For a good long while now, the tower defense genre has been one of gaming’s evergreen standbys. Every once in awhile, an ambitious or creative developer will cross-pollinate the tower defense premise with mechanics borrowed from another genre, breathing a little bit of new life into what could be a predictable game. Such is the case with Happy Tuesday’s Hero Defense--Haunted Island, which mixes a little MOBA-like movement and hero progression into the tower defense genre.

Now in Early Access, Hero Defense’s biggest hook is that unlike traditional tower defense games where the player places structures along the route of enemy waves, the game’s heroes function as the towers and they can be moved along the route, making the gameplay experience much faster and less passive. While there are structures to be placed, these generally serve to strengthen the heroes, add special abilities, or generally just reinforce or supplement the various attacks.

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Hero Defense--Haunted Island has a fairly unremarkable premise, which is that your team of ultimately five heroes must defeat not just an army of undead and other monstrosities but the fearsome vampire Count Necrosis. As you progress through the levels, the gameplay difficulty amps up and you slowly begin to gather your team, while rebuilding the town with various workshops that can be used to level characters and equipment. While the story isn’t terribly original, the five heroes are amusingly well designed and although the RPG-lite system of development isn’t incredibly deep, there are still plenty of upgrades from which to choose.

While heroes can be moved around the map quickly and easily in order to combat the ever-progressing waves of enemies, some heroes also have circles of influence that buff or increase damage for others, so placing an crossbowman in the magic user’s circle earns him a bonus. A single player controlling five heroes will have a bit of a struggle keeping each of them in an optimal location, but played in co-op -- MOBA style -- things are much more manageable.

Like many traditional tower defense games, Hero Defense--Haunted Island telescopes the upcoming waves so that players can prepare their best defensive positions and special abilities. The game’s progression from very simple through very challenging is paced well and the game explains its unique systems clearly.

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Graphically, Hero Defense--Haunted Island has a Tim Burton-esque, 3D cartoon look that is dark and gothic but never really serious. Some of the enemy routes are short and others long and winding as they traverse through landscapes filled with environmental detail. The game has a unique, moody-yet-lighthearted vibe that extends to the heroes.  There are lots of colorful particle effects and spell animations, but some issues with framerate and optimization that will need to be addressed before release. The music is nicely varied, and while each hero has a distinct vocal character, the voice acting is pretty stilted and heroes tend to repeat their lines ad nauseam. Like the visuals, there are lots of little audio bugs that need to be squashed.

Overall, what newness that Hero Defense--Haunted Island brings to the tower defense genre works well and the game looks to be on a successful track. It might be nice to be able to choose from a really large stable of heroes, MOBA style, but what’s there works well with the scale of the levels and nature of the enemies. The RPG elements aren’t incredibly deep but they do a good job of adding a bit more strategy and texture to the experience.