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Siegecaster is a unique take on the tower defense writing style , going its own way with mechanics and portraying a chaotic , if not colorful , fantasy world that really want you dead . A bit amateur , the game has its problem , but it is also intelligibly designed with love in every single picture element , make a game that resist out in a sea of templet - built titles and games with sensational visuals and boring gameplay . If nothing else , I hope this followup nurture your interest in Siegecaster , as it is by all odds a title deserving try on your own .
I get a lot of offers to look back approaching game . Sometimes , these are marketing agencies direct out mass emails to known commentator to get some insurance coverage for their game . Other meter , studios I have reviewed title for in the past will station me their raw releases or follow up on one of my other access reviews with a request to cover the plot at launch . Siegecaster is one of the rarefied and always charming instance of a developer gain out to me personally . The creator of Siegecaster apparently read my review of Thronefall , realise that I was a rooter of tower defense plot ( or more specifically , games with horde defense mechanism ) , and assure me I ’d plausibly savour Siegecaster . They were right .
Siegecaster sees player as a wizard hoping to collect the remnants of his shattered darkness , a evil force that does not seem happy to be contain . To do so , players go through a serial of level where they must defend their towboat against hordes of orcs , dragons , disconsolate magic , and military blockade engines , collecting atomic number 79 and construction defenses as the hordes get progressively bigger .
This is pretty straightforward for a tower denial game , but there are two main aspects where I think Siegecaster separates itself from others in the musical style .
First of all , and perhaps the most interesting change , is how Siegecaster handle base construction . Your tower must be defended at all cost , and you have two types of structure to protect it : artillery such as ballistae , archers , and cannons ( your traditional tugboat - defense reaction “ towers ” ) and walls . The wall are built through a Tetris - like scheme of procedurally take shapes , where you’re able to not choose which condition you place next , and you have to direct the shape to move on to the next slice .
I guess this was an interesting way of life to handle wall - edifice . The drove of foe will disclose down your wall before attacking your tower , and you must encase an domain in paries to build turrets there or to pull together runestones across the function that burnish your crime . These runestones are based on buffs you fetch into the level , which can be merged outside of the level to create stronger variation .
The second , and plausibly biggest , agency Siegecaster is dissimilar from other tower defense games is that you have to manually attack the enemies . There are no automatize defenses . This adds a lot of mechanically skillful science to the game . With limited ammunition on each weapon system ( increased by reload time buffs and the numeral of turrets you place ) , you require to make certain each attack counting , which can be hard when photograph at move targets across the map . dissimilar arm eccentric have unlike effects , with cannon clearing large areas , ballistae doing big damage to a single target , and archer serving as your principal junk e-mail arm . It take some metre to learn the in force way to expend each weapon , and you have to recognize when to focus on fighting over building and interchange between the two during a level .
A game of Siegecaster can become overwhelming chop-chop . The point , while they start rather slowly , can see you surrounded by a huge horde of foe , and the different attack patterns and conduct of each foe case can be a flock to traverse at once . This challenge is either exactly what you are here for or can be a bite too much to enjoy . I will say it took me maybe an hour to get past the first grade and a few minute of gameplay to really pick up the different enemy interactions and best strategies .
This is partially due to the plot ’s tutorial . Siegecaster ’s tutorial introduce you to all of the information at once in a quick verbal description of how things work . The way it ’s write is a fiddling too abbreviated , which can make it hard to full understand how to represent . Thankfully , the game itself is not all that complicated . There is just a mess of visitation and erroneous belief involve before you fully understand how the element interact and what the good strategies are , with the core gameplay coming to you tight .
Siegecaster is not free of bug . The one notable example I recall was a clangoring to desktop that happened when I dismiss a round shot at a group of enemy that seemed stuck on the first level . After it off , the game froze , and I had to close it and re-start , lose a bit of progress .
All in all , Siegecaster is an incredibly interesting little tower defense game . Though I did n’t get to the later levels and often found myself overwhelmed by the monumental horde , I chalked this up to a “ acquirement issue ” and certainly had merriment with my time . While I can say that it wo n’t be a biz for everyone , and not a game every tower defense force fancier will enjoy , there is plenty to care , and it is worth giving it a chance if it has caught your interest .
The Final Word
While Siegecaster ’s learning curve and braid on the genre wo n’t appeal to everyone , its creative mechanics , chaotic gameplay , and clear , passionate design make it suffer out . For those open to something different , it ’s a rewarding and memorable experience worth trying .
Try Hard Guides was provided a PC code for Siegecaster for this review . detect more elaborated feeling at popular and upcoming rubric on ourGame Reviewspage ! Siegecaster is available onSteam .
