Thronefall – Nice mix of minimalism and Tower Defense

Thronefall is a fast-paced and relaxing TD (Tower Defense) game where you play as a king and rebuild your castle and fight off waves of enemies every night. Despite the fact that games of this genre come out in batches, especially on mobile devices, this project could become a hit for a short time and, in my opinion, deservedly so. However, what was the game able to hook on, and is it worth spending your time on it?

• Developer: Grizzly Games
• Publisher: Grizzly Games
• Release date: August 2, 2023

Thronefall is in Early Access right now, but the game runs smoothly and has 20 hours of content if you want to beat everything 100%. Or the game may become boring after 4 hours. In this case, early access means rather a potential expansion of content by adding new maps, opponents, buildings and perks.

At the moment, 4 cards are presented to our attention, one of which is training, so in fact 3. They differ from each other in size and appearance, since otherwise you don’t really feel the differences: the waves of opponents are also approaching from different sides and which – there is no unique tactics in terms of construction, management or strategy. On each map, you can complete additional tasks that will increase the experience gained necessary to level up and unlock perks. Tasks are the passage of a map with certain debuffs, with a specific weapon, to score a certain number of points. It will not be possible to complete everything at once in one passage with all the desire, so you will have to make several races.

There is no universal weapon for our king, everyone feels quite comfortable, the only exception is the last map, where a sword looks more appropriate than a spear with a bow due to the huge concentration of opponents. Some perks are completely useless, as they don’t make life much easier. So, for example, increasing the income from the crop at the mill may not be needed at all, since you can do without them altogether, or they will be built at the very end. There are very necessary ones, such as increasing the health of the castle and increasing the range of its attack. The game is considered lost precisely when the castle is destroyed, all other buildings are restored with the advent of morning. The only caveat is that the destroyed buildings that generate income when destroyed will not do so during the next day. If the king dies, he will respawn after 10 seconds, but this is best avoided. Mutators, on the other hand, complicate life by cutting income and increasing health with damage from the enemy.

The game has almost no replay value. If you have figured out a working tactic, then you will not change it. The buildings are always in the same places, the waves and the appearance of the opponents do not change. Experimenting with a set of perks is not an idea, because you can only activate two of them. Also, when upgrading some buildings, you can choose a bonus for them. In fact, the first attempt on the map is used to remember the nature of the waves, after which you decide in what order what to build and which two perks to take with weapons. That’s all. The only time your tactics can change is when you use too many mutators, and then this attempt is unlikely to be successful. And you should not neglect the life of the king, 10 seconds to respawn can play a critical role. In addition, the king can distract crowds of opponents so that they do not destroy buildings.

There isn’t much else to add to the game. By itself, it is pleasant to play and does not bother, however, after going through all the cards and completing the tasks, there is simply nothing to do in it. It looks nice, but the soundtrack is not very happy, I completely turned off the sound in the game and turned on my playlist. It is perfect for passing the time while waiting for something. Also, the price is quite consistent with the quality, if you also take into account the potential expansion of content. Thronefall is a nice representative of TD, which is not a pity to spend your time on.