Aegis Defenders

My playtime: 24.1h (based on Steam, 100% achievement)
Grindy Achievement(s): No.
Optional Achievement(s): Yes (~13 achievements).
Difficult Achievement(s): No (there is a difficult optional side quest).
Intro
Are you fond of platformers and tower defense games? How about playing both at the same time? Aegis Defenders provides both elements in the same game with some co-op elements in it. Both genres are not mixed into one - they exist as two different sections that complement each other.
Note that although the game supports co-op, I played this solo, so my review will be based on that.
Pros:
- 18 levels
- 4 difficulties
- 4 characters with different attack type and specialty for different situations
Cons:
- Clunky controls
- It takes time to learn how to command the bot as you want
Should you buy this game?
Yes.
If you are a fan of tower defense games, especially the ones with a side scroller view, buy this game.
In-Depth Review
Graphics
The combination of pixel arts and non-pixel arts is used well in this game. Characters are portrayed in sketch-like drawings in some cutscenes with the use of a more polished one in the portraits. I usually don't feel attached to characters in a game, but I somehow did in Aegis Defenders due to the art style. Characters have a clean and polished look with a strong color palette and a certain color as their focus. The pixelated arts are also lovely - each environment looks unique and the usage of vibrant colors and light effects help to set the mood.
Story
The story was divided into two sections: the low-quality cutscene that speaks about what was happening in the world and the high-quality one with dialogues between main characters. To be honest, I found the first one to be hard to understand at first. The low occurrence of the cutscene doesn't help either - I tend to forget what was happening when the next one shows up. Luckily, both cutscene will be connected in some way or another, making sense of everything.
While the story is important, what captivates me the most is the conversation between the characters. Each character has a unique personality and the conversation between them tends to bring a smile to my face.
The Game
Gameplay
Each level is divided into two sections: a platformer and a tower defense section. Some areas in the platformer section require cooperation between characters, showing that the game is more focused on the co-op side. While it's still doable to finish these areas by yourself, some areas will take a longer time to finish since you have to do everything one by one.
As a single-player game, you need to do a lot of tasks: commanding other characters to follow or unfollow you, collecting all resources, and setting up buildings in the tower defense section. While the latter one is easier to be done solo if you are not communicating with each other, the first two can be time-consuming to do, punishing you greatly if you have to do this while dealing with a horde of enemies at the same time.
Controls
The follow and unfollow command needs some time to get used to – I was almost finished with the game by the time that I noticed that I could see whether the other characters are following me or not. I had to press the command button until the character speaks something that I understand as a follow/unfollow command since I thought there was no other way to check it. I also thought that the game will reset the command when I switch characters, thus making it always end up as a follow command on the first attempt after switching. While I understand why the game didn’t implement it like this, the confusion adds more difficulty to the game, especially since time is limited in the tower defense section.
Platformer
The platformer elements feel empty despite the high occurrence. There isn't much to do apart from switching between characters to get through each area. The game might introduce some minibosses to add more variety, but they are too easy to defeat. Controls are also clunky that you can't press the up button while you jump - doing so will undo the jump, making you fall to the ground.
Tower Defense
Unlike the platformer section, all characters are vital to beat the game in this section. Each character can build different types of buildings, cross-combining them if necessary, as long as you have the resources. Some characters excel in collecting resources that are spread across the area, some are more proficient in their attacks. All characters' roles are divided very well in this regard, and the characters that you are not using will be treated as a building if you order them to standby, each with different functionalities.
Although it's normal to have timers in a tower defense game, sometimes, the timer between waves is too short. Resources in some levels are spawned too far from each other, making them hard to collect. This also makes it clear that the game is more geared towards co-op play, although tower defense fans that love some challenge will enjoy the limitation.
Length and Difficulty
I finished the game in 22.6h. The game has 4 difficulty settings, and I played the hardest one for an achievement. It wasn't difficult to finish the game as long as you know what to do.
Problems
You can't shoot diagonally to the bottom although you can do the same thing to the top. I also tend to misclick the controls since there are so many buttons that you need to press - the game is more suited for controllers.
Specs
Intel Core i5-9300H 2.40GHz, 8GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650
Conclusion
I didn't like the game at first. Ordering the AI that didn't want to move as I wanted while struggling with the controls doesn't make the game to be an enjoyable one. However, the controls become more bearable later on, especially after understanding how the follow/unfollow command work, which is vital to the game. Although the platformer section doesn't seem to shine, the unique storytelling makes up for it with its dialogues. I could see that the game will be more enjoyable in co-op, although people who like tower defense games will still enjoy the increased difficulty by playing solo.
Visit SaveOrQuit.com for detailed game reviews, posted daily!

An interesting mix of 2D platforming and tower defense. The pixel art is very nicely done, it has a neat story mode, and using multiple characters to get around reminded me a bit of Lost Vikings.

This is a beautiful game, but I hate the last part that needs to be defended and I recommend this game to everyone. It's great in every way and you can use 2 characters in the game.

Aegis Defenders is a platformer 2D game, but the main thing that makes this game special is how developers connect this genre with tower-defense game. This game may look easy to play, but on hardest “insane” level of difficulty it can be challenging. It can be even harder because you can try to get all achievements and end the whole game without a single death (on the second play I did it). The worst thing about this game is the monotony of levels, it’s not a problem though if you want to complete this game just once. There is also a split-screen co-op mode in this game, which isn’t perfect but can give you and your friend a lot of fun, which I think is most important in playing games. The whole in-game story is very easy, with just two plot twists, so it’s good to play in short periods of time. In my opinion, the game is very entertaining, especially when you're bored. It's a good choice to play with your friend with a pack of snacks in the middle. The only con I found is that the retail price is very high, I think it’s a bit too much, but I would buy it, to have this again game and dive into this wonderful, adventurous, pixelated world.

