Towerlands Review

Take Over Towerlands

If you are looking to jump into a world that is filled with lands with towers, let me introduce you to Towerlands. This mobile tower defense game will capture your heart as you fight to defend your city against continuous waves of enemy monsters. From mobile catapults to flying dragons, you will face off against many mighty foes. However, managing a city entails much more than pure militant defense. Your responsibilities also include building up the city infrastructure and tending to its economic success. In order to do this you need money and in this game that means gold. Lucky for you, your city already has a mine. In addition, every time you conquer a neighboring village you also conquer their gold mines. Combine your mining efforts with the cash you steal from attacking foes and use this money to level up your tower and units.

As you level up your tower you are able to add more units to man it. Choose from three types of units: elemental mages, archers, and military leaders—who spawn attack units. However, prepare for a lot of testosterone-fueled angst because there is not a female in sight (except if you count the enemy bird lady). Do women not exist in this world? Now, that creates a whole host of potential problems. But never mind that, you have monsters to kill and riches to accumulate!

Towerlands can be addictive, too. With its quick-paced gameplay and clearly laid out and measurable goals, I found myself repeating “just one more level,” or “just more upgrade,” and before I knew it, hours had passed.

Automated Grinding?

Every time you charge into battle you have the option to click the Auto Play button at the top of the screen. If you choose to enable this function, the AI takes over and plays the game for you. The Auto Play paired with a speed control (which permits you to choose the speed in which your enemies attack) allows you to zoom through battles like a ravished teenager zooms through pizzas. You are given three complimentary Auto Plays when you download the game. Although more Auto Plays can become available to you through ad watching or upgrading to premium (giving you unlimited Auto Plays), is it really worth it?

While it might seem nice to have a computer do all the work for you, I found myself stewing with an empty feeling in my gut afterward. I got no satisfaction employing the Auto Play. Why did I download this game to just watch something else play it? I could go to Twitch or YouTube for that. I downloaded Towerlands for the experience and was instead disillusioned by the mere thought someone would pay $10 to have a computer virtually complete the game for them. Even though I didn’t use it more than a handful of times, just seeing it there, looming over my troops took away my satisfaction after a hard-won victory.

Take Your Tower on a Road Trip

Towerlands differs from other tower defense games in one key way: the tower can move! Want to take a trip over the vast landscape? No need to leave your comfy, well-barricaded tower at home, just slap some wheels on that baby and hit the road.

You don’t have to sit and wait to be attacked. So stop playing defense and send out an all out offensive attack. You can open up the map feature and attack neighboring villages or traveling caravans. As you ravish your foes, more and more land opens up for your consumption.

While I appreciated the diversity that Towerlands gave me with this option, I had a hard time knowing what to prioritize. After some experimenting, I concluded that defending my city should be my main priority and that I should treat expanding my empire as a side hustle. Is this the right strategy? I couldn’t tell you. I guess that is up to the individual player to decide.

Level Up

Towerlands is a classic mobile tower defense game with small additions here and there that make it stand apart from its competition. While it could use a female touch and some more direction, it contains plenty of hours of exciting and entertaining gameplay to look forward to.