Deadstone

The game is a very serviceable combination of top down shooter, tower defense and rpg game with a decent story campaign to bring it all together in a fun package that is definitely greater than the sum of its somewhat janky parts. So go save the colonies and don't let Mars become another big deadstone in space.

Sorry to say it so boldly, but this is a pretty bad game. The missions are boring and repetitive, the artwork is downright horrible, and the gameplay just plain sucks. For a game that came out in 2014, even if it's 2d, it's a really poor game lacking content; It's not interesting to play even for the wonky storyline.

The video gameplay seems to suggest a fast paced, multi-layered tower defense game ... but slow down the videos by about 50%, slowly, tediously add in the upgrades, ignore the general rules of tower defense games (like walls to funnel enemies) ... and you've got this. It's dry, much like the planet Mars it's set on.

低予算ながらよく作りこまれた良作、日本語はなし 宇宙ステーションイカロスにおける人体強化実験の失敗により発生したアウトブレイクから逃れ火星に不時着した傭兵の主人公は強行軍の末コロニーDeadStoneへたどり着く。そこで如何にしてか宇宙ステーションから火星にゾンビどもが脱出し感染が蔓延してることを知らされ、殉死した先任者の代わりに保安官を引き受けることになった。 コロニーへと続く街道の警備としてゾンビを食い止めているうち、後を追うようにかつての実験の責任者である博士も漂着し、防衛タレットなどの技術提供を申し出るがそれに連動するようにゾンビたちも進化を始め・・・まああとはだいたい予想できるだろう 別ストーリーではメタネタが満載のギャグパートを楽しめるほか興味がなければ完全にストーリーを飛ばすこともできる 4つの能力値の頭文字を取ったSCAMという育成システムを筆頭にそれぞれのスキルに対応した能力ボーナスとPerk、豊富な武装に地雷と各種のタレットがあり、街道の防衛と調査任務などのアリーナマップの二つを行き来しながらキャンペーンを進めていくTD/ARPG。罠の配置はもちろんのこと武器によっては跳弾やスタンなどの効果を利用できたり育て方によってガンスリンガーやエンジニアなど全く違ったスタイルでプレイできるためなかなか奥が深い 一度のゲームに時間がかかりすぎるのと（キャンペーン全体を周回する構造になってる）マップが先述の2種類で固定されてるのが残念だが、逆にこの二点が解消されていれば伝説になりえた出来だと思う もう少し手軽なサバイバルモードではアリーナマップのみを舞台にドロップアイテムなどを頼り、スコアに応じて次回のサバイバルに使える強化ポイントをもらえるシステムだがこちらはTD要素が薄まってしまう 上記の内容を踏まえてどうしてもB級でありコレクター向けと言わざるを得ないものの育成回りなどの完成度が偏ってる部分には目を見張るものがあり、とても好ましいゲームだった。

