tower placement that was the most cost effective, and once you knew you had to do that it was like... every game felt the same and like i had no choices to make, just tasks to complete in a time limit - it was really unrewarding for me so i stopped playing them after a couple of weeks 😔

[@AlexanderNash]

​@@Loctorakbecause it's limitations that breed creativity.

[@temtempo13]

I think my favorite Tower Defense game is Defense Grid -- I really liked what felt like a great variety in levels. As for what makes a Tower Defense game good, I think being able to understanding what makes a strategy effective is really important to me, which means being able to predict how well a tower will function. I really appreciate it when the tradeoffs for each of the towers is presented clearly and accurately, and when I can easily tell how well a kind of tower is performing. This is why I really liked PvZ, because it always felt extremely obvious how many shots each kind of zombie took, how effective each tower was and why exactly a plan fell apart. Defense Grid likewise felt like it was possible to quickly determine what towers worked best in what contexts; in contrast, I never really got a good sense of how to play effectively in Gemcraft; I gave up on it pretty quickly because it never ended up feeling satisfying.

[@zioniczenko]

I want to double down on this: what made Defense Grid so enjoyable to me were clearly defined towers and save states. In Bloons, when I lose, it's generally to late-stage rush, and I have no clue what I could have done to achieve more power. In DG, the threats and counters are so specific that I instantly know how I could have been more clever last round - and then I can just hit backspace and play the last round again! Also, Dungeon Defenders has Heavy, but Defense Grid has GLaDOS. So I guess there is no clear winner 🤷‍♂️

[@RedAutumn0706]

Arknights is PvZ mixed with BtD, the ads are cringe but god damn the TD is amazing

[@5upermini555]

And the BGM is also top notch. But yeah, the initial ads of the game are really cringe, until you watch the official trailers from the JP server and the recent ones on Global

[@Rock07525]

BtD?

[@coolgamer2964]

Those are literally my 2 favorite tower defense games, this game sounds really cool.

[@Dota2OG]

basicly i had the same experience with tds , staarted with w3 mods and than flash games , and than all tds on earth , now i am trying to do my dream and make the best TD ever , studiyng what is best in all of the ones i ever payed , i am on the estart of this journey and i hope i get to where i want , thanks for the video

[@pqjsmzhwdidigsbrlsyahwnwue8439]

KINGDOM RUSH! The first one was unbalanced but it got much better after that. Vengeance was too easy lol

[@weloniko]

frontiers is way harder on steam than flash

[@thokrumgrozo-gamersteamcz9531]

@@weloniko wait, really? I can beat KR 1, Origins and Vengeance on any difficulty, but i have big problem with Frontiers even in casual difficulty...ON MOBILE! xDD

[@williamwyckoff]

I would rate it Frontiers is Hardest, then First, Vengeance, then Origins. Giving barracks bows just made them too OP

[@mako8728]

Really? I cant finish vengeance What should i use as tower

[@Redpanda1214]

I only don't like about kingdom rush was it's so short you can finish it in 1day

[@slovnicurling9808]

I don't see anybody mention Cursed Treasure. Really good browser TD.

[@GDO9099]

The lava/volcano tower is op

[@carloscharles9689]

Thanks man for mentioning this TD since I forgot what it was called and now I enjoy it more then I should.

[@slovnicurling9808]

@@GDO9099 you need something op against op ninjas :D

[@slovnicurling9808]

@@carloscharles9689 You are welcome. Probably my favourite browser TD. Btw just in case you didn't know there are 2 games and the first has a level pack with the same amout levels as the basic game. So basically 3 games.

[@fishecake2794]

really good game, also do you know incursion? its also in my opinion just as good as Cursed Treasure

[@Nimta]

Everyone always seems to miss that BTD5 *did* in fact have a chat system, which you access simply by pressing Enter/Return.

[@lolucorn1]

Which is why btd6 chat is infinitely worse

[@Somerandomguy2763]

@@lolucorn1 what chat

[@lolucorn1]

@@Somerandomguy2763 that little icon on the top of the money giving tab

[@Somerandomguy2763]

@@lolucorn1 oh i thought it was like free chat

[@fosoofkkkfkfkckd]

the flash version, not the steam and mobile version

[@Goremize]

This is like an insane nostalgia hit of old flash games back when that was so popular. Man I miss those Flash days...

