Defender's Quest: Valley of the Forgotten

 PC
User Score
8.3

Generally favorable reviews- based on 89 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 72 out of 89
  2. Mixed: 13 out of 89
  3. Negative: 4 out of 89

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  1. PArcade
    Jan 27, 2014
    9
    A very enjoyable RPG, where your battles are entertaining tower defense. Humorous writing for character dialog, and even the animation doesn't bother me, which is often does in these "retro" style battles. I find myself wanting to beat every mission on extreme, and take great joy in leveling up enough that normal fights are laughably easy. I'll be sad when I've completely finished theA very enjoyable RPG, where your battles are entertaining tower defense. Humorous writing for character dialog, and even the animation doesn't bother me, which is often does in these "retro" style battles. I find myself wanting to beat every mission on extreme, and take great joy in leveling up enough that normal fights are laughably easy. I'll be sad when I've completely finished the entire game, as then there won't be a reason to going back to previous battles. Very well done game!… Expand
  2. Talnesa
    Dec 12, 2012
    9
    While I do love tower defense games, I've felt a bit...burned out by the sheer number of them lately. This game, however, is just different enough from the rest to have revived my love of the genre. Its nicely crafted storyline and RPG elements add the perfect touch and encourage you to play "just one more battle". Highly recommended!
  3. Evecque
    Dec 18, 2012
    8
    A fun mix of Tower Defense and RPG in a well made game. Your companions are your "towers" and you level them up and equip them as you would in a standard RPG. Quite enjoyable. Get the demo and see if it is your kind of game.
  4. JayferX
    Dec 17, 2012
    10
    This game is fun. I am a tactics game addict, this isn't exactly a tactics game but a tower defense game where you use characters for your towers. These characters have classes and can level up and then be specced certain ways. So with 6 different classes and having up to 6 of each class in a battle, then with different specs per class there is a lot of depth to this simple lookingThis game is fun. I am a tactics game addict, this isn't exactly a tactics game but a tower defense game where you use characters for your towers. These characters have classes and can level up and then be specced certain ways. So with 6 different classes and having up to 6 of each class in a battle, then with different specs per class there is a lot of depth to this simple looking game. Lots of fun!!… Expand
  5. Steamcausedthis
    Jul 21, 2013
    6
    I think for the Price tag I got this game during the sale 5 USD was a pretty decent deal, but to be honest I've kinda gotten bored rather quickly of the game (not sure if it was the straight 10 hour play/grind)

    thankfully there are plenty of extra scenarios, harder challenges, even a new-game mode but at times I found the main story to be a little corny, and it probably would have    I think for the Price tag I got this game during the sale 5 USD was a pretty decent deal, but to be honest I've kinda gotten bored rather quickly of the game (not sure if it was the straight 10 hour play/grind)

    thankfully there are plenty of extra scenarios, harder challenges, even a new-game mode

    but at times I found the main story to be a little corny, and it probably would have helped if there was at least a better customization page for your new units, not terribly found of 1 template and a dozen color format.

    Ill admit for someone who doesn't play TD games often it did get me hooked, but it was probably the fact that I burned through it so quick and it wasn't quite the RPG I was hoping for that lead to my score.    … Expand
  6. Wrathak
    Mar 15, 2012
    9
    Great RPG/Tower Defense game that will soon get a lot better as more content will be added. As well as nice incentives to replay the game.

    The characters are charming and the game is filled with light humor that kept me smiling during cutscenes.

    You can play the long demo for free to see if it suits your tastes.
  7. ShaziaTheProud
    Jul 29, 2013
    8
    Awesome mix of Tower Defense and RPG. I thought it worked really well. Tons of fun and very addicting. Lots of replay value. A definite must-buy if you enjoy tower defense games.
  8. sprcow
    Nov 28, 2012
    9
    Very solid and entertaining tower defense game with a splash of RPG.

    Pros: - Fairly long campaign with lots of additional replay value. - Different difficulties require different strategies, but there are many different successful strategies. - Fun combination of standard tower defense (place units, power them up using a resource you acquire by defeating incoming waves) and longer    Very solid and entertaining tower defense game with a splash of RPG.

    Pros:
    - Fairly long campaign with lots of additional replay value.
    - Different difficulties require different strategies, but there are many different successful strategies.
    - Fun combination of standard tower defense (place units, power them up using a resource you acquire by defeating incoming waves) and longer term rpg elements (units level up and unlock abilities, need equipment upgrades, must be recruited before being used).

