Gate Defender

A tear has opened in the sky, and balloons full of blight are pouring out of it. They came from somewhere far beyond the planets, and wherever they land, the blight kills everything it touches.

They float along one route, over a scatter of small islands miles above the world, toward the Gate: a machine that drops straight down to the planet. Every balloon that gets through takes a piece of the world with it. If the Gate falls, you stand on your island and watch the planet die.

Earth is only the first world they came for. Hold the route.

BUILD, THEN FIGHT
Every wave starts with a build phase. Walk the islands, pick your ground and put your towers down by hand: cannons, zappers, mortars, buzzsaws under the route, traps hung in the middle of it. When the tear swells open, your towers fire on their own, and you join them in first person with two weapons of your own.

Ground is scarce. Towers stand only on island ground, never in mid-air, so the real question is which island is worth the walk. There are eleven towers, each with three ways to upgrade it.

WALK, AND FALL
There's no flying. Everyone wears a propeller: it boosts your jump and slows your fall, but it never lifts you. Every gap is a decision. Jump early and glide short, or run to the edge and commit. Fall off the islands and you're out until the wave is cleared.

Or buy your way across. Every map has bridges you can build between islands, for the price of a tower.

EVERY ENEMY IS A BALLOON
Twelve kinds, from a simple round Pip to plated Iron and Ceramic shells that shrug off the wrong gun. Some come veiled, some wrapped in bubbles, some grow back. At the top of the ladder are four balloon animals twisted into bosses: Drujok the dog, Octopodus the octopus, Tarnax the dragon and Mamutor the mammoth.

WORLD AFTER WORLD
Eight worlds across the solar system, three maps each, and every one with its own ground, its own sky and a rule of its own that changes how you hold the route. Clear a world and the next one opens. Where the balloons go next is for you to find out.

The planets, the moons and the sun hang in every sky where they really are on that map's day.

BETTER TOGETHER
Play alone or with up to four players, on local split screen or online. Plug in a controller and press A to join, even mid-wave. Coins are split per player or shared, your choice. Anyone can upgrade a tower. If the whole team goes