[@elnogal9298]

You speaked so little about Kingdom Rush it almost makes me sad, well, it actually does make me so sad.

[@thememegod8938]

“Me too kid, me tooo

[@oom-3262]

its the best tower defense game with 0 doubt

[@systeminvalid6906]

@@oom-3262 nah BTD is

[@bakes1324]

@@systeminvalid6906 if a kingdom rush game released with the same amount of content as btd 6 it would be the best td of all time

[@bugjams]

@@systeminvalid6906 They're different sub-genres of TD games, it's not really fair to call one "better." The main difference is that Bloons doesn't really have "stall" units that stay on the path, whereas a huge part of Kingdom Rush's strategy is to use path units to block enemies while DPS towers clean them up. In Bloons, there's really very little strategy aside from good placement and tower combos. Defeating a wave of bloons is _really_ just a damage check, when you think about it. Nothing against Bloons btw, I love both game series to death. I just wish there were more games like Kingdom Rush - games where you have clear-cut areas where you can place towers (like building plots, or tiles, as opposed to just placing them anywhere they can fit). It makes your tower placement feel much more strategic and important. Recently, the closest thing I found is Arknights, but that game has so many different mechanics as well, that it can barely even be called a tower defense game.

[@clayton8or]

Canyon Defense was a big part of my flash game mid childhood...

[@davidpereira5969]

Yeah

[@soup3583]

Canyon defense 2.i loved it

[@arjunamalinao8312]

Yes yeeeet

[@hollyleaf3941]

+1

[@SergeantMolt]

Dude that was my after-and-during-school JAM

[@kyarumomochi5146]

Arknights is an amazing tower defense game that also shows that tower defense games can go to the "offensive" specrtrum

[@soul3r248]

Finally I've found an Arknights comment, good luck dokutah

[@kyarumomochi5146]

@@soul3r248 good luck too doktah! I wish you wished me luck before i got an offbanner on ash :D

[@soul3r248]

@@kyarumomochi5146 Stay strong, you'll see in the kal'sit and skalter banner ;)

[@SheCallsMeNov]

Tower Defense game for weebs ngl

[@CrazyLikeUhFox]

Surprised I had to scroll so long to find Arknights.

[@mrinalnandi3988]

i just know this channel is gonna be huge ,waiting for the time i can brag to others about being before the million mark,gg my man great video !

[@collectiusindefinitus6935]

Onslaught 2 predicted the Area 51 raid

[@NightFore]

19:45 That Heavy from Team Fortress 2 running around though.

[@Lolo_Antonio-FryEmUpFan]

Man vs magic

[@meepoffaith6153]

Ya da da da da da da da da da

[@lefishe9011]

@@meepoffaith6153 It is good day to be not dead

[@maxdukhovskoy1406]

15:26 the supermonkey on the victory screen matched up with the music lol

[@scottjones8473]

I am sooooo glad you put Gemcraft in the video. It was my favorite game as a kid. Such a fun game to pass the time, keep it up! Love the videos!

[@Sandvichnsuch]

GemCraft is probably my favorite of the bunch since there's so many maps, so much scaling and a massive variety in how you go about it.

[@pepkin88]

Moreover, in my opinion it should be treated as a saga, 5 games as of now. The first of the series was much simpler than the later ones, I think it's a good starting point. You can see that each game had a bit different approach, with different balance and overall game strategy. Also the controls were evolving - in Chapter 0 you had to combine gems manually, but in Labyrinth it was simplified with the U key shortcut. I liked the lore element to it, although not a selling point, a nice touch nonetheless. But for me the biggest differentiator would be the quality and the attention to detail. The sprite design, the graphic and sound effects, the music, the UI, the overall atmosphere. Since the first game it was showing that it is more than a simple Flash game. It's good to see that the series is alive and, despite the demise of Flash, continues its journey, this time on Steam.

