Nintendo Life: Nintendo Switch: Feb 12, 2018: 90: Destructoid: Nintendo Switch: Feb 08, 2018: 8.5 out of 10: 85: NintendoWorldReport: Nintendo Switch: Feb 08, 2018. By Oscar Dayus on February 14, 2018 at 2:00PM PST In combining a tower defense game with a platformer, Aegis Defenders carries an ingenious idea at its core. In a world where control over ancient technologies means power, a ruthless Empire has arisen. You play as a team of Ruinhunters searching for the one thing that can save their village - a legendary weapon known as Aegis. Explore, build, & defend in this 2D platformer that blends Metroidvania style combat with Tower Defense strategy. The action-platformer Aegis Defenders is out now on Nintendo Switch, and here's 20 minutes of gameplay from near the end of the game! Aegis Defenders Gameplay - 1st Stage Footage from the opening. In a world where control over ancient technologies means power, a ruthless Empire has arisen. You play as a team of Ruinhunters searching for the one thing that can save their village - a legendary.
Title | Aegis Defenders |
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Developer | GUTS Department |
Publisher | Humble Bundle |
Release Date | February 8, 2018 |
Genre | Tower Defense, Metroidvania |
Platform | PC, Switch, PS4 |
Age Rating | Everyone 10+ |
Official Website |
During my impressions piece on Staxel I talked a bit about comparing games with one another as a way to describe a game more easily. While Aegis Defenders is not the “Mario Kart with waifus” that I was hoping to review next, it is a nice blend between tower defense and Metroidvania that offers cooperative play between two players. If the above sounds good to you, then let me walk you through this unique game by GUTS Department.
The story follows Clu, a young girl, and her grandpa Bart. Both are treasure hunters searching the ruins of an old civilization for relics that they can sell to make it to the next meal. In one of these expeditions they find Kobo, a small sentient robot that is looking to revive its master, a giant robot called Aegis. Afraid that it may fall into the wrong hands, they decide to assist Kobo and use Aegis to fight against the evil empire that has been conquering other countries.
I don’t want to spoil the story for you, but I have to mention that I really liked it. On the surface it seems to be the typical story of an evil empire and the brave heroes, but the world building around it is really good. Also the way that the events of the old civilization are narrated alongside the events happening around Clu and her grandpa make this a really likable and well told story. Lately I haven’t played many games focused on story, so I wanted to let you know that Aegis Defenders does care about it.
In regards to the gameplay, this is easier to explain if you think of this game as a 2D platformer. You can control both Clu and Bart at any time by switching between characters. Each character has a unique attack. Clu uses a rifle and a bow to attack, while Bart has a hammer for close combat. What sets this apart from a traditional Metroidvania is that the characters can also build items in the field.
Clu can build a bomb, which can be upgraded to a trap that damages the enemies that step on it. Bart can build a stone block that works as a shield and can be used as a platform to jump higher, which can be upgraded into a small turret. In order to build these items you need to find resources on the map. For Clu these are blue mushrooms and for Bart, yellow rocks. Different resources only work for different characters, meaning that if you only have a blue mushroom you cannot build a stone block.
Each stage is divided into two sections. First is the exploration section in which you navigate through the map, killing enemies and collecting relics that act as collectibles for this game and provide you with gold to purchase weapons and upgrades. Once you reach the end of the stage the tower defense starts. During this section you have to defend a point, usually the middle of the map, while enemies spawn from different areas around it. You have 60 seconds to gather the resources around the map and build your defenses. Once the time is up, a wave of enemies begins to spawn and while you can sit back and let your turrets do the work, you can also attack the enemies with Clu or Bart, a tactic that becomes mandatory later in the game.