TLDR: Good game. Buy it on sale. See conclusion for what sets it apart from other TDS games. It's a simple top down shooter. The main shooting gameplay is simple and repeatative as such is the typical restriction of the TDS genre, but yet also at times pretty intense and challenging. And the gameplay as a whole is a repeatative cycle of mission then prepare for the next mission but keeps the player in a comfortable flow that removes the negative feelings of repeatativeness and replaces it with anticipation. Anticipation for what new gear can I buy, or just waiting to get a break from a very tense, challenging mission. The flow and changes in action to strategy is balanced very well and keeps the player engaged. Missions are challenging so you'll actually appreciate the break from the action and also really enjoy it due to the fact that the player is given so many decisions to make regarding planning the next mission. As for the missions, they start with an interesting, well written page of dialogue. Usually I hate having to read through sentence after sentence of character interaction (just let me get to killing something!) but the dialogue is interesting and well written such that each sentence is meaningful. I didn't want to miss any of it! Then the action begins. The enemies come from the top and you're trying to kill 'em off as fast as possible so as to not to let any get into the base (get past the bottom of the map). If they do, you'll loose a survivor and that means your research upgrades come slower. So you've got to keep an eye on your surroundings so you don't get mauled by zombies, also watch your ammo and look for the right time to reload vs switch weapon, and keep a third eye on your radar in case there are zombies elsewhere slipping through your defenses! It'll be a sigh of relief when you finish your mission and you'll definitely be looking forward to the break in the action where you can take your time to plan out your defenses for the next mission. Before I get to describing the strategic part, there are also rescue and survival type missions where you must survive for a certain amount of time. These are on separate maps/areas, where you won't have your turrets, mines to help you out. You can also seperately play survival mode apart from the campaign. Now, for the strategic aspect. This is an rpg. You gain XP which will allow you to unlock perks for your character from a plethora of options. You also earn stat points to increase things like constitution, speed, accuracy and mechanics. Speed is for movement speed; accuracy is weapon accuracy. Constition allows you to carry more ammo (you can also buy an bandolier which will further increase your ammo capacity), but constitution also allows you to use the more advanced weapons you'll unlock through research. The research is done automatically by the survivors. You'll start the game with a set number and you can loose them if enemies get past the bottom end of the map on the missions. Through the mechanics stat you'll unlock access to mines and turrets and you'll be able to lay them out on the map and save the layout before starting your next mission. As you increase this stat you'll be able to buy and place more mines and buy upgrades for your turrets. An interesting point is that turrets initially need to be manually reloaded (by standing by them) which adds more tactical depth to the missions. Next the weapons. There are four classes and I think 3 or 4 levels for each weapon class. You have pistols , an automatic type of gun (smg and ARs), a rifle (sniper rilfe/bolt action) slower rate of fire used as your precision, long range weapon, and a shotgun to complete the balanced ensamble. You can equip 4 weapons at a time, so you'll want to have one of each so you have a balanced arsenal on the battle field. But don't try to purchase each one right away. It may be better to spend your precious money on different upgrades or ammo. Instead of upgrading the weapons' individual stats, you'll unlock a more powerful version of each weapon in the class (which gives you the option of skipping an entire tier if you want to save some money). Having these 4 distinct classes keeps the weapons balanced and adds tactical depth to the gameplay as each serves their own specific purpose. Reload times are significant in this game which gives the pistol usefulness as a backup weapon (as it serves in real life), and also adds to the tension. Your move speed is also somewhat slow which makes having a precision weapon important. You can use it to take out that lone enemy on the other side of the map so you don't have to give up your current position that your holding to take out a more numerous threat. (You don't want to let even one enemy through). Then there's the automatic weapons, probably your most used weapon to mow down the hoards. And when the mobs get closer and you need to deal with them quickly pull out your powerful shotgun whose spread can hit multiple enemies at once and saves you time from having to aim precisely. You'll also have usable items to help you in the field. A detpack (explosive, can be used to take out [spoiler]burrow holes where enemies spawn from[/spoiler]), a health pack to heal yourself on the fly, and a flares you can place around the map to help you see at night. The only negative I have with this is that it still is repeatative. You are on the same map for the majority of the game. There are a few other maps for arena/survival missions and rescue missions, but I think it'd be better if there could've been say 4 different enterances to the survivors' base that you had to defend. And if there could of been some kind of debri or something that you could take cover behind, something you could shoot over that the enemies would have to walk around, or large rocks you could use to hide behind (and not shoot over)... that would be awesome. (And rotating camera view, fixed behind the player like a third person shooter, would be cool too.) Even so, this game would keep me engaged for an hour or so at a time. I'd do maybe about 5 missions in a play session and I thoroughly enjoy it. CONCLUSION: The excellent flow of gameplay, strategic planning before the action in each mission, the interesting story and dialogue, and the abundant choices in gear/upgrades and options for difficulty (& even choice of which story: serious or tongue in cheek!) and relatively lengthy campaign is what makes this game stand out from the rest of the TDS market. Definitely worth it on sale.

It's like a free flash game from 15 years ago. Only it isn't free.

Having fun with this on ubuntu linux. Pretty simple, repetitive twinstick gameplay combined with some nice upgrade paths and a decent story. Good for a few laughs, but becomes very dull after a short while. There is a super extensive upgrade system that would be great for another game, but with the the lackluster gameplay here, it is hard to imagine playing enough to explore many of the upgrade tree branches.

I do not have much time to play games currently, but I def. will continue playing Deadstone as soon as I can get some time for it. I like games with a mars setting and I think the developer made a pretty good job. + Nice music + Nice menu system + Nice story images + Simple but very honest gameplay + mars setting (a personal favorite of mine) + quite cheap ;-)

Too basic game, too basic gameplay, too repetitive. The few extra features with the shop, some weapons choices, some items, changes nothing to the result, tedious and repetitive.

Great top down shooter, with a good story accompanying it. Loved the upgrade system and the tough choices of whether to buy the new weapon or suffer for a while with just the pistol in order to buy the even better version. I got a lot more time out of Deadstone than I expected and I still feel I can play a good deal more thanks to an endless mode, the few different level types throughout the story and replaying missions because winning isn't winning if innocents died.