Epic Monster TD – RPG Tower Defense Review

Iron Horse Games is known for its collection of retro-inspired games and Epic Monster TD is just one of their newest offering. Currently, on its Early Access phase, Epic Monster TD will take you to a nostalgic tower defense adventure. Like most tower defense games, your main objective here is to protect your base and prevent all the incoming enemies from breaking through your defenses. To do so, you have to strategically place the monster towers along the battlefield and defeat all approaching enemies. Epic Monster TD is generally a simple yet fun and absolutely nostalgic tower defense game that is wonderfully optimized for your mobile devices. If you are up for an epic TD battle, feel free to explore this game and see how far your skills can take you.

The Gameplay

Epic Monster TD follows a very simple set of mechanics. If you have experienced playing a tower defense game before, then you should know how exactly this game works. Back when Flash games are still on the mainstream, tower defense games are one of the most popular genres. Some of you might still remember games like Kingdom Rush Frontiers, Bloons Tower Defense, Cursed Treasure, and The Last Stand to name a few. When the flash game market started to decline, only a few of these games managed to venture to the mobile platform and the tower defense genre has become less popular. Epic Monster TD is not the first attempt of Iron Horse to revive this classic TD gameplay. They recently launched the Tower Defense Heroes that comes with colorful cartoonish characters and 3D battlefields.

Epic Monster TD, however, comes with a different approach. It started as a flash game and eventually ventured to the mobile platform. While the game is now optimized for mobile devices, the entire game doesn’t change much. The game takes you to an endless tower defense where you hire monsters to eliminate swarms of enemy war machines. Generally, your goal is to protect your land and prevent all these invading war machines from breaking through your defenses. Otherwise, if the enemy reaches the core, the game will come to a quick end and you have no other option but to start the same wave until you managed to make it through.

A Nostalgic Tower Defense

Nostalgic! I guess there is no better word to describe Epic Monster TD other than being nostalgic. Appearance-wise, this game features retro-inspired pixel art graphics which makes you feel like playing a classic SNES game. It is also accompanied by a piece of well-fitting music and audio effect that completes the entire retro gaming experience. The game also offers a huge collection of monsters to unlock. The monsters will vary in terms of their rarity (Common, Uncommon, Rare, Ultra Rare, Legendary, Mythic, Celestial, Godly, and Exotic) and given attributes (DPS, Speed, and Range).

You can summon a new monster via a gacha system which means you have no control over which monster you can unlock. The monster you summon will vary depending on the type of deck they belong to. You can summon monsters from Beginner Deck, Regular Deck, Advanced, Expert, Master, and Grand Master Deck. Not all decks are instantly available because most of them require you to reach certain a Wave Level. It is also important to note that summoning can only be made possible if you have enough Essense ( a premium currency that you can earn every time you completed a wave). The monsters will also pass through evolution stages. Every time they evolve, their skills and attributes will drastically improve.

Prestige, Spells, and Spawns

The game also features the so-called Prestige. It allows you to earn Prestige points which you need to unlock Relics., There is a catch though. If you choose to Prestige the game, you have to go back from the very start. It also prompts you to a new battlefield. In order to Prestige, you must reach at least Wave 50. Prestige will sacrifice some of your progress in exchange for powerful rewards. It means that all your progress, all the gold you collected, and all the tower levels will reset and you have to start again from scratch. Take note that you will not lose everything as it will still keep everything else aside from the aforementioned progress. You can still keep all other resources, you can still access all the towers (monsters) you unlocked as well as their respective levels.

Once you have earned enough Prestige Points, you can visit the Collections page and unlock new Relic. Relics will dramatically boost your overall performance. Some of which will increase your Critical hit chance while others will increase your exp points. Collections page will also give you access to your Tech Tree. Players must earn enough Tech Points to unlock new skills (you can earn Tech Scroll by spawning Tech Ship). Speaking of Spawn, aside from the Tech Ship (requires Wave 400), you can also spawn Cargo Carriers (requires wave 80), and Drawn Swarm and earn greater rewards. Spells can also be activated using Essence. You can tap them

Challenges and Multiplayer Campaigns

The Challenges in this game serve as the Achievement system for Epic Monster TD. This page will give you access to all the Achievements and Daily missions you must complete. These are repeatable tasks with rewards that increase exponentially as you progress. Players will earn gems for each successful challenge. Interestingly, the game also comes with a multiplayer element. Eventually, you will be able to unlock the PvP Tournament but just like Prestige, you will lose all your progress when you entered the battle. The prizes you earn will depend on your placement.

The Verdict

Nostalgic and fun! I guess that is how you can perfectly describe Epic Monster TD. It captures all the classic tower defense elements that we all enjoyed. Appearance-wise, the game will take you to a retro-inspired atmosphere adorned with pixel-art graphics and accompanied by a piece of well-fitting music and audio effects. Despite being repetitive, the game comes with many interesting features to explore. Some of which can be unlocked upon reaching higher wave levels. The reward system also provides a remarkable replay value for this game as well as commendable longevity. To top it all, this game works well even without an Internet connection and it is wonderfully optimized for mobile devices that it won’t hurt much of your phone storage. Currently, the game is available for Android devices and you can download Epic Monster TD for free. Have fun!

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