In addition to this, enemies are color coded just like your characters are. I mentioned that Clu collects blue mushrooms, that’s because her items and main attacks are color coded blue, meaning that these deal additional damage to blue enemies, while Bart is yellow, meaning his turrets and attacks deal more damage to yellow enemies. Further in the game a red and purple character will also join, expanding our party to four, so we can switch between these four characters. Having more players brings more tools that can be built, along with the possibility to mix them to create even more items. Clu and Bart can create a turret that attacks in three directions and deals extra damage to blue and yellow for example, but it needs both a blue and yellow resource. There are no items of three colors so this never gets too complex, but it adds another layer of complexity to the resource management.
Once a level is completed you go to the caravan where you can buy new weapons, upgrade each of the items that you can build to increase their damage and duration, and later on, upgrade the life total of your characters and the life total of the base that you need to defend.
As I mentioned at the start, this game offers local co-op so you can have a friend join in at any time and control one of the characters. This is nice as you don’t need to have an unique save for co-op and they can jump in and out. However this leads to what I think is the only problem with the game. It is designed with co-op in mind.
On the first levels you can control only Bart and Clu, so it’s easy to switch between them, collect resources between waves of enemies, build new items and defend by yourself. But in later levels when you control three or four characters the maps are considerably bigger, with lots of spawn points. And while you technically have four characters to defend, three of which will be controlled by the AI, the AI is not smart and they will simply spam attacks in place. By myself the 60 seconds are barely enough time to collect all the resources and usually I ended up building while the enemies were spawning. In some cases during the first waves I couldn’t avoid getting hit.
I feel that by having a second player these problems are not as impacting, and overall make the game easier and more manageable as you can split tasks. One builds while the other collects things, or one player controls Bart while he fixes the turrets, something that only he can do. The other problem I had with the game comes in level 3-3. Up to that point all stages have been similar. The base in the middle of the map while enemies spawn from the left and right, but this map shakes things up way too much.
This map has you defend a vehicle moving through the map while enemies come from the back or the front. The problem is that this is what could be considered as a boss stage, so the difficulty spikes a bit compared to previous stages, and a new mechanic is introduced in the form of having a moving target. While I was able to get all previous levels completed by taking no damage on the first or second try, this one took me around seven tries to pass, and with just one point of life left out of five.
These two issues make me feel that the main problem is in the balance of the game. The developers probably focused too much on the co-op aspect and assumed that the AI would cover for the lack of a second player. These are things that can be fixed in the future, but as of now be aware that the learning curve will increase drastically if you’re playing by yourself. Bettertouchtool 1 86 download free.
Moving to the art department, if you’re into pixel art then you’re in for a treat. The art of the characters, scenarios and enemies is really well made and everything looks colorful and bright. Mixed with the characters themselves, that are quite cheerful, it makes this game a joy to play. The music reminds me a lot of RPGs of the PS1 era. With some cheerful tones, and some really sad and nostalgic ones, it gives this game a really nice package in both music and visuals.
Aegis Defenders is out now for $20 and it took me 12 hours to complete the story. There are three difficulty levels which adds a bit of replayability, but even if you only play it once I feel that it’s worth your money. This is a game that’s easy to recommend to almost everyone. The story is great, the music is really emotional and the art is amazing. Just keep in mind that if you’re playing solo the game will become a bit difficult, which is why I’m rating it a 4 out of 5, but If you have someone to help you this is easily a 4.5 or a 5. If you like tower defense with a side dish of Metroidvania don’t forget to check it out.
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Review copy provided by the publisher.
Switch Review - 'Aegis Defenders'
by Andreas Salmen on Feb. 12, 2018 @ 1:00 a.m. PST
Aegis Defenders is an 16-bit adventure that blends Metroidvania-style combat with tower defense strategy.
The Switch is a good platform for indie games, and Nintendo's focus to get an interesting array of them has been successful thus far. The company also knows how to blindside us with unexpected announcements, one of which was Aegis Defenders, a game that was successfully funded on Kickstarter over three and a half years ago, just short of reaching the next stretch goal: a Wii U version. The game was recently picked up to be published by Humble Bundle, and apparently, a Switch version was created anyhow. It's a no-brainer to put a 2-D platformer/tower defense game with local co-op on the system. Does the mixture of gameplay mechanics hold up?
