Info about Axon TD: Uprising - Tower Defense:

Official game description:
Axon TD infuses a new layer of strategy into Mazing Tower Defenses. Typically, you build towers on the path to obstruct enemies and make the path longer. But what if you could take control of the map layout itself and expand things directly? In Axon TD, you're given a brush, and the map is your canvas!
The name of the game is map manipulation. Place down tiles to make longer paths and support more towers. Tiles can also bridge to various islands scattered around the map; these provide entire new chunks to maze with. On various maps, you can even place a new destination point!
A roguelite mode where you face the gauntlet of randomized maps, towers, and techs. Adapt to a rapidly expanding map area and take advantage of an accelerated tower technology progression. Surviving earns you a place on the global leaderboard.
You play as a defense contractor on a routine mission. As you arrive, your ship is shot down, and you're attacked by a robotic force called the Axons. Your only way off the planet is to fight. Build towers against hoards of enemies, progress through a tech upgrade tree, and defeat epic bosses! You may even find out the truth behind the ongoing war…
While we have created a lot of singleplayer and co-op maps, there is no doubt that unique and novel experiences which we didn’t think of exist. One of the founders of our studio started game development by modding games back in WarCraft 3. So, we understand the importance of player created content. The map editor gives you all of the tools needed to create any singleplayer or co-op map that we could create ourselves.
Online co-op supports up to 4 players. With maps designed for 2, 3, and 4 players you'll find a wide variety of battlefields to conquer and make your own. A global leaderboard allows you to see how you compare to other teams. Will your team come out on top?
Both the Campaign and the roguelite Survival support 2 players.
With so many map layouts at your disposal, you want a huge arsenal of towers to play with. Dozens of towers, each with their own effect, fulfills that need. Towers also have three possible upgrades, and these upgrades add either new effects or change existing ones.
What complements a ton of towers and a lot of maps? A wide variety of enemies having different abilities, of course. From those that move faster around corners to those that teleport nearby enemies forward, the Axons are devious in their onslaught.
*   40 Towers and Traps
*   10 Castable Abilities
*   Mechanics for Map Manipulation
*   35+ Unique Enemies
*   Co-op with up to 4 Players
*   Roguelite Survival Mode
*   Campaign with 40 Levels
*   PvP Mode with 4 Procedurally Generated Maps
*   21 Quickplay, 18 Co-op, and 4 Survival Maps
*   Leaderboards for Quickplay, Co-op, and Survival
*   Map Editor with Steam Workshop support
*   Cosmetic customizations for Towers
With a wide selection of tower variations to upgrade and an array of complex strategic maps to test your defenses, even the most skilled Tower Defense players will meet a challenge in Axon TD.

Release date: Sep 27, 2024

Categories: Tower Defense, Roguelite, Cooperative Multiplayer, Map Editor, Custom Asset Support, Strategy, PvP


- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price:
  - Community fair range: $10.00 - $20.00
  - Reasoning: The evidence shows that while some users feel the game is worth its price, others suggest it is best enjoyed at a deep discount. This indicates a range of perceived value, with some users finding it worth the full price and others suggesting a lower price point would be more appropriate. The positive reviews highlight the game's content and quality, while the more critical reviews suggest that the game might not be worth the full price due to certain issues.
- Playtime Metrics:
  - Game completion: 30.0h
  - Story completion: 12.0h
  - Session length: 2.0h
  - Endgame: 110.0h
  - Reasoning: The evidence provides several direct and indirect references to playtime. The first quote mentions that the campaign would take 'many hours to complete' and suggests an additional 30 hours to unlock the survival mode skill tree, indicating a substantial total playtime for game completion. The second quote indicates that a player has spent about 12 hours in the game, which can be considered a typical session length or partial completion time. The third quote mentions 110 hours, which likely refers to extensive playtime, possibly including endgame content. The fourth quote reiterates that the campaign is long, taking 'many hours' to complete.
- Time-to-fun:
  - Summary: The game is generally fun, especially in co-op mode, despite some technical issues and frustrating mechanics. The enjoyment starts almost immediately for many players.
  - Stance: Fun immediately
  - Anchor: Starting co-op mode
  - Time to anchor: 0h 5m
  - Friction: Connection bugs; Technical issues; Frustrating gameplay mechanics
  - Unlock drivers: Playing with friends; Variety of game modes
  - Conditions: Cooperative play; Variety of game modes
- Player Archetypes:
  - Critical Strategist (no buy)
    - Motivation: Seeking a well-balanced and engaging tower defense experience.
    - Playstyle: Analytical and critical, focusing on the strategic depth and balance of the game.
    - Experience: veteran
    - Purchase stance: no buy
    - Labels: veteran; strategist
    - Reference games: Orcs Must Die; Creeper World
  - Co-op Enthusiast (sale)
    - Motivation: Enjoying cooperative gameplay with friends.
    - Playstyle: Social and cooperative, focusing on playing with friends and enjoying the multiplayer experience.
    - Experience: mixed
    - Purchase stance: sale
    - Labels: co-op player; social gamer
    - Reference games: Brood War; Warcraft 3
  - Genre Veteran (buy)
    - Motivation: Appreciating a high-quality tower defense experience.
    - Playstyle: Experienced and knowledgeable, focusing on the strategic depth and learning curve of the game.
    - Experience: veteran
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: veteran; TD fan
    - Reference games: Defense Grid; Element TD


Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category.
Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews.
What players like:
- Classic tower defense experience (weight 0.51): The game is praised for being a solid and classic tower defense game, often considered one of the best in the genre.
- Strategic and challenging gameplay (weight 0.48): The game offers deep and strategic gameplay that requires planning and adaptation, providing a challenging experience.
- Co-op mode availability (weight 0.44): The game offers a variety of game modes, prominently featuring co-op modes that are enjoyable and available across different game types.
- Variety of towers (weight 0.28): Players appreciate the wide variety of towers available, including unique and creative types, adding depth to the gameplay.
- Good progression system (weight 0.18): The game features a progression system that players find interesting and well-designed.
- Worthwhile campaign (weight 0.14): The campaign is noted for being immense and worth the price, providing a significant amount of content.
- Successor to Defense Grid (weight 0.14): The game is seen as a worthy successor to Defense Grid, offering similar but more complex mechanics.
- Path customization (weight 0.13): Players enjoy the challenge and ability to alter paths, adding a layer of complexity to the gameplay.
- High replay value (weight 0.13): The game has high replay value, enhanced by a scoring system that encourages repeated playthroughs.
- Building platforms and roads (weight 0.12): Players enjoy the ability to build platforms and design routes, adding a creative aspect to the gameplay.

Common complaints:
- Towers feel weak and unbalanced (weight 0.46): Many players report that the towers in the game feel weak and lack balance. This includes issues with tower strength, range, and overall effectiveness.
- Towers and enemies lack distinctiveness (weight 0.31): Players find both towers and enemies to be visually indistinct and boring, making it difficult to differentiate between them and reducing the overall appeal.
- Poor graphics and optimization (weight 0.21): The game suffers from poor graphics quality and optimization issues, leading to a less enjoyable visual experience.
- High and inconsistent difficulty (weight 0.2): The game is noted for its high difficulty, which can be inconsistent and particularly challenging for beginners.
- Poor story and dialogue (weight 0.2): The story and dialogue in the game are criticized for being dull, skippable, and of poor quality.
- Frequent crashes and errors (weight 0.18): The game is prone to crashing, particularly on Linux operating systems, and suffers from various errors and disconnections.
- Boring and repetitive gameplay (weight 0.17): The gameplay is often described as boring and lacking variety, with repetitive music adding to the monotony.
- CO-OP mode bugs (weight 0.17): The CO-OP mode is plagued with bugs that prevent players from continuing to the next stage or resuming saved games.
- Translation issues (weight 0.17): There are notable problems with translations, particularly in Japanese and some tower upgrade descriptions, which can be ambiguous or missing.
- Not worth the price (weight 0.1): Many players feel that the game is not worth its cost, citing the high price relative to the quality and content offered.
- Game feels abandoned by developers (weight 0.1): Players feel that the game has been abandoned by the developers, with little to no updates or support.
- Game falls short of its potential (weight 0.1): There is a consensus that the game does not fully realize its potential, falling short of what it could have been.
- Lack of undo function (weight 0.09): Players express a need for an undo button or a confirm placement toggle to improve the gameplay experience.
- Tedious maze building (weight 0.09): The maze building aspect of the game is described as tedious and convoluted, detracting from the enjoyment.
- Bland meta progression (weight 0.09): The meta progression in the game is criticized for feeling half-assed and tacked-on, lacking depth and engagement.
- Lacks originality compared to Element TD (weight 0.09): The game is criticized for lacking originality and not living up to the concept and quality of Element TD.
- Limited and flat maps (weight 0.09): The maps in the game are described as flat and lacking in variety, with not enough maps to keep players engaged.
- Workshop maps not working (weight 0.09): Custom maps from the workshop are not functioning properly, limiting the game's replayability and customization options.
- Bugged Steam achievements (weight 0.09): Steam achievements in the game are bugged and contain translation errors, affecting the overall experience.

