Sanctum (2011)

 PC
User Score
6.7

Mixed or average reviews- based on 242 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 130 out of 242
  2. Mixed: 60 out of 242
  3. Negative: 52 out of 242

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  1. SirLance
    Jan 16, 2013
    4
    Wasn't for me. I love tower games but this was too much of a first person action for me. I also love FPS games like Mass Effect, but here you have to constantly turn, look up and down... if you get motion sickness, you'll probably play it as long as I did after I purchased it. One run, about 5 minutes, and then deleted it.
  2. PhiOmega
    Nov 6, 2011
    3
    If you want a game where you get 4 maps, 3 guns, and 6 towers than this is the game for you. If you want anything else get ready to pay anywhere between 1 and 5 dollars per DLC to get A gun or a tower or a map. I personally will not buy this game because I will not support the nickle and dime of the DLC. There are better Tower defense games out there that have free DLC and constant eventsIf you want a game where you get 4 maps, 3 guns, and 6 towers than this is the game for you. If you want anything else get ready to pay anywhere between 1 and 5 dollars per DLC to get A gun or a tower or a map. I personally will not buy this game because I will not support the nickle and dime of the DLC. There are better Tower defense games out there that have free DLC and constant events and are focused for online play... like Dungeon Defenders… Expand
  3. comscier
    Sep 27, 2011
    0
    Lack of content
    if you want to gain full experience of this game...
    prepare to spending more money on up coming DLCs... (lots coming)

    *I am not purchasing their DLCs.
    I don't support the practice of selling DLCs when the game itself is lacking content.
    *You do not get the complete game when you purchase, that said you have to even pay to unlock towers.
  4. ZazaTR
    Oct 22, 2012
    1
    Game is bearable, unless you are hunting for abundant secret spots / easter eggs, where broken jump mechanics completely ruin the experience. Not to mention walking through textures
  5. moifoi
    Dec 28, 2011
    0
    They removed the scoring system and leaderboards for levels in the same patch which makes the game have no replay value. There's much better tower defense games to get.
  6. Brumbek
    Dec 30, 2011
    2
    A great concept that is totally ruined by horrible game design, terrible presentation, and infuriatingly ambiguous tower/enemy stats. This game is the worst sort of indie trash. It's clear it was made by some newbie developers who don't understand UI design or production values. The big boys like Defense Grid and Orcs Must Die! crush this pathetic attempt at a game. Sorry, this is a badA great concept that is totally ruined by horrible game design, terrible presentation, and infuriatingly ambiguous tower/enemy stats. This game is the worst sort of indie trash. It's clear it was made by some newbie developers who don't understand UI design or production values. The big boys like Defense Grid and Orcs Must Die! crush this pathetic attempt at a game. Sorry, this is a bad Unreal mod, not a game. Complete FAIL.… Expand
  7. ozgeek
    Dec 28, 2011
    1
    Nice graphics but poor implementation of difficulity - for example how do i kill those blue fat things? I wasn't told how until I had to hit the forums and introduced all too many at once. Better off playing Defense Grid, a REAL tower defense game. Yes that's right. The towers in this game do swat. only works in few waves then they are useless.
  8. joe2
    Sep 6, 2011
    4
    fun at first but doesn't scale well. maxed-out towers and FPS guns do 100-300 damage, but creep hp rapidly goes above 10,000. by round 10, you're just spamming gunfire nonstop the entire time. it's not really exciting when you are taking off 1% of their health per hit.