    Cons:
    - Repetitive sound track
    - Difficult to evaluate the impact of unit level-up decisions - decision-making feels somewhat random

    All in all, well worth a look if you like tower defense.    … Expand
  9. bigsilverhotdog
    May 5, 2016
    1
    I don't understand any praise this game receives. I've played every major TD on the market, and as a big genre fan I have to say that Defender's Quest is one of the most tedious and outright annoying that exists anywhere, on any platform.

    The story is outright terrible, cliched in every sense of the word and told in the most uninspired and lazy "Penny Arcade talking heads" method    I don't understand any praise this game receives. I've played every major TD on the market, and as a big genre fan I have to say that Defender's Quest is one of the most tedious and outright annoying that exists anywhere, on any platform.

    The story is outright terrible, cliched in every sense of the word and told in the most uninspired and lazy "Penny Arcade talking heads" method imaginable. Horrible, horrible writing and dialogue for all characters and sequences. Any random talented child could write a better story AND dialogue in 3 hours. Even Disney movies have more originality. I winced repeatedly just trying to follow the storyline itself, and actually gave up after the 4th or 5th sequence involving irrelevant nonsense and bad jokes unrelated to the game or the plot. The story in tower defense games is mostly irrelevant anyway, but a truly bad story that actively annoys you (even if it can be skipped) detracts from any type of game.

    The actual gameplay in Defender's Quest is tediously mathematical. You appear to have choices in units, items, upgrades, and the like, but a few glances at the actual stats/levels reveal that the game uses a linear scaling of raw numbers (and not even complex raw numbers at that) to up the "difficulty" as you advance in the story, and through the individual level "challenges". Any combination of proper numbers (equipment + characters + abilities) will defeat any level. Strategy of placement is only occasionally required, and when it is it's obvious. If you can't find any reasonable combination of raw numbers from your current party you can always go back to the story (or back to challenges, if you were stopped on the story). This makes the entire game a simple wash-and-repeat repetition of "drop towers and hit x4 to finish faster, then endure the next story sequence". This isn't tower defense, this is bad game design.

    Overall Defender's Quest is just a bad game. The ending isn't any good, and neither is the journey. Deleted.    … Expand
  10. Jinx
    Nov 10, 2012
    9
    If you like tower defense games this is a must-have title. It reminds me a little of Puzzle Quest or Clash of Heroes in that it adds RPG elements to a strategy/puzzle genre with great results. The game is pretty long and has good replay value, including a "new game +" mode that adds extra missions, new cutscenes, etc. It may look simple and retro, but the gameplay is among the best, theIf you like tower defense games this is a must-have title. It reminds me a little of Puzzle Quest or Clash of Heroes in that it adds RPG elements to a strategy/puzzle genre with great results. The game is pretty long and has good replay value, including a "new game +" mode that adds extra missions, new cutscenes, etc. It may look simple and retro, but the gameplay is among the best, the music is very good, and the humor is a nice touch. The price may seem a bit steep given the 16-bit graphics, but it's well worth that price. I have 33 hours logged on the game so far and I'm maybe 1/4 through New Game+.… Expand
  11. Firewalker74
    Mar 25, 2012
    10
    I would like to start off and say THANK YOU to the makers of this game. My son wanted it so we got it for him did not think he would like it, but i was wrong and glad he show it to me, it is one of those games you can sit back and not have to worry what he is going to be seeing...... I like playing it now to...... can't wait for the updates....... THANKS AGAIN
  12. Zimbardo
    May 17, 2014
    8
    I really didn't expect much from this game but it's turned out to be one of my favorite tower defense games of all times. It's been over a year since I've bought Defender's Quest and I keep coming back to it.
    I have definitely gotten my money's worth on this and I hope they make a sequel.
    Solid.
  13. augh18
    Sep 29, 2014
    7
    Plays like a mix of tower defense and Final Fantasy: Tactics. Soundtrack is obviously heavily inspired by Uematsu (the main battle theme has several segments that sound like they were lifted directly from the Final Fantasy 8 battle music), it's well done but loses points for being such an obvious copy.

