Strategy games have always catered to a broa🌟d spectrum of gamers, with long-running series like Civilization and Age of Empires offering what many consider to be the crème de la crème of the genre. Those games might be a little too involved for the more casual players though, being focused on medium-to-large-scale battles and base building as they are.

This is where tower defense games come in, a strategy subgenre that tasks players with defending their designated base as opposed to trying to expand their base-building efforts. Enemies typically attack through specific paths, making it easier to mount a defense against them. That streamlined focus brings with it its own set of thrills and challenges, of course, and much like the larger strategy game genre, the tower defense genre is home to quite a number of gems. Here is our ranking of some of 🎀the very best ones.

Updated on April 10, 2024, by Marco Vito Oddo: Given that Tower Defenses are so popular, it's hard to choose only a handful for a list of the best examples in the genre. That's why we decided to add a few more Tower Defense recommendations, lest we neglect some great games in the genre.

17 Bardbarian 𒆙

Bardbarian stretches the concept of a Tower Defense by mixing elements of survival games and auto-battlers. In Bardbarian, you are tasked with defending your village from a horde of vicious creatures. The issue is you are only a bard♐, incapable of attacking the enemies directly. Instead, you must enlist warriors who'll act independently while you use magic songs to grant buffs, debuffs, and magical powers to your army.

Instead of fixed towers, Bardbarian shakes things up by allowing you to move around with your bജand of warriors. Despite that, the game remains a classic tower defense, with waves of enemies moving towards your village while you hold the line to prevent your base's destruction.

16 SteamWorld ⭕Tower Defense

Image & Form might be🧸 best known for the other more popular games in its SteamWorld series (namely SteamWorld Dig 1 & 2), but the whole thing actually began in 2010 with this quaint little tower defense game released on DSiWare.

The game had players stepping into the shoes of a sheriff who must protect thღe gold mines of his town from an onslaught of invaders. They do so by placing various robot turrets along the paths leading to the mines, using the touch controls on the bottom screen of the Nintendo DS, as well as other items such as bombs and full-blown nukes.

15 Sanctum 2

Sanctum 2 is a first-person shooter with tower defense elements developed by Coffee Stain Studios. Released on PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 in 2013, the game centers upon a group of individuals kn🔯own as Core Guardians in a futuristic sci-fi setting.

The action takes place on an alien planet, where players must defend their oxygen-producing Cores from the indigenous species trying to take them out. After setting up towers and other defense mechanisms, playe🔯rs can switch to a first-person view to actively take part in the defense of🥂 their base.

14 ꦆ OTTTD (Over The Top Tower Defense)

OTTTD, or Over The𓄧 Top Tower Defense, is another tower defense game worth checking out by fans of the genre. Developed by SMG Stu💞dios of Death Squared fame, the game takes place in the year 2317 after a rift is inadvertently opened, paving the way for a full-scale alien invasion. Aside from placing turrets around your base, you'll also get to control individual party members with specific skills, like an engineer that helps to buff your defenses.

As the title suggests, things can get a bit over-the-top, especially during the later stages when the difficulty ramps up considerably. Thankfully, you have the ability to replay earlier stages until you earn enough points to level up your party members, w꧅hich helps make the challenge a bit more manageable.

13 𓆏 Defense Grid: The Awakening 🧸

Defense Grid: The Awakening is a very solid tower defense game. Despite its age, the game still looks very good and plays exceptionally well. Each map requires a different strategy, with the gameplay focusing on tower p๊lacement and resource management to defend your core against waves of aliens.

Speaking of maps, there are tons of them, and each has difficulty modifiers to make subsequent runs more interesting. If you invest in the various DLC packs, there are hundreds of hours worth of content in💝 Defense Grid: The Awakening.

12 D🔥ungeon Defenders

Originally released on mobile phones in 2010, Dungeon Defenders is a tower defense game🙈 that mixes in action RPG elements. The game has up to four players trying to defend against waves🅺 of orcs, goblins, and other enemies, using melee and ranged attacks as well as structures like towers and traps.

Versions for the PC, Xbox Live Arcade, and PlayStation Network were released in 2011, and the gamꦯe has since received several seqℱuels, but the original is still widely considered to be the best.

11 Cree๊per World 4 ꩵ

Creeper World 4 is a unique take on tower defense games that tasks you with fighting off the ever-approaching Creeper flood. Using a variety of towers, you will push back the liquid as it moves toward your base, threatening to flood t✱he entire map.

Creeper World 4 combines tower defense, real-time strategy, base building, and physics-based systems into a single game, wi♒th tons of story maps, a map editor, and nearly infinite replayability.

10 Deathtrap

Deathtrap mixes tower defense mechanics with classic RPG character progression to offer a un✅ique experience. In Deathtrap, you have the mission to rebuild fortresses that were used to destroy monsters coming out of the void a long time ago. The fortresses have deteriorated with time, and now the monsters are back. It's up to you to choose the best defenses to destroy the waves of creatures ready to engulf the world in chaos.

In addition to strategically building towers, Deathtrap has a level-up system that allows your selected character to unlock new skills. You directly particip☂ate in combat, using your skills to kill creatures aided by the fortresses' towers. So, instead of just watching the action unfold at each wave, Deathtrap also allows yℱou to battle enemies in real time.

9 PixelJunk Mon🍎sters Ultimate ꧟

Don't let its casual-looking design fool you because PixelJunk Monꦿsters Ultimate tests your multitasking skills. You control a Tiki character that can build towers to fight off hordes of creatures. The main currency used is coins dropped by d🌳efeated enemies, which means the deadlier your towers become, the more resources you have to build even better traps. However, you must actually collect the coins dropped in the level, turning the game into a fast-paced experience.

In addition to collecting drops, you must position your character in the place where you want to raise new towers. Finally, to evolve towers, your character needs enough time to work on them. So, despite the cute visuals, PixelJunk Monsters Ultimate forces you to constantly strategize and anticipate the enemy waves in order to achieve victory🌊.

8 😼 Orcs Must Die! 3 🐻

The third entry in 🎶the Orcs Must Die! series is actually the fourth overall entry, serving as a direct sequel to Orcs Must Die! 2, with its events taking place 20 years after the ones depicted in that game✱.

Players once again control one of two war mages (with the option for two players to ൩play together coo♍peratively) who must help defend their castle by fighting off an onslaught of invading orc armies using various weapons, traps, and special abilities. The new game introduces a War Scenario game mode that features larger-scale battles (with up to 1,000 orcs) and the use of oversized traps called War Machines.