    if the weapons and towers scaled up like the creep hp scales up it would be a lot better.
  9. Mogul
    Mar 3, 2012
    4
    This is playable, and kind of fun, but mostly disappointed me. The FPS + tower defense combo is a nice twist, but for me, Sanctum got tiresome very quickly. It just felt like something was a little bit off in terms of the game balancing / weapon synergy / level design. In the same genre, I that Orcs Must Die is a step above, and that's not saying too much.
  10. randylin26
    Sep 12, 2012
    4
    You know what? I completed this **** game in less then 3 hours. When I played Dungeon Defenders, I was only in the first two levels in the first 3 hours of that. Luckily, I bought all the dlcs and the game when it was discounted for 5 bucks, so it wasn't THAT bad. I mean, can this game at least HAVE MORE CONTENT?????
  11. pan
    Aug 5, 2011
    4
    A wonderful idea but lackluster implementation. The tower defense element is not very good, the first person shooter element is not very good, and the two combined is not very fun. I can not stress enough that I absolutely love the idea here. The FPS elements break up the tedium that a lot of people experience problems with in pure TD games. We can see something similar in (the veryA wonderful idea but lackluster implementation. The tower defense element is not very good, the first person shooter element is not very good, and the two combined is not very fun. I can not stress enough that I absolutely love the idea here. The FPS elements break up the tedium that a lot of people experience problems with in pure TD games. We can see something similar in (the very successful with non-hardcore TD gamers) Plants Vs. Zombies with the constant need to click on the sun laying about. Unfortunately, much like PVZ, it lacks an economy that rewards people for brinkmanship or coming up with a very efficient solution. Another issue I have with the game is that it all feels very much the same after a very short period of time. Every wave is a matter of shooting as many enemies in their weak spots to thin the herd enough that the towers can deal with the rest. This gets very tiresome rather quickly for me as that is the only thing that happens in the game aside from the very slow build out of towers. If the enemies fought back and I had perishable life(perhaps balanced against the economy?), this game would be infinitely more exciting, other issues aside. There are still to date, very few levels. I believe there are 5 total unless they just dropped one in recently. The best level is Mine, the level in the demo. It keeps the player very active and engaged with multiple places to engage the enemies from. The other levels are very flat, both figuratively and literally. They are predominately just a flat grid to lay out towers on. The problem there is that flat grids also play very flat. The scaling of difficulty, damage, and costs are equally imagined as they are just double the rate of the previous level for whatever. The only thing that doesn't appear to follow that pattern is the income that is slow to grow and plateaus around 800/level. The towers and guns are all capped at level 6 so even if one could afford to keep upgrading, I think the insane amount of enemy health will outstrip the amount of towers one could lay down. A fair amount of the enemies really need to be thinned out or otherwise flat out dealt with using the sniper rifle that will soon not be able to keep up with the enemy scaling. Multi-player match finding is a mess with its odd partial implementation of the Steamworks api. Finding a friends game requires luck as the filters do not work properly and at no point is it clear what one is actually doing in setting up or finding a game. Coffee Stain, if you read these, you almost have an amazing game. What you do have is a fantastic concept with a lot of dev work needed to make this into a fun game. At minimum, a whole lot of polish would make this game much more enjoyable.… Expand
  12. night4
    Dec 24, 2016
    1
    Tower defense games have been one of my favorite genres since the old days of Warcraft 3 custom maps. I've played (and thoroughly enjoyed) many TD's, like Deathtrap, Dungeon Defenders 1, Orcs Must Die, and more.

    But this... ugh. It BOMBARDS you with way too many towers and weapons all at once. I don't really get why most every tower needs to be built on a block. I could use more    Tower defense games have been one of my favorite genres since the old days of Warcraft 3 custom maps. I've played (and thoroughly enjoyed) many TD's, like Deathtrap, Dungeon Defenders 1, Orcs Must Die, and more.

    But this... ugh.

    It BOMBARDS you with way too many towers and weapons all at once. I don't really get why most every tower needs to be built on a block. I could use more specific information on tower damage to help me learn strengths and weaknesses vs certain enemies. How do I know which lane is going to be used next? The graphics are kinda blocky and bad. Am I really supposed to get on top of a tower and shoot enemies there? Many of them run so fast I have to chase after them, shooting them in the butt. The sound effects are generally headache-inducing, especially the menu ones. And worst of all, being first person means you can't see what's going on. Even a Dungeon Defenders style of camera would be preferable.

    On the plus side... uh... honestly, I can't think of a plus side here :(    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

67
#67 Most Discussed PC Game of 2011

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
70

Mixed or average reviews - based on 22 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 22
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 22
  3. Negative: 0 out of 22
  1. Gamer.nl
    Apr 21, 2012
    75
    Sanctum is one of the most innovative tower defense games to date. The player discovers new play styles time and time again through a varied mix of first person shooting and placing towers. The cooperative mode makes the multiplayer last for a long time to boot.
    Read full review
  2. Absolute Games
    Oct 17, 2011
    57
    I hope that future patches and expansions will fix the game, since right now Sanctum brings only headaches instead of joy.
    Read full review
  3. GamingXP
    Sep 9, 2011
    70
    Really just a quick game for LAN parties as there's no long-term motivation. But wait and see what the future holds: Coffee Saint Studios has announced there'll be numerous improvements to esure the game won't win the title of most beautiful indie game on the market not just for the graphics.
    Read full review
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