Bug Bait

Ngl, this game baited me in, fr. Where this title differs from other tower defense games is the mechanic where you have to explore the level yourself and collect resources while also keeping into account when and where the bugs are coming from. You also can't just freely gather resources, as some bugs have greater aggro range than others, and will stray from the path to attack you. This ensures gameplay will never feel boring or tedious, as your camp isn't the only thing in peril. Your character can attack and roll away, which makes you feel like less of a target. Health regens slowly but the roll cooldown is small. In the early game, you feel as if resources are scarce, because they are. You have to strategically choose where you place your early balistae; are you willing to kill these bugs now, leaving it vulnerable for attack later? This decision making also factors into whether you go to certain places on the maps for resources, leaving other areas unattended; this adds to the feel of risk/reward in the gameplay. There is a good window of prep time in between waves. I just wished the tutorial told you which bugs have certain aggro ranges. However, you learn that from trial and error. The more bugs you encounter, the more your bestiary fills up with all this information. aggressive bugs will follow you around the map & climb up and down ledges you cannot. High aggro bugs will make a bee-line straight to your camp, skipping the traditional path. However, this means you can rage-bait the bugs into traps of your own making. Levels do feel like they run long for what it is, but that's pry from the stress of being engaged for a little bit. You are welcome to rebind keys to your choosing. Big bosses at the ends of levels are less of 'how well did you place your offenses' and more of a damage sponge. The difficutly spike is palpable, to say the least. I wish we could make ladders at a high resource price so getting to resources was less time consuming while not forsaking difficulty. It's a nice, quaint indie tower defense game. 7/10