Combining two genres can deliver a pretty fun game. Indie developer GUTS Department shows us that well. Because what do you get when you process the strategy of a tower defense game in a 20 euro platformer? That is what we tell you in this Aegis Defenders review!
In a world where humanity has been restored to the Middle Ages through an apocalyptic event, your village is in great danger. The only thing that can save your village is an object from a lost civilization: the Aegis. So as ruin hunters Bart and Clu, his granddaughter, you go on the road to find this mysterious thing.
Platform and puzzle action
For this you have to go through the 18 levels that the game is rich. Each level is designed in scenic 16-bit graphics and feels unique. That unique feeling comes not only from the design of the levels but mainly from the things you have to do in the levels. While you hit the platforms with Bart, Clu and the two other characters that the game adds to your club explorers later on, you have to defeat enemies and solve cool puzzles.
The puzzles start easily by pressing a bunch of buttons at different locations to open a door, but gradually turn into real challenges that split your team through the levels to get on together. And for that you often need the unique skills of your characters.
Unique characters
Bart, for example, has the strength to build blocks and guns, among other things, making higher places available. Clu can in turn drop traps and use bombs to blow things up. And so each of the four characters in total has its own skill that helps you to solve the puzzles and defeat the many enemies.
The level of difficulty in the platform and puzzle element of the game gradually increases so you have to rely more and more on the skills of your character and therefore have to switch between these characters more often. The nice thing about Aegis Defenders is that you do not necessarily have to do this alone, but can also go through the two together offline. And to be honest, the game is at its best.
Tower Defense in the mix
The same applies to the tower defense element at the end of each level in Aegis Defenders. The game switches to this genre at the end of each level, protecting a base or object against hordes of enemies that bombard you. The enemies come from all sides and have only one goal: your base moles.
So you have to build defense anywhere and anywhere to stop the enemies. And here too the unique skills of the characters come to the fore. Bart can build guns and Clu can drop traps as reported, but the characters can also combine their forces. So you can make more powerful guns or yourself (later in the game) fire-spitting dragon heads in levels that shoot in all directions.
This element of Aegis Defenders is very cool and starts, like the levels themselves, easy to become more and more challenging later on. The enemies are harder to beat and you have to make more and more effort to get out of the battle in one piece. You must pay attention to the color of your enemy. Many enemies are vulnerable to a certain element that controls one of your characters.
Challenge can not be found everywhere
In a simple way GUTS Department has shown this with a color code. Blue enemies are more vulnerable to attacks from Clu and yellow enemies may have lesser melee attacks. This system works very smoothly during the levels, but there you still suffer from the fact that the steering (up and down mainly) does not always cooperate.
The color codes also work during the tower defense section, but you barely do anything with it. Simply because it does not have to. Once you have learned how to set up the defense and which weapons are effective against most enemies, the challenge is quickly gone in this part of the game. It comes down to 'building a pile of guns in a smart spot and Kees is ready.
Especially because the game gives you the opportunity to first explore an environment before hell breaks loose. This is really a shame, because the end of the levels are always the same tune that you go through and that ultimately gives a bit of a grind.
But Aegis Defenders absolutely never gets bored during the 10 hours that you are traveling through the world. Because you can buy upgrades between levels at a campfire and buy other weapons, you can apply variation in your tactics (which is not necessarily necessary) and upgrade your life force and that of your base. In addition, there is always ample room for some nice interaction between the characters and a guest appearance by Shovel Knight.
Conclusion
The fact that the tower defense element is a bit simpler and does not quite work as you expect, does not mean that Aegis Defenders is an extremely entertaining game. GUTS Department has combined the platformer elements in a very cool way with the tower defense genre and cast this into a fun (but simple) story.
And that gives you a great 16-bit game that you can enjoy from minute one and occasionally challenge quite a bit. Aegis Defenders is the 20 euros that the game costs you well worth it! And that there are some points missing on the 'i', the fun really can not spoil.
The plus and minus points
✔ Picturesque 16-bit setting
✔ Unique mix of platform action and tower defense
✔ The puzzle element is very cool
✔ Unique characters and skills
✖ Control sometimes does not work
✖ Tower defense section is not really challenging
Thanks for reading, I hope you liked it!
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