You don’t have to interrupt the financial institution to search out an awesome tower protection sport, with the Kingdom Rush collection being a primary instance. So I had hope that the tremendous low-cost price ticket on Lifeless Floor would result in it turning into the discount of the century. Particularly as builders ShotX Studio have thrown in procedural technology and roguelike parts to assist their creation stand out.
Does Lifeless Floor ship loads of bang to your buck, or will you’re feeling short-changed by the idea?
Set in a post-apocalyptic future, Lifeless Floor has you making an attempt to scavenge the wastelands for provides so as to survive lengthy sufficient to hunt out the final remaining unscathed space. That’s basically all you’re getting when it comes to a premise or goal for the tower protection providing. However then once more, it’s fairly widespread for video games of this ilk to be bereft of an engrossing narrative, so let’s see how the precise gameplay holds up.
The tutorial goes over just a few of the fundamentals quite swiftly, which first includes the pre-game campfire the place towers are unlocked utilizing foreign money and gadgets will be purchased from the store. There’s nothing noteworthy right here but although as a result of, seeing as you’ve simply begun the marketing campaign, you’ll be fairly broke. Upon venturing out into the wasteland to assemble sources, the concept every day is to cease waves of marauding enemies from reaching the top of the pathway. And this presents an instantaneous drawback.
You may have management of a hero, Jonny initially, with motion and aiming carried out through every of the analog sticks alongside a set off to shoot. The aiming reticle can be the cursor, which means you must information it to the preset constructing spots to erect or improve towers. It’s extraordinarily counter-intuitive and a complete hindrance to your probabilities of success as hordes of raiders, mutants and beasts proceed to come back. Poor Jonny is left susceptible whereas desperately making an attempt to spend the water useful resource on towers, inflicting an awesome scenario. If he dies, it’s ‘sport over’.
It doesn’t assist issues that many of the injury dealing onus is piled on to the hero character, who’s fairly garbage by default. Solely by doing nicely and finishing a full day will you earn rewards equivalent to new weaponry, particular expertise and augments. Even then it’s pure luck as to what loot drops on the finish and any scrap you earn is prone to be wanted for tower funding. Therefore, visiting the store for higher elemental weapons, cool AoE expertise, or stat boosting augments, is a fruitless exercise.
There are 4 completely different towers to unlock – Camp, Bunker, Dragon and Watchtower. Solely the camp tower is offered in the beginning, which trains infantry to face on the trail and assault oncoming threats, whereas slowing down the herd. As for the opposite towers, the bunker is akin to a missile launching facility, the dragon is a fire-breathing constructing, and the watchtower homes gunners. Honestly, they’re all bloody ineffective till you spend foreign money into their branching improve routes. Then you definately’ll get vicious canines, lethal fuel, poisonous nukes and even ice blasts to help in your survival.
As a result of steep problem, over-reliance on the hero, and the garbage job towers do early on, most gamers gained’t handle to get previous the primary few days. The management setup piles on the distress and additional limits the prospect of residing lengthy sufficient to achieve the promised land. While you fail, it’s permadeath too, so that you’ll lose just about every part aside from the roguelike elements. Lifeless Floor is crying out for problem choices and probably a construct mode to change to mid-battle if you want to tinker with towers. It’d clear up a good quantity of the issues.
Actually although, I’m unsure how helpful the roguelike parts are since you even have to reach defeating particular bullet-sponge bosses to acquire the carryover artifacts. Which boss you face off in opposition to on the finish of a day seems random. And therein lies a problem if it’s not a kind of. In a single playthrough I earned a well being enhance, but the subsequent I cleared one other 4 bosses solely to yield no additional artifacts. The opposite persistent ingredient throughout every run are the characters you’ve unlocked, however with simply the 4 in whole and every day milestones required to accumulate the three locked away, it’s a bloody robust ask.
On the visible entrance and I fairly just like the quirky, typically barely grotesque designs for the usual enemies, in addition to the larger bosses that arrive on the scene. The maps themselves are fairly bland nonetheless, with barren wasteland after barren wasteland – sure, I get that’s the setting right here, however sprinkling just a few cacti, barrels, and crates round doesn’t actually minimize it.
Finally, Lifeless Floor has loads of cool tower upgrades, expertise and weapons to point out off; maybe much more than you’d anticipate for beneath a fiver. Sadly, the gameplay slams on the brakes earlier than you even get to expertise them. Placing an excessive amount of concentrate on the hero as an alternative of the towers is its greatest drawback from the outset, particularly when mixed with the finicky controls and brutal problem. I’ve little question that that is going to cease a ton of individuals from seeing the constructive facets, which can flip up too late.
I’d solely suggest contemplating Lifeless Floor as your subsequent tower protection enterprise in case you dislike towers and like to take issues into your individual fingers.