[@vaderciya]

@@pepkin88 I've been playing gemcraft labyrinth again recently, using a program called flashpoint that archives all flash games from back in the day I was so happy its still on there, as even though I like the 2 gemcraft games on steam, labyrinth hits different

[@Humaricslastcall]

@@vaderciya Yeah, GCL is the last "Classical" Gemcraft game before Chasing Shadows just completely upended everything. It's still rather playable for those who's experience is limited to GCCS or GCFW, since the gem forge is the big quality-of-life addition that the later games adapted and continued on with.

[@Hattori75]

I would suggest trying Orcs Must Die if you have ever wanted to cause looney tunes levels of violence.

[@tomhill3248]

It's also more logical. Which I quite like about it. It's not just gore, because it's really not that violent. It's much more complex and satisfying then that, like a high class desert. Wonderful game Orcs Must Die.

[@Penitten]

@@tomhill3248 aaand it's gone :(

[@rebooteed_3434]

@@Penitten what is? the game?

[@Penitten]

@@rebooteed_3434 yep, the game sadly got booted by the devs, because of low player count and high server maintenance costs :(

[@viktorholm3386]

@@Penitten Yeah but not the Original 2, its sad that theire Online F2P Game didnt go well but the 2 Standalone Games are still playable since they do not require online play and they are also more coop focused

[@Erelium]

The absolute wave of nostalgia you hit me with when you showed Bubble Tanks TD-

[@cookieBadger]

Thanks for mentioning the balancing part, it's something I'm currently struggling with and mainly brought me to this video

[@plasmetal8225]

Oh damn, I just realized. PvZ is having its 10th anniversary soon. (May 5th, so about in about 2 weeks)

[@matijakrmpotic926]

PvZ 3 suprise????

[@user-iz1ud3tz6d]

News about a shooter is coming on May 5th I think

[@vladthemagnificent9052]

oh. that's why PvZ is lately taking over everyone's recommended list

[@derpmarine216]

Oh wait, that's my birthday.

[@lorenzot.7045]

@@derpmarine216 mine too, grats

[@drstepan1078]

"The tower that just slows things down." *Shows CORROSIVE glue gunner which pops bloons once every 10 secs.* *Edit: It's once every 2 seconds not 10*

[@atcampbell123]

DrStepan *once every 2 secs

[@drstepan1078]

@@atcampbell123 thnx

[@true_tbh]

At least it slows them down right?

[@arjunamalinao8312]

I get the best BLOON LIQUIFIER

[@thisisiampie6946]

@@arjunamalinao8312 i got me a 2-0-5 so i can pop camo regrow reds

[@greenandgrey-hobbygamedev6773]

Really cool video, it helps me a lot with my own tower defense game. Thx you for that:)

[@beatlesetchansonplus]

Nice video, it's my favourite genre of games too ! I'm surprised no one in the comments mentioned the protector series, it is for me the most strategic tower defense games, I sank way too many hours trying to beat the hardest levels ^^

[@markzucc2096]

Who loves kingdom rush. I also played the flash game bug attack.

[@flamo2666]

Played all kingdom rush games. Kingdom rush, Kingdom Rush Origins, Kingdom Rush Frontiers and I’m about to play Kingdom Rush Vengeance.

[@lyrolee7807]

@@flamo2666 absolutely love them all

[@Kappi__]

i got them all on steam and i was not disappointed. Just waiting for Vengeance

[@memekadecommunist460]

Best tower defense game

[@mr_unsubscribe]

I love the kingdom rush series, although I don't think Vengeance was as good as it's precursors but it is still a good game

[@kiyokiyoko]

6:55 Game:Tower Defense. What a descriptive game title about having kingdoms and rushing

[@TheVictorieeMan]

Great video! Couldn't have found a better one for research, while programming my own Tower Defense game.

[@PearOnPearOff]

Great video! Tower Defense is something I have always loved. I remember in BFME2 + the expansion Rise of the Witch King you could play what was called Tower Wars. Love playing with people I met online, just trying to survive together, or see who could create the best defense.

[@IamCoalfoot]

I vaguely remember a futuristic TD game where certain towers had certain upgrades and arguably the best was the laser: If a laser shoots into another laser, it transfers its own damage and range into its target. So you make groups of lasers firing on a central one to make a single big laser. Or cover the map in lasers and make a Death Star. Good times.

