PPG Game Of The Year 2024 - 34 - The Best Tower Defense Games

We've come a long way from the classic Bloons of yesteryear. Crisp graphical styles mixed with a variety of viewpoints, 2D and 3D, make for a bundle of games that differ plenty between one another to help you find just the right one for you.

Necrosmith 2
Summon Stitched Together Undead
Expanding on the first in many ways, you'll be defending your home while also exploring for resources and upgrading your undead minions, which are patched together with different body parts.

Boundless Paths
Exploration Roguelike
Lay the tiles to build paths in order to expand out from your home base to gather more resources, all while defending against encounters. A handy quest system helps focus your objectives.

S.O.L Search of Light
Steampunk Sidescrolling Cave Defense
Tim Burton-esque art style leads a unique adventure focused on resource management and defending locations from monster hordes in a side-on style of gameplay. Kinda wild how overlooked this one is.

clickyland
Only 20 Clicks
A clever tower defense where your limited resource is how many clicks you have each in game day - 20 to be precise. Try to survive 100 days by playing smart instead of spammy.

Cataclismo
Block Building Bases
Unique take on base building tower defense where you use lego-like blocks to build out a defensible position, fighting off hordes of nightmare creatures using your various units and try to fend off against the miasma.

Toy Shire (EA)
Army Men Expanded
Hits the "kid playing with toys in bedroom using their imagination" bit to the finest detail. Basically Toy Story from the perspective of Andy (or Sid?).

Utopia Must Fall (EA)
80s Classic Game Blend
A TD that feels like a cross between retro Space Invaders, Asteroids and Brick Breaker. 80s vibes abound with CT scanlines and VHS neon everything.

And The Best Tower Defense Game Of 2024 Is…

Thronefall
Minimalist Kingdom Defender
A tower defense x kingdom builder that's stripped to basics to make it easier to get into, as well as to be more focused on discrete decision making. The striking art style immediately grabs attention, and then the ease with which you can get into the game and just play is excellent. Battles are nail biting yet satisfying, with an excellent push and pull between feeling like you’ve advanced just enough to take them on, yet not too much to make it easy, nor too little to feel overwhelmed.