A shiny little gem of a game I keep coming back to over the years, beating it again and again. It just feels great to play.


The art style, music, sound effects, command barks, and animation all feel so distinct and uniquely charming that I'm almost sad it's over each time.


The difficulty is there for sure, this is not a trivial game to master, but fights can start to feel a bit repetitive if you don't spice things up yourself. That said, the occasional levels that give a premade fortress are very well made. They are HARD, some feel almost absurdly so, but the solution often requires quick thinking and a good understanding of the given scenario. The quality of those levels alone is a cut above anything I've expected from this game.
(I'm yet to beat all of those unique levels in one try on a single run despite accumulating a winning streak for the entire last third of the game with relative ease AND being familiar with them from previous completions)

The difficulty is very often strategic, which I appreciate a lot, it's all too easy to just add more guns to the other side but this generally, if ever, does that. The power progression feels very good.

The story is very light and easily skippable, it doesn't get in the way at all but has the additional value for those who read the short bits of dialog and try to piece the thing together.

It also gives some hints to the next enemy, and it can help to adapt the weapons or defenses to the next level, it's a good, in-universe way to deliver that information, it feels seamless.

The ending is very well done, giving a few things to think about. It stuck with me for a very long time after my first completed run and it is still one of the more memorable ones from my many years of gaming.


Overall an incredible game you can feel yourself improve at, from struggling to beat single levels to win-streeking massive chunks of the game.

The recent 2.0 update is exactly what I've wanted, giving the option to replay any level in the game without having to restart completely. It's very easy to navigate and gives a feeling of progression aside from the mission number increasing.

Yes.
https://youtu.be/SN3Nm95wPvE