[@kkknl]

Pretty sure Onslaught 2 does this

[@the13thtonino56]

Maybe this is Defense Grid?

[@Cell4TR]

You mean "Harvest: Massive Encounter"?

[@Careless-Vr]

The white laboratory perhaps?

[@Artholos]

Sanctum 2 friendship lasers?

[@AtomiicCoasters]

finally, i've been waiting for another one of these since the clicker!

[@5tries368]

Gotta love the nostalgia hit back from some of these games. My favourites are PVZ and the kingdom rush series though

[@staticsphere_]

“When penguins attack”. God I hope this is backed up somewhere, the game was a classic for me when I was young.

[@thatnentendogamer3611]

Yep, that was a personal favorite of mine

[@EragonShadeslayer]

It’s probably in BlueMaxima Flashpoint check it out

[@pine_apple6674]

My favorite tower defence game is mindustry classic. It's a complicated minning based tower defence game u fight enemy's in waves and see how long u can last a very simple concept and has a lot of defences and different ores with a random generation which could make life easy or difficult if u get bored of it I say play mindusry(mindustry two)it has a Campain concept to it but u can switch to infinite waves if u want this one has more ores more complicated defences and more powerful enemy's it get really complicated play it if u want a challenge

[@arlenedemetria8746]

New game called mindustry

[@pine_apple6674]

@@arlenedemetria8746 yea it's a pretty good game just search it an play store

[@arlenedemetria8746]

I have it in my phone

[@pine_apple6674]

@@arlenedemetria8746 nice

[@bruvocado]

Ohh thank you so much i forgot the name of the game and couldn’t find it anywhere finally i remember the name😂

[@SiggiTheHopper2]

I'd like to add Sanctum and Sanctum 2 for anyone looking for a more futuristic version of Dungeon Defenders :)

[@quintopia]

Would have loved to hear what he thought of these. Some of my favorites, and I've never even tried co-op mode.

[@quindao4431]

Same

[@nappeywappey]

Infinitode 2 is the tower defence that ive spent the most hours into. It's very grindy tho, so if you don't like that, it's not for you.

[@CalbDoesStuff]

i remember an early tower defence game I played as a child, it was this obscure toystory game that had a minigame in which you played, well, a tower defence game.

[@adrian23422]

You should try the "orcs must die" games. Its a lot like Dungeon Defenders

[@cullitonarchives]

Adrian Ceku it’s shut down

[@4f52]

@@cullitonarchives It's a series. How could they shutdown the first two offline games that weren't that pay2win crap?

[@cullitonarchives]

4f52 I honestly didn’t know others existed....sorry. I only knew of the one shutting down....

[@rapturews]

@@cullitonarchivesThe 2 originals are actually really fun and hold up well even by today's gaming standards.

[@ethetic_1128]

The servers shut down April 16th

[@DJTileTurnip]

I must tell you that Tower Defense is my favorite genre of game, from PVZ, BTD5, Kingdom Rush, all of them are special to me

[@undeadgamingyt9681]

Same I love to play strategy games and the ones you mentioned are my favourite

[@God-ch8lq]

they are also really easy to make and really easy to add more features

[@jokkemursu8431]

What about btd6

[@adasar1718]

Yup

[@hyperkid21]

this genre gives me time to think of to do before sending the next wave. good job on the video

[@madeyourmark]

Warcraft 3's wintermaul wars is still my favorite TD game of all time, designed as a 3v3 pvp game that scales well in 2v2 and 1v1. Mazing is left up to you, you send all of the monsters for the enemy to defeat, it's incredibly fast-paced and games can last a long time.

[@battle00333]

One note about Gemcraft is that "Gemcraft" isn't the full title of the game. The Gemcraft game in this video is "Gemcraft: Chasing Shadows" infact there is a whole series of Gemcraft games

[@gabymorgi9465]

I can't wait for frostborn wrath 😫😆 😊 😃 😏 😍 😘 😚 😳 😌 😆 😁 😉 😜 😝 😀

[@ChaosCha0s]

Gaby Morgi sorry i don’t speak cringe

[@rebooteed_3434]

@@gabymorgi9465 you used... so many emojis... holy sh!t, were hitting cringe levels that shouldn’t even be possible..