I have just started this game, got it for free from the humble store. Honestly it is super fun, and the music is so calming. With a lot of games they try and build aesthetic and forget about the gameplay but this was really fun and the aesthetic is wonderful. Thoroughly recommend picking this up during a sale, it is a lot of fun with a controller and there seems to be a lot of content, haven't finished it yet!

Took me nearly 30 hours to complete (I'm a single player person) and gotta say, this gets a mega love from me.
Here's the bite-sized info what i think about this game:
- The OST in this game is simply, simply lovely. Calming/soothing and relaxing (Clu's Theme is my fav)
- Graphics are gorgeous. Simple, original (AFAIK) and smooth
- Mechanics are presented to be as clear as possible. It is up to you to hone and improve your micromanagement skills
- Storyline is awesome. Immersive and engaging at certain points (you will get rewarded accordingly when you interact as a response given the situation)
- Quite hard (and frustrating) at all the time some point, as you couldn't keep up with the pace (but you'll get better given time & experience :D)
Here's the not-so detailed summary, so buckle up:
Each levels are constructed as 2 different parts, where the first part is focused on puzzles and second half is where its tower defense mechanism comes to play. On earlier levels, the game design (heavily focuses on the 2nd half of the game/TD time) is purely designed to give us the players time to learn about the mechanics. You started controlling 2 characters at first, each with unique set of skills/combos and defense types. Later in the game, a total of 4 characters will be unlocked, making the game harder to play. To beat this game, management skills are important and i guess that's all i can say for now lol. Cya

-Quick Review-
Aegis Defenders is a 2d part-platformer, part-tower defense game. Developed by GUTS Department, released 2018, and I have no idea how it got into my steam library. I think I picked up a free copy from Humble Bundle at some point.
-Detailed breakdown review-
Story: Aegis Defenders story was... well, my opinion is mixed.
You play as a party of four characters... but you start out with two: Clu and her Grandpa Bart.
They are refugees/treasure-hunters/nomad-types when suddenly they stumble onto a little robot called Kobo who's on a mission and naturally the whole group gets roped in and roped together and you learn the characters' back stories as you progress though the game.
After you finish a major chapter of the game (it's like 3 levels, then a new roman numeral chapter change) there's a short sequence of showcased art "cutscenes" giving the history and backstory of the world.
In this world there are creatures called "Deathless" which seem to be technological-robotic-type-marvels which were eventually worshiped by people as "gods". Eventually the 'villain' Hozai became disenfranchised and led an uprising to put a stop to worship of the Deathless.
The reason my opinion is mixed is complicated, the characters' interactions with each other sometimes get borderline childish... which ONLY would make sense for the 'protagonist' Clu, everyone else seems like they should have better things to do and say then whisper and snicker to each other about dating advice.
What started out as slightly endearing quickly began to annoy me. I think it might be easiest to say that I just really didn't like the characters and the story that much. By the end of the game I certainly wasn't cheering for anyone really... but I had a slight interest on how things could play out and maybe impress me... and I was disappointed in the ending. There was no real reconciliation and just solidified my opinion of severe-indifference.
At the best it gave me philosophical things to rant about.
At the worst it wasted my time between gameplay sections.
Gameplay: I should note here that I only played this singleplayer by myself. It seems like Aegis Defenders was disappointed by my choice, because everytime I started the game I needed to go to my settings and turn off my controller in the player 2 slot, and switch to the keyboard for the player 1 slot. (It probably wouldn't have been a problem if I just unplugged my controller. But I had to do that EVERY time I started up the game.)
Generally speaking, you start each level with some dialogue between the various characters in your party, then run around and 2d-puzzle-platform for a few minutes. Then the level ends with a tower defense game where you build defensive structures from tubes which pour out enemies to the meat grinder.
If an enemy hits you, you lose a red heart. If an enemy gets to the spot you're defending you lose a yellow heart. If you lose all your yellow hearts you lose and need to restart the whole fight again. If you lose all your red hearts you will lose a yellow heart (or need to restart at a checkpoint in the puzzle-platform sections).
You switch between characters, build guns/turrets/mines/generators, each character has a unique set of skills. And you also want to match colors... Yellow turrets do double damage to yellow enemies. Blue shots from Clu's Gun do double damage to blue enemies. But sometimes you just need to do the best with what you have available to you. Each character gets an extra weapon with a different color they can switch between, and you have two different currencies to use for upgrades.
I don't think I'm the best spokesperson for this game's difficulty. I spent 13 hours in total to finish the story. For the final few levels I grew tired of resetting and switched my game to easy difficulty and smashed through the rest of the game.
Conclusion: Generally speaking, I would say I enjoyed Aegis Defenders more than I was annoyed by it. It just needs a few small adjustments and it could really be a solid game. I got stuck hanging onto corners, sometimes my character wouldn't go in diagonal directions, sometimes I got knocked back by an enemy, other times a whole tower defense section would go wrong and I'd have no idea why.
Couple that with being irritated with how shallow and short sighted the characters were... yeah, is it a wonder I grew tired the longer I played?
However, I'm most pleased by how different Aegis Defenders is compared to other games I've played. I love pixel art. At least while listening to characters I can formulate my own opinion, even if I had more in common with the "villain" then the heroes at points.
Hopefully this review was helpful. I fall right between the lines on this one. If this game sounds interesting to you, I think that's enough to say go for it. If you think "oh yeah, that doesn't sound fun" definitely skip it. Thanks for reading!
Unscripted Thoughts Video: