Siege of Centauri

Siege of Centauri

Siege of Centauri is one of the best looking tower defence games available and as a tower defence aficionado, I would say it is worth playing.

Forgive the comparison, but Siege of Centauri was clearly made by and for people who are looking to scratch their Defense Grid itch. It turns out that Siege of Centauri has some fairly obvious references in it that pay homage to Defense Grid, namely the interface looks almost like it was lifted from Defense Grid and some of the music too. It also has a similar story with advisers popping up between missions to brief you on what the mysterious enemy is up to.

Real player with 48.6 hrs in game


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I don’t play many tower defense games. It’s essentially a puzzle, where you try to figure out the most efficient combinations of towers and placements to defend your base. There are features that let you see what is coming, and once you learn the units and iconography, you can definitely develop strategies and plans ahead of time. There are terrific controls for difficulty, as well as mechanics that let you customize and upgrade your available tower selection. I also see capabilities for a survival mode (defend as long as you can) and custom map development. I think there might also be an intent to support steam workshop, so that mods and custom maps can be shared.

Real player with 41.2 hrs in game

Siege of Centauri on Steam

Adapt or Perish

Adapt or Perish

Adapt or Perish has that addictive game play that people also find in games like Factorio for the same reason. I’ve already put in over 50 hours and i’m still learning new things i can do…………then fix them to make them better……then fix them.

This game lets you be strategic not just on the field but in the DNA engineering department as well. Other RTS games have a fixed set of assets to use that use attributes others have decided for you are useful but not in Adapt or Perish.

This game lets you really get into the true strategy of war and tactics by letting you create units, buildings and more real time in game match so you can design dynamically if you lack something you need. You can push your designs to their limits and see if they have what it takes to keep you alive and searching for Overseers. The farther you push out the harder it gets so using tactics come into play constantly and pushes your abilities to hone a better faction.

Real player with 111.5 hrs in game


Read More: Best Real-Time Strategy Games.


AoP is an rts that feels distinctive, which in 2019 is saying something. I play-tested the crap out of this and still have a lot to learn. The unit customization system provides many viable strategies and possible play styles. You can mimic builds and strategies from other rtses and tower defensey games if you wish. Some of your intuition about how rtses work will require adjustment in AoP’s reality.

There is no campaign. The only goal is to kill beefy Overseer units as cheaply and quickly as possible to receive a higher score on the leaderboard. If you know what you’re doing you can defeat the first Overseer in 15 minutes, but getting that first kill is only the lowest tier of real victory. The AI never runs out of resources and cannot be defeated. Enemy units and buildings spawn around your units just outside of your line of sight, and killing them makes the enemy angrier which makes the AI spawn more enemies, leading to a meat grinder of attrition. You can keep pulling up weeds in your yard until your yard is perfect, but you can’t prevent weeds from growing outside your yard. How long can you keep your base alive while hunting Overseers deep in the wilderness?

Real player with 98.3 hrs in game

Adapt or Perish on Steam

Sector Six

Sector Six

Note: If you don’t like Diablo-like games please read the last paragraph of this review.

This is like a Diablo game but it is also unique in its way, it is a side scroller, shooter and you build a ship instead of an armored warrior. If you know Diablo-like games you already know this game too is all about loot, grinding and mindlessly destroying, highly addictive stuff. It starts with a story and you shoot various enemies such as spacecrafts, repair drones, bombardment towers, a mini boss enemy you occasionally fight called Apex, and a variety of bosses which are cleverly designed, while dodging projectiles in a bullet-hell like style and stuff, but, after collecting enough compartments to make a build, whether making it through relic items or set items (just like the set items in Diablo), dodging stops, and spamming various abilities and destroying everything in your path begins, and then you go on to grind loot to destroy them more efficiently. So yeah, you get the idea, it is a Diablo game.

Real player with 85.4 hrs in game


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Before I start, let me note that since the game is in early access I’m giving it a bit more leeway than usual, but my recommendation is already for the game in its current state.

I’d bought the game through an external website without realising it was in early access, so I was a little anxious to discover it later. I don’t have many good experiences with unfinished games. But I’m glad to report that, despite not being able to finish the full story and the game having some issues, I already got enough fun out of it to be worth the price.

Real player with 58.1 hrs in game

Sector Six on Steam

Blast-off

Blast-off

An innovative premiere indie arcade physics based matter anti-matter title which is essentially a vertical runner. Blast-Off differentiates itself by using physics based propulsion. Essentially you are an anti-matter sphere traveling to leave a matter based universe. Through interaction with game assets you are able to generate propulsion upwards towards your goal.

The shooter element is implemented as you encounter matter based spheres which look to ruin you and end your game. Using a variety of load-outs you “blast off” each piece of matter. The closer the sphere to you when you eliminated it from the play field the more propulsion you generate.

Real player with 27.4 hrs in game

At first glance I kinda liked this game. A unique backwards shoot em' up. In order to keep moving you need to gain momentum from shooting enemies in a close proximity below you and use the explosion as forward force. Or fly over the green or blue boost pads along the level. You can also unlock a teleport ability to switch “lanes” quickly. This Movement mechanic was new and exciting… for about ten minutes. Unresponsiveness become a problem as soon as I tried taking the game seriously. Infinite mode sounds like you would not need to hit boosters or enemies to keep moving forward. Like a zen mode, but no, it is rage inducing all the same as challenge mode. You have a few thrusters on each side of your pod that control direction. They are sluggish simple as that. It feels like sliding on ice. I think we all agree we don’t like that feeling.

Real player with 16.8 hrs in game

Blast-off on Steam