[@trutwhut6550]

@@rebooteed_3434 😀😃😄😁😆😅🤣😂🙂🙃😉😊😇🥰😍🤩😘😗☺😚😙😋😛😜🤪😝🤑🤗🤭🤫🤔🤐🤨😐😑😶😏😒🙄😬🤥😌😔😪🤤😴😷🤒🤕🤢🤮🤧🥵🥶🥴😵🤯🤠🥳😎🤓🧐😕😟

[@rebooteed_3434]

@@trutwhut6550 wtf

[@GDPanda69]

Sad no mention of Defense Grid, but good stuff none the less!

[@recentlettuce834]

i love tower defense games as well and i have no idea what makes them so addicting i just cant stop theyre so simple aswell

[@clampchowder9569]

really cool video, i've always loved tower defense games, particularly the bloons franchise, and I'm currently making on for my A level computing project.

[@ravengg3945]

Another great video! I would like to recomend the pokemon tower defense trilogy. They are great TD games because they have their own story mode and they implement diferent mechanics from the pokemon games. My favorite of the trilogy is the second one but all of them are very entretaining.

[@SJohann]

The second one is the best because you can actually walk around the world, wonder why they removed it in PTD3.

[@kokoki3736]

Yeah. Really think that game(s) should have more recognition.

[@harrylamont6007]

Haven't played the third, but the first is my personal favourite. PTD2 has an extremely entertaining 1v1 mode, however!

[@tdcalverley99]

Oh, man, I forgot about those XD They were pretty great, but I think I preferred the first :D

[@mellow3995]

I'm so glad someone mentioned the PTD trilogy, those are.some really fun games which can be really challenging as well

[@doorsday147]

Creeper world anyone? No? Just me? Okay..... NOT MINECRAFT BTW

[@MaxRamos8]

Hell yah. Hard AF but rewarding

[@Crunk_Cat]

I love creeper world dude, its basically all I play.

[@tilleul6917]

Creeper world serie are one of the best tower defense ever made.

[@zandbergx9747]

I lpve creeper world!

[@TheSkypetube]

Creeper world gets repetitive from shooting the color blue

[@stickmasterlukeRBX]

Antbuster is one of my favorite TD games. It's got a unique quirk and some fun upgrade paths for towers. Anyone looking to check out old TDs, that they may have missed should give this one a play.

[@archive2500]

I am quite sad that I feel like PVZ is underrepresented in this vid. It is a very popular TD game because of its distinct format and crazy and different concepts of towers (the plants) and targets (the zombies). And that PVZ2 is not mentioned as well, in which, the game is brutally challenging when it comes to also added missions and it has quite different mechanics in objectives and levels. You can tell much about it after finishing PVZ. And PVZ: GWF and PVZ: GWF2, in which, stemming from an FPS shooter game combining it with its TD roots is absolutely a clever idea to ramp up the franchise, seeing the plants and zombies in 3D action and in a more real-life scenario.

[@doomguy4495]

I completely agree man, PVZ is one of my favorite games and I love how different it is and how well it wears its image if that makes any sense. To be honest I didn’t even think of PVZ as a tower defense game until this video, I think it’s so fun and unique that it kind of falls a little bit out of the genre of tower defense. It’s an amazing game and I agree it was slightly under represented. Great video overall I just think PVZ deserves more respect for just how legendary it was in its day!

[@Loctorak]

PvZ was amazing. Unlike any other game, highly polished (as was Peggle, made by the same people) and stuffed to the brim with style and personality

[@NickAndriadze]

I don't think it'd been good if he talked solely about what is without the doubt the most popular tower defence game. Glad he covered more niche ones as well.