Gameplay feedback:
- Classic tower defense mechanics (weight 0.7): The game features traditional tower defense elements such as strategic tower placement, upgrades, and various tower types. Players enjoy the strategic depth and variety in tower defense gameplay.
- Complex path systems (weight 0.57): The game features intricate path creation and alteration mechanics. Players can build, alter, and strategize around paths to challenge enemies.
- Diverse game modes available (weight 0.54): The game offers a variety of game modes including Co-op, PvP, Campaign, Survival, and Quickplay. Players appreciate the multiple options for different gameplay experiences.
- Roguelike and survival modes (weight 0.39): The game includes roguelike and survival modes, offering unique and challenging experiences. These modes provide high replayability and varied gameplay.
- Dynamic and customizable maps (weight 0.3): Maps in the game are dynamic and can be customized and expanded. Players enjoy the ability to manipulate and alter the maps to their strategic advantage.
- Story-driven campaign (weight 0.29): The campaign mode features a story with dialogues and unlockable content. Players enjoy the narrative elements and progression within the campaign.
- Innovative maze and tile mechanics (weight 0.22): The game features innovative maze creation and tile manipulation mechanics. Players can expand tiles and build mazes to alter enemy paths.
- Strategic and economic planning (weight 0.1): The game requires strategic planning and economic management. Players need to plan their moves and manage resources effectively to succeed.
- Customizable tower targeting (weight 0.1): Players can customize tower targeting mechanics, allowing for more strategic gameplay. This feature adds depth to the tower defense aspects of the game.
- Leaderboard and achievement systems (weight 0.1): The game includes leaderboard and achievement systems, adding competitive and completionist elements. Players enjoy tracking their progress and comparing scores.
- Creative tower placement (weight 0.09): Players can creatively place towers to strategically defend against enemies. This feature allows for varied and innovative defensive strategies.
- Puzzle-like game elements (weight 0.09): The game incorporates puzzle-like mechanics, adding an extra layer of challenge and engagement. Players enjoy solving these puzzle elements within the gameplay.
- Tower and turret design (weight 0.09): Players can design and customize turrets, focusing on their effectiveness and strategic placement. This adds depth to the defensive strategies in the game.
- Survival mode skill tree (weight 0.09): The survival mode features its own skill tree, allowing players to upgrade and customize their abilities. This adds a layer of progression and strategy to the survival mode.
- Enemy wave mechanics (weight 0.08): The game features waves of enemies, challenging players to defend against increasing numbers and types of enemies. This mechanic adds to the game's difficulty and strategic depth.
- Tower balance and upgrades (weight 0.08): The game includes a variety of towers with balance and upgrade options. Players can strategically upgrade towers to enhance their defensive capabilities.
- Skill trees and power-ups (weight 0.08): The game features skill trees and power-ups as part of the gameplay mechanics. Players can upgrade their towers and abilities through these systems.