    Replaying missions at higher difficulties for increased rewards is fun on paper but    Plays like a mix of tower defense and Final Fantasy: Tactics. Soundtrack is obviously heavily inspired by Uematsu (the main battle theme has several segments that sound like they were lifted directly from the Final Fantasy 8 battle music), it's well done but loses points for being such an obvious copy.

    Replaying missions at higher difficulties for increased rewards is fun on paper but does essentially amount to grinding in order to meet the demands of those challenges, instead of rewarding smart play.

    Defender's Quest is a bit too long for its own good.

    The 800x600 native resolution means that the only way to make it fill up your widescreen in order to reduce eye-strain is to stretch the image, which ruins the appearance of the art.

    Game is good for what it is, overall I'm excited for the sequel because I think all the concepts presented here are unique, and they could really turn this into something special.    … Expand
  14. somedude14
    Jul 7, 2016
    7
    Just got a free HD update which is pretty decent. Adds a bit to the game, visuals still seem to a bit blurry however (as though they're still stretching to fit and aren't truly HD). However, a free update can't be beat. Game itself is fun but gets repetitive pretty quickly, best played in short bursts.
  15. Dimajex
    Nov 27, 2012
    7
    I love Tower Defense. Defender's Quest is a good one. The story is decent, although the dialogue can be a bit long winded and I'll admit that halfway through I started skipping large portions of the cut scenes. As far as the game balance goes it is pretty good. Leveling up your army is fun and adds to the game. The issue is that in the end the focus ends up being on leveling up soI love Tower Defense. Defender's Quest is a good one. The story is decent, although the dialogue can be a bit long winded and I'll admit that halfway through I started skipping large portions of the cut scenes. As far as the game balance goes it is pretty good. Leveling up your army is fun and adds to the game. The issue is that in the end the focus ends up being on leveling up so that you can easily beat levels as opposed to crafting better strategies.

    A good game and worth the money I spent on it.    … Expand
  16. greywolf00
    Jun 24, 2013
    9
    Simply a great game. The tower defense combat is a nice change of pace from what I normally play. Took a little over 20 hours to beat almost all the maps on highest difficulty. 4 difficulty levels for every map and a NG+. The humor in the writing was great, I did laugh out loud a couple times.
  17. Tubey
    Apr 25, 2016
    9
    Completely pointless writing this four years after its' release I guess, but just needed to do it, because of all the games I have, this is the one I continue to boot up and replay every 6-12 months.

    This is tower defence at it's best - absolutely addictive, passionate to the core in it's gameplay, production values and humour and with very serviceable RPG elements that do well to    Completely pointless writing this four years after its' release I guess, but just needed to do it, because of all the games I have, this is the one I continue to boot up and replay every 6-12 months.

    This is tower defence at it's best - absolutely addictive, passionate to the core in it's gameplay, production values and humour and with very serviceable RPG elements that do well to construct a vivid world.

    This could become a monster franchise for the devs if marketed properly and developed upon by retaining all that makes it great and offering more.

    For me, this is the very best of its' genre. It's cheap on Steam - if you're reading this and have any interest in tower defence, pick it up without delay.    … Expand
  18. JackPaladin
    Jul 2, 2013
    9
    Wow, what a great little game. I just got it because it was only 5 dollars, and it looked and sounded very interesting. What a shock that I'm having more fun by far than I did with Diablo 3 or SimCity. Worth every penny; it would be worth every penny if I'd have paid $20.

    If they made a version with much better graphics, I'd rebuy it in a second. In fact, if they did a DQ2 with    Wow, what a great little game. I just got it because it was only 5 dollars, and it looked and sounded very interesting. What a shock that I'm having more fun by far than I did with Diablo 3 or SimCity. Worth every penny; it would be worth every penny if I'd have paid $20.

    If they made a version with much better graphics, I'd rebuy it in a second. In fact, if they did a DQ2 with great graphics, I'd pay $40 for the thing in a heartbeat.    … Expand
  19. Siegfoult
    Jun 26, 2013
    8
    Fun mix of tower defense and RPG mechanics. The story is interesting, the characters are humorous, and the art is cute. The difficulty is well balanced, because you can grind to level up your party if a fight is too hard, but formulating good strategies is still rewarded.

    The mechanics are easy to grasp, the game has good tutorials (good because they are informative but not    Fun mix of tower defense and RPG mechanics. The story is interesting, the characters are humorous, and the art is cute. The difficulty is well balanced, because you can grind to level up your party if a fight is too hard, but formulating good strategies is still rewarded.