[@SHADOW_F_A_X]

I will say, kingdom rush is the best tower defence in my opinion

[@HellBlade-od2mf]

Agreed, it has a huge variety of enemies, a campign, a good variety of towers, u can clearly understand what ur suppose to do, constant action with your Abilities and Hero and to end if off BOSSES

[@basilumeh2458]

Same, all the kingdom rush games

[@spicychilliboi7028]

👌👌👌👌👌

[@tigahmann3631]

Soo true

[@Captain1nsaneo]

TD didn't really start with flash, it started with Starcraft's map editor. Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne is where it exploded and pretty much every mechanic you see in modern TDs first appeared in some custom map there. I'd recommend picking up the remaster for WC3:TFT when it comes out as it is supposed to be backwards compatible with custom maps made in the original. A couple TD's that are unusual: Terrorhedron; cheap, short, and 3D. Probably a student project. Space Run; the original not the sequel. Limited build space, timers, and cargo. Sanctum/Super Sanctum TD; Sanctum is an FPS TD that leans on shooting skills. Good example of putting TD into FPS map design. Deathtrap; diablo meets TD. Not as open as I'd like, but well built. Creeper World 3: Arc Eternal; the enemies are water. Dungeon Warfare 1 and 2; Physics traps actually work to kill enemies, fantastic TDs. TD's I'm looking at trying: Siege of Centauri The White Laboratory Dungeon Manager ZV 2

[@martinluc2361]

Hellhalt TD , légion TD and for maze some Maul one !

[@MysticLoser]

SC colored turret defence mixed was awesome. Still remember the glitch of loading the civilians in the shuttles amd running it into the buy beacons for infinite goliath. Lurker def was awesome too.

[@Captain1nsaneo]

@@MysticLoser I could never get past the dark templar wave in lurker def, needing to attack your own units to hit large numbers of invis heroes was hard.

[@faulespack2985]

Element TD is my favorite in wc3

[@Captain1nsaneo]

@@faulespack2985 That was a fun map, I liked the older versions of it with the upgradable forge towers before they were made terrible.

[@00001Htheprogrammer]

I really liked that you included what was my favourite TD game, Canyon Defense.

[@expepem189xl3]

Holy, man from cliking on this video i remembered vector td or something simular, thank for returning me there!!!

[@wabadoodel]

As a Game Dev. in the making these videos are great to analys. i find these two videos great. as they look at these popular game genrer from a gamers P.O.V. they are also great as they display what works and what doesnt work. I am gratefull for the work you do andi sincerely hop that you continue making this sort of videos.

[@harrisonbarrett2635]

What game(s) did you make?

[@harrisonbarrett2635]

/work on

[@Zeus.2459]

Squadron Tower Defense, anyone? There's a reason it stayed the single most popular game in the Starcraft 2 arcade for years.

[@zaxtonhong3958]

Ayyyyyyy

[@ivanthealien8777]

I love that game so much half of my hours on SC2 are on arcade games like Squadron TD

[@drake3184]

eyyyy std

[@itshoddy1236]

Look Behind You STD is fun

[@Baer1990]

thumbs up for onslaught, the hours I sank into that game before I even understood combo's is unreal

[@jordanb7304]

BloonsTD and Xeno Tactics were always my favorites to play! This video brought back a lot of nostalgia. thanks!

[@nomisvdp282]

I really enjoyed playing mindustry, which is a tower defense-resource management game

[@yaboi9507]

Yes finally someone mentioned it

[@sansdiamond7229]

yay! same

[@krabben135]

Completely forgot Warcraft III Frozen Throne's "GEM TOWER DEFENCE". In my opponion that is the best

[@FallOfTheLiving]

there is also a flash version on the web that covers the same one well

[@cowpiefa11y]

Or team line tower wars or winter maul wars or element td or soldier td. Honestly pretty sad he didnt talk about a single wc3 td even though most of them a head and shoulders above everything else.

[@thiago7963]

@@cowpiefa11y yeah, they were much better than browser ones, even till today. Wc3 engine was pretty solid for this type of game.

[@SOAPGames]

Isn't there also the secret level in the Blood Elves' campaign that's also a TD level?

[@lanceknightmare]

There was a hidden tower in that game which had a weird requirement to get. I spent to much time on that game. My brother even knew a few of the creators and played with them years ago.

[@tomi2615]

Wow .. This is so nostalgic to see these old games. I miss the times when I played with these games.

