Cartridge Defenders is a mix between a Deckbuilder and Tower Defense. The game has a cyberpunk aesthetic with a smooth synthwave soundtrack but there isn't any sort of story. If you like you can pretend you are a hacker that infiltrates several places and has to defend himself against the security program but the game never actually tells you what you are doing.
That being said, the game is a lot of fun to play, probably one of the best games with this kind of gameplay. Main gameplay is centered around building decks and then using them in typical tower defense levels. Cards (or cartridges, as they are called in this game) can be towers or special effects but they are mainly towers. There are 10 different towers but each tower also has five different levels with each level increasing its fire power, range and even the amount of barrels the tower has. Cards can be any of the ten different towers in any level but they also can have special effects attached to them, for example you could get a tower that already has increased range when placed.
Played towers do not initally land on the field, instead they are placed in the so called "waiting area". At any point during your game you can pick up those towers and place them on a free space in the level. This allows you to save towers for emergency situations if an enemy sneaks by your defenses. There are also cards with special interactions for the waiting area but I will explain this later.
The ten different towers are very straightforward to learn, each one fulfills a purpose and is generally designed to counter a specific enemy type. Flamethrowers for example hit everything in its cone and also burn enemies for damage over time. There are two special tower types that deal no damage and act as support towers. The first is the amplifier which provides passive boosts to other towers in its range. The other tower is the monument which has strong, global effects. All other towers are designed to deal damage although they also might have abilities for more supportive roles.
Another special building in this game is your command center which acts as your base. Your command center can build any tower even without cartridges and you can use it to upgrade your towers to higher levels but only to the same level as the command center itself. If you want higher levels you need to upgrade it. Upgrading towers and playing cards costs cash that you get for beating a wave during a level. Yu don't get cash for killing enemies which is actually refreshing to see in this type of game. Each wave beaten will increase the amount of cash you get per round, so eventually you can play your more expensive cards. An interesting aspect of the game is how lives work. Power Cores are both your lives and a currency. You loose them if enemies reach the exit but if you beat the level you can keep the ones left. These power cores can be used to buy cards directly in your collection. There is also a second currency that you get as drops from enemies, this can be used to buy cartridge packs with a random set of cards. By using a way to get cards randomly but also having the ability to buy them directly you give the player two ways to complete his collection and one is done by how well he performs in levels.
Enemies can also drop all other kinds of loot like more power cores or even entire card packs. However, you lose everything if you cannot win the level. Luckily you can play older levels any time you want which allows you farm for harder levels.
This is where the sponsored mode comes in. At some point in the game you are introduced to the "Sponsors" because nop cyberpunk game would be complete withpout megacorps. Your sponsors provide you with modified cards and towers and each company has their own specialty. Suntact likes randomness so each tower you play from them gets a randomized stat boost. Diptech prefers posion, so their towers get a poison effect. Atomshot does not like protection which is why they give you armor and shield piercing for their cards. Remember when I mentioned the waiting area? Shadowfuel hands out boosts to towers in the waiting area with increasing effects depending on the number of waiting towers.
And last there is Neutron Monuments which instead gives boosts for towers already in the playing field or destroys towers in the field to play stronger towers.
You get sponsored cards by playing old levels again in sponsored mode which increases the number of waves but after every fifth wave you can decide to cash out the level and get a sponsored card. There is no other way to get sponsored cards, you cannot craft them or get them from packs.
What I really love about this game is that while it first seems shallow, you will eventually notive that it has much more depth initially thought. Over time you unlock entire new modules which change the game drastically. Sponsored mode is the first one but you also get targeting options for your towers, consumable items that your command center can use and much more.
The last thing I want to praise are the visuals of this game. The game lives the cyberpunk theme and you can feel it at every corner of the game. The entire UI is designed to look like you interact with a digital setup, the main screen looks like a computer screen that you interact with, the actual levels are holograms that are displayed on your home table and your cards look literally like sci-fi cartridges that get slotted into a machine when played. You can tilt the camera during levels to look out of the window of your home and see the glowing neon signs, dark and tall buildings and sometimes a flying car or drone will pass by. The holographic levels also fit into the cyberpunk setting, they are areas from the city you live in, like streets, slums and corporate buildings. It looks truly fantastic and gives the game so much life.
I really recommend this if you like deckbuilding or tower defense or even better, both.