Performance notes:
- Optimization and performance issues (weight 0.14): There are reports of optimization issues causing the game to slow down computers and experience lag.
- Graphical issues reported (weight 0.1): Some players experienced issues with VSync and antialiasing, which affected the visual quality of the game.
- Game-breaking level errors (weight 0.06): Some players encountered errors in certain levels that were severe enough to disrupt gameplay significantly.
- Broken save files (weight 0.06): Issues with save files being broken or corrupted were reported by some players.
- Crashing on Linux (weight 0.06): Players using Linux reported that the game crashes frequently on this operating system.
- Infrequent crashes (weight 0.05): A few players reported that the game crashes occasionally, about 1 out of 10 games.
- Micropauses during gameplay (weight 0.05): Players experienced brief pauses during gameplay, often while waiting for other players.
- Minor bugs reported (weight 0.05): Some players reported encountering few bugs or issues, indicating that the game is relatively stable for them.
- Out of Bounds array error (weight 0.05): A specific crash related to an Out of Bounds array error was reported by some players.

Recommendations:
- Highly recommended by players (weight 0.15): Many players strongly recommend purchasing and playing this game, indicating high satisfaction and enjoyment.
- Considered a top TD game (weight 0.15): The game is praised as one of the best in the Tower Defense genre, highlighting its quality and standing among similar games.
- Desire for more updates (weight 0.06): Players are requesting more updates, suggesting they are engaged but want additional content or improvements.

Other player notes:
No miscpoints

Emotions:
- Frustration (weight 0.23): Players are frustrated due to the removal of the roguelike mode and various gameplay issues. These include multiplayer/PvP meta and lack of unit variation, poor translation, game bugs, confusing interface, difficulty and balance issues, and bugged achievements.
- Satisfaction (weight 0.15): Players find satisfaction in the game's strategic depth and variety. They enjoy the different towers, traps, and the challenge of mastering maps, as well as the game's aesthetic and the responsive support from developers.
- Enjoyment (weight 0.12): Players enjoy the variety of content, smooth performance, and gameplay mechanics. They have fun with the mazing and progression system, the challenge of making paths, and the ability to change attack routes.
- Disappointment (weight 0.09): Players feel disappointed due to difficulty spikes, poor balance, and the feeling that the game's potential is not fully realized. They also express dissatisfaction with the game's story mode, lack of gameplay variety, and overall quality issues.
- Excitement (weight 0.07): Players are excited about the game's high replay value, addictive gameplay, and innovative mechanics. They appreciate the strategic depth, developer responsiveness, and the unique map mechanics.
- Frustrated (weight 0.05): Players are frustrated with specific gameplay issues such as monsters skipping paths, limitations in speed options, and language barriers. They also face difficulties with unplayable co-op due to server location issues and power balance problems.
- Happy (weight 0.04): Players are happy with the pathing and mazing mechanics, unique spin on TDs, and customized map editing. They enjoy the diverse playstyles, storyline, and strategic gameplay.
- Excited (weight 0.03): Players are excited about the detailed and strategic gameplay, high difficulty, and customizable levels. They also appreciate the recent updates that have improved co-op gameplay and the game's rich content.
- Hopeful (weight 0.03): Players are hopeful for more updates, future improvements, and additional content. They appreciate the developers' continuous updates and look forward to rebalancing updates.
- Disappointed (weight 0.02): Players are disappointed with the tedious gameplay, lackluster visuals, and lack of Polish localization. They also express dissatisfaction with the lack of voice acting during the campaign and tutorials.
- Enthusiasm (weight 0.02): Players are enthusiastic about discovering synergies, enjoying the survival mode, and the cooperative campaign. They appreciate the game's variety and challenge.
- Appreciation (weight 0.02): Players appreciate the variety of towers, co-op mode, and the ability to change terrain. They enjoy the multiplayer co-op and the strategic depth of the game.
- Impressed (weight 0.02): Players are impressed with the game's incredible quality, unique features, and excellent rogue-like survival mode. They believe the game has the potential to be a classic in the Tower Defence genre.
- Anger (weight 0.01): Players are angry due to frequent bugs that force them to restart and the poor quality of the game relative to its high price.}