Out of all of the possible gameplay mash-ups, tower defense and 2-D platformer would've been my last guess, but at the same time, it makes a lot of sense when you look at the gameplay trailers. Due to the nature of Kickstarter, there is a lot of information online about the creation process of Aegis Defenders. It's no masterpiece, but there are good and entertaining elements present.
![Aegis Aegis](https://www.gamerview.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Aegis-Defenders_20180203104526.jpg)
Aegis Defenders breaks quite a few of the genre conventions by having a fully fleshed-out story. At the start of the game, we control two characters — Bart, an old engineer, and his granddaughter, Clu, the ruin hunter — on their quest to find ancient technologies and scrap to sell for their livelihood. When they move to a new region, they stumble upon an ancient weapon, the Aegis, that could alter the world. This world used to be ruled by the deathless, gods who ruled over mankind until they were destroyed by a similar weapon, the Clarent, during a human rebellion. The group and its leader are still in control of the area and cannot be allowed to control the Aegis, the fate of which now lies in the hands of our protagonists, an assassin, a monk and a robot companion.
Apart from rich and detailed pixel art environments, the story is told in short text-based cut scenes between the characters, most of which are well written and can be funny. Between levels, there are cut scenes that depict past events leading up to this dystopian future. Considering the genre, it's a solid and well-told story that goes with the gorgeous art style of the world, and it's believable and engaging throughout.
The biggest gamble Aegis Defenders Keyboard maestro 8 2 – hot key tasking solution download. takes is not its story, but its gameplay mix. At the core, it looks and plays like a 2-D platformer/Metroidvania-inspired game. We jump and shoot through sometimes challenging self-contained stages, solve puzzles, use switches, and face tough enemies until we reach our objective. Once we reach the end of a stage, the game switches into tower defense mode, where we have to protect ourselves and other targets against waves of monsters. In order for this to work, the game and level design have to be on point in both the platforming and the tower defense.
Aegis Defenders Pc
Let's take a look at the characters first, as their abilities drive the gameplay. Our starting duo sets the groundwork, with Bart fighting up-close with hammers and shovels and Clu shooting long-range weapons and bows. During tower defense, the rules are reversed, with Bart building turrets and repairing things while Clu lays bombs and spikes on the floor. The other two characters, who join up later in the story, add more abilities and turrets. The assassin wields a shuriken that acts like a boomerang that passes through walls, and she also has sticky bombs. Her turrets slow down enemies or heighten chances for critical hits. The monk can throw fireballs or circle orbs, and his turrets emit fire to either damage enemies or add fire damage to other projectiles.
Aegis Defenders Review
It's a simple mix-and-match concept that makes the gameplay more approachable. The variety of turrets is expanded by mixing the character abilities to create different turrets or machines that produce resources. Speaking of resources, they have to be collected for each individual character and are embedded in the level design.
With a few exceptions, almost all stages start with a platforming segment. They're initially rather easy, but the difficulty ramps up as we need to cleverly use our different characters and abilities. All characters are color-coded, so they deal more damage to enemies of the same color, and for puzzle purposes, they can enter areas of their color. Later on, characters get secondary weapons that are deal damage to all foes. Most of the puzzles involve reaching and activating certain switches, but they often introduce new environmental threats and mechanics to keep things interesting. For example, bubbles can carry us through a level based on air vents, beams or wind flow.
The platforming section works well enough in small bursts, but it can be rather frustrating. There are instances where the collision detection isn't great, so we'd fall off a cliff instead of standing on solid ground. On some occasions, the background tricked us into thinking we should be able to reach certain areas but we ran into an invisible wall instead. Yet another headache is how the game handles damage. After falling to your death, you return to the last spot where the game thought you were on solid ground, but those points are sometimes further back than you were or set you down in front of enemies. It's not overly common, but those situations turn the otherwise charming gameplay into moments of frustration — and that frustration carries over to the tower defense segments.