[@megaicculus1441]

This was a solid run through of flash tower defense games. I remember playing a good most of these flash TD's but I think some of the most iconic tower defense games got their start on the custom maps of Warcraft III frozen throne. Element TD and now Element TD2 have been remade on steam. A personal favorite for mazing was Gem TD. I cannot forget to mention the first that left a big impact was Marvel TD, played this custom game map at a LAN party and was super fun.

[@EQ_EnchantX]

Looking for this comment. Element TD was such a good game. So many unique tower combos, and each had its own str and weakness!

[@aayushnaithani5130]

Canyon defence introduced me and made me fall in love with this genre!

[@kadeonines5178]

Canyon Defense introduced me and got my love, Kingdom Rush made me stay.

[@ElfHostage]

Tower Defense Simulator on ROBLOX is the king of them all.

[@jankthunder4012]

I think "creeper world" is a pretty genius twist on tower defense, where you creep your grid forwards gradually to finish the level.

[@atnorange5491]

Aw man

[@billybobjoe4847]

so

[@rmsgrey]

I'd class it more as genre-adjacent than as a "true" tower defense game. - the enemy is a simulated viscous fluid that spawns at pump-like nodes and flows outward respecting terrain elevation rather than discrete units that advance toward a specific goal. - the goal is to capture certain points on each level, rather than to defend. - a large chunk of gameplay is building up and extending an energy network to claim and control territory. "Towers" are only deployed at the front lines. On the other hand, it's a pretty cool game, with two sequels - the second game is side-on, meaning gravity is an issue - and rather than activating nodes to escape, the main objective is to destroy all creeper (specifically the emitters), but you also gain the ability to generate anti-creeper, which is harmless, and annihilates with equal and opposite amounts of creeper. The third game is rather closer to the first, though on a somewhat larger scale, with the option to drop in multiple command centers to allow you to build out from multiple places, a terraforming ability, and bottomless chasms separating terrain into chunks on some levels, giving a more varied experience. There's also a fourth game in development. And there's another game from the same developer, Particle Fleet: Emergence, which, while it's not in the Creeper World series, has a fair degree of family resemblance - it's mostly ships in space with free-floating particulate in place of the fluid Creeper, with fixed energy nodes rather than the ability to construct an energy network (though certain ships can act as relays). Again, none of the games are "pure" tower defence - rather they have TD elements. Then again, so does StarCraft...

[@sailorenthusiast]

Gosh, dang it. Now I’m feeling super nostalgia about the various tower defense games I played as a kid.

[@imthesleepyskeleton5462]

A game called Two Timin' Towers from a 2020 game jam is my favorite because the towers usually just shoot in general directions instead of aiming but the the player who builds the towers should also dodge the bullets and collect loot in the battlefield while everything is still moving. Totally recommend it.

[@InMaTeofDeath]

A 20 min video on Tower Defense? YES PLZ.

[@georgezubat7225]

15:04 Cameo bloons: Like regular bloons, but they have an actor's face on them.

[@alanevans5353]

I played a lot of The Cube TD in custom maps on Warcraft 3 when I was a kid with my family, Tower Defense games are super fun on their own but the extra level of competition made it super awesome.

[@Trone2]

Video is really good covering one of my most favourite pass time game genre.

[@kimberlyurbanski7880]

Ever heard of a game called "Defender's Quest: Valley of the Forgotten"? Definitely one of my favorites.

[@finn_underwood]

What, no Sanctum nor Sanctum 2? For shame. Some of the best Tower Defense/FPS blends ever.

[@colbydyess2383]

5:25

[@MrDeothor]

Tbh Sanctum 2 wasn't as great. Its graphics were quite bad and what it did other, even 2D platforms, did better.

[@flameconvoy7424]

colby dyess 5:32

[@mortennielsen9273]

I really enjoyed Sanctum as well! And the coop aspect was great.

[@THY403]

Damn I really agree lol, tower defence games also gives a sense of freedom and the strategy involved with these games are what makes it fun and entertaining

[@amrakarma8576]

Great opinion on P vs Z. I've been a huge fan of TD games for at least 15 years. I was a hold off on P vs Z for years but found it very enjoyable once I finally played it. Currently building my first TD game so I watched your video again for inspiration.