    The mechanics are easy to grasp, the game has good tutorials (good because they are informative but not overwhelming or tedious), and you have enough options to customize your strategy, but not so many that the game becomes annoying.

    The UI is clean and there are also keyboard shortcuts. The game is real-time but you can pause to issue orders or speed up to finish a easy battle quickly. Inventory management has some useful, innovative features to make replacing old equipment fast and easy, quickly presenting the player with the option to sell the old gear.

    All in all, a well done game. I recommend this to anyone who is a fan or tower defense and RPG games.    … Expand
  20. marumaru
    Apr 26, 2013
    10
    Probably my favorite all time Tower Defense game, slightly edging out Kingdom Rush and the classic Desktop Defender. Entertaining and well written dialogue. Impressive game play balance. After finishing the game on regular, New Game+ and collecting most of the achievements, I got a good 50 hours of fun out of it.

    Not a perfect game, but I hear there's a sequel in the making I'd like to    Probably my favorite all time Tower Defense game, slightly edging out Kingdom Rush and the classic Desktop Defender. Entertaining and well written dialogue. Impressive game play balance. After finishing the game on regular, New Game+ and collecting most of the achievements, I got a good 50 hours of fun out of it.

    Not a perfect game, but I hear there's a sequel in the making I'd like to see more variety in the enemies, a longer story arc, and the bonuses implemented in NG+ (unique equipment, journal entries and sidequests) available during the regular campaign.    … Expand
  21. Jasiek
    May 25, 2013
    9
    Defender's Quest: Valley of The Forgotten is an very successful mix of classic tower defense games and RPG's. It gives us the tactical part of tower defenses and the character (tower? xD) customisation worthy of an full-blown rpg blended together into a extraordinary game.

    What can I say more? I WANT A SECOND PART!
  22. ibitato
    Jul 17, 2013
    8
    This game is easy to pick and play.
    Casual but with enough depth to get you into playing more and more.
    Mod support is also a good thing to have, since player base can extend the game's life. Game play wise its good and delivers. This game states the obvious, you don't need extra super neat graphics to do a fun game Aside from few bugs and problems with steam cloud (already solved    This game is easy to pick and play.
    Casual but with enough depth to get you into playing more and more.
    Mod support is also a good thing to have, since player base can extend the game's life.
    Game play wise its good and delivers.
    This game states the obvious, you don't need extra super neat graphics to do a fun game
    Aside from few bugs and problems with steam cloud (already solved BTW) the game is solid
    the story, it's kinda meh but the rest is fine.

    It's a really fun and easy to pick tower defense game, with good rpg options and leverage    … Expand
  23. mijxero
    Aug 14, 2014
    8
    This is a very simple and graphically unimpressive game. Although when you are talking about tower defense the real question is, is it fun? This game is a ton of fun by combining RPG elements that persist throughout the game as you level your "towers" and give them equipment. This is one of my favorite tower defense games of all times along with bloons.
  24. Raybit
    Jan 29, 2014
    9
    This a old-school fashion TD game. If you could enjoy the kind of "Kingdom Rush" causal game and wanna more challenge to beat. This game won't disappoint you.

    But the reason why it get highly recommended is because the game has three special elements which make it able to bring you more fun then normal TD game you ever played. 1 RPG factors: Your role and recruits can all have    This a old-school fashion TD game. If you could enjoy the kind of "Kingdom Rush" causal game and wanna more challenge to beat. This game won't disappoint you.

    But the reason why it get highly recommended is because the game has three special elements which make it able to bring you more fun then normal TD game you ever played.

    1 RPG factors:
    Your role and recruits can all have their own skill line, gears and get more power when leveled up. There are 6 class with 6 skill line, and even different soldiers of the same class could be customized for certain direction under different situation by reassign their skill points( and its quite cheap to reassign points).

    2 AI of your atk target:
    Your army will attack foes automatically when they are in range, and you can't lock exactly which one you wanna attack for each soldier. However, each soldier can be assigned a type of its prefer targets(a combination according to foe's distance/HP/speed/armor/viability/buff...). And this mechanism will enable you to maximize overall dmg toward foe or save your hero at critical moment by changing atk targets.