While Aegis Defenders is pretty decent in the platforming sections, the game shines in the tower defense aspects by marrying the platforming level design with wave-based tower defense. There's an object to protect in the middle of the level, and enemies pour in from different sides to reach it. If we let an enemy through or lose all our health, the base loses a heart, and when the base runs out of hearts, we lose. Prior to each wave, we have time to prepare while the game shows us where enemies will come from and what color they'll primarily have, so we can plan accordingly.
During this phase, we may gather available resources from the map and build as many turrets as possible in anticipation of the oncoming enemy. It becomes more complicated as levels get more complex in structure and environmental hazards. The portals and air vents make an entrance, as well as color-coded areas that only a specific character can enter. Similar to the platforming levels, it starts out simple enough but ramps up halfway through, when levels become more dynamic. There are a handful of stages that require the defense of a moving target.
If it weren't for these frequent changes, Aegis Defenders would only be half as entertaining, as it forced us to constantly rethink our strategies. However, that also meant that stages got increasingly confusing, so it was often difficult to recognize which routes enemies could potentially take, and that sometimes resulted in costly mistakes. The tower defense endeavor can occasionally become confusing and frustrating when confronted with the platforming issues. However, unlike the platforming sections, the tower defense portions of the game are always fun and inspire a 'just one more' attitude that pulls you through the game.
However, there are more elements that I couldn't come to terms with. Contexts 3 6 1 – fast window switcher installation. The controls are pretty loaded, but they work and can be reassigned if necessary. They were never perfectly spot-on for me, and I had a few mishaps when building turrets. Some levels also have interactable objects that are accessed with the same standard button for building, which can cause time-consuming misinterpretation of your inputs, like manning a turret instead of building something. When you're playing the game cooperatively, that may not be as much of an issue, but when playing alone, the game doesn't feel as well designed as it should be.
When playing solo, we need to switch characters frequently, get resources, build, and get into position; the AI does none of that on its own. We can either have it walk with us and take no action, even when it's attacked, or we can permanently position them at their current whereabouts so they can attack enemies or, in Bart's case, repair turrets. They don't even turn around or walk an additional step, so taking responsibility for all of that on your own is stress-inducing and can certainly kill the fun factor. Please play with a friend if you can because the game is more fun when there's an additional mind working to defend your base. This is where the game shines.
Aegis Defenders rates us at the end of each level based on how many collectibles we found in a stage and how many hearts we lost defending our base. We receive ruin hunter points and money to upgrade our equipment, health and turrets. There are also three cameo levels, one with Shovel Knight, where we can earn extra cash and skins for our two main characters. We also have the option to return to the previous level to increase our ranking, but we're always required to play the entire level. The game has no option for us to skip the platforming to go straight to the tower defense part for a quick fix, which is unfortunate and sometimes kept me from returning when I wanted to.
Visually, the game is simply beautiful. The character art and environments have been crafted with love, and it shows. The same goes for the music, which does an excellent job of luring us in for the roughly 15-hours single-player campaign (a co-op playthrough may take less time). Performance-wise, the game has a few slowdowns when the action gets too intense, and there have been a few minor glitches, but nothing game-breaking, so the Switch version is a pretty solid endeavor in both docked and undocked modes.
Aegis Defenders is a beautiful game with an intriguing concept and fun gameplay, but it can be rough around the edges, the platforming isn't necessarily something to write home about. Playing alone can feel quite stressful and unfair. Aegis Defenders is best when it pins you in an arena with a buddy at your side and waves of enemies to tackle. In those instances, it provides more than enough gameplay and fun to justify its $20 price tag.
Score: 7.3/10
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