Isle of Arrows – Tower Defense

Frustratingly good. One of the best board-like tower defense games I've played. Very RNG dependant, but that also creates an engaging gameplay loop

I love tower defense games, but it’s a genre that can sometimes feel like once you’ve played one of them, you’ve played them all. That’s why I’m always excited when I see new twists on the formula, such as the more trap-oriented approach of Candy Disaster (read my review here), or the subject of this quick review. Isle of Arrows is a game that blends the strategic intensity of a great tower defense title with the adaptation required by the best board games and card games.

Isle of Arrows gives new life to the tower defense genre. Not only are you placing your usual defense towers, but you will be building out the lane enemies travel down. This makes the gameplay never dull and always exciting as no 2 playthroughs are ever the same. The game features 3 different game modes as well, ranging from a traditional campaign to an endless gauntlet. Your objective is to build out the land and protect your core from enemies each wave. Each round you will draw a card that can either be a defensive tower, a path to extend the lane, or a special building/tile to place.

Isle of Arrows is a Multiplatform (Mobile and PC) Tower Defense game, but with a very interesting twist: You cant pick which towers and paths to place, they are randomly picked from your deck and this review will tell you about this game. So there it is, Roguelike TD! At first it seems pretty easy to manage all those random paths and you have some old good Tetris feeling, where you need that specific part to be available to maximize your performance. Enemies start easy too, and most of the mistakes you can make will be forgiven.