    3 Recall and re-position your soldier:
    It is not new to allow selling your unnecessary solider and placing the new one in TD game. But normally, the selling action is passive choice when you don't have enough gold for the new one. While in this game, the total number of each class of your soldier is limited. And thus even you have enough gold/energy to place a new one, you still need to consider the best moment to recall(sell) and reposition it. And in the most of extreme challenge of later game, this is the only way to win since your foes overnumbers your army.

    When this three factors mingled together, it means you need to set your general strategy for your gears,soldiers before the battle and adjust your attack/postion strategy during the battle, which may require a lot of micromanagement then most of TD game.    … Expand
  25. LemmeC
    Mar 14, 2020
    8
    Fun tower defense game with depth and replayability. Story and cartoon cutscens are a bit silly, just ignore them and you'll have fun.
  26. bumbasaur
    Feb 8, 2014
    8
    Ok story but has the feel of an flash game. Easy for td veterans but refreshing mix of rpg and td.
    Would recommend if you are a fan of tower defence games
  27. VidyaBum
    Jan 31, 2018
    10
    Ver rarely do I give out 10/10s, but this is deserved.

    Defender's Quest is the first game in years to compel me to complete every battle, superboss, and achievement imaginable (which I have, save for saving both Zelemir and Azra with full health in NG+ Extreme difficulty on the final battle). I could make a very long review and lavish praise all over it, but I'll try and keep it    Ver rarely do I give out 10/10s, but this is deserved.

    Defender's Quest is the first game in years to compel me to complete every battle, superboss, and achievement imaginable (which I have, save for saving both Zelemir and Azra with full health in NG+ Extreme difficulty on the final battle).

    I could make a very long review and lavish praise all over it, but I'll try and keep it straightforward: this game is as polished as it gets except in some of the technicals (had quite a few Nullpointer errors and being sent straight back to the desktop). Its characterisation is both entertaining and funny, and portrays quite well-written characters. Goofy as they are, they all provide a good time.

    The story manages in a fairly short time to provide a lore that feels deep and logical, and succeeds at building an atmospheric world and very entertaining storyline, that unlike a lot of lesser games, does not ever fall into the shallowness of entertainment by fun. It is entertaining by being profoundly thought out and engaging, whether it gets dark, silly, or relatable, it always feels like consistent characters are telling you their stories and their evolution without flaw. There is no unwarranted joke or misfired line, every character and every story arc provides a deeper mining of the lore and adds its own flavor to the cast and storyline.

    Sort of like Undertale but in a completely different style, it manages to stay charming, jokey and lighthearted, while simultaneously building a great lore(which Undertale couldn't do) and does not ever shy from exploring a truly dark story. It's a complete success, both in the writing itself and the ever-difficult mix of sad or tragic and lightearted, silly stuff.

    The music is really solid as well.

    The HD remake has made the whole thing look quite good, and every character's design works.

    Lastly, and more importantly, the gameplay is refined to a T. This game has so many ideas on how to make itself less boring or less generic, it offers a lot of complexity and thinking through and I found myself playing 100 hours of it and yet feel like I didn't play half of that. Every battle offers new challenges, every challenge has its new difficulties, and if you get to finish everything to the last mission, New Game + offers a huge span of new challenges with completely different power levels and way harder monsters.

    It has been a joy to play and think through during these 100 hours and my only regret is that now that every achievement is done, I can never find another challenge in the game (except the last mission in NG+ extreme, but at this point I think it's impossible).

    I highly recommend anyone to play this.    … Expand
  28. MaxKvothe
    Oct 22, 2018
    8
    It's overall good tower defense. Only one flaw is graphics which really don't like
  29. Corefitz
    Feb 15, 2020
    7
    Story based tower defense? Interesting to say the least.

    Simplistic, inviting, funny and enjoyable.
    No, I'm not going to spoil the story, although a bit overused, it IS interesting.

Critic Reviews

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No score yet - based on 2 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 2
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 2
  3. Negative: 0 out of 2
  1. RPGamer
    Apr 16, 2013
    90
    Between its addictive gameplay and sliding difficulty scale, Defender’s Quest offers gamers a great deal for such a small investment of time.
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  2. Destructoid
    Jan 29, 2012
    85
    It's no accident that Defender's Quest is incredibly fun to play. The team behind it clearly had an appreciation for the genre and knew how to offer something familiar yet fresh. The promise of free content updates has me excited to continue playing. You should strongly consider joining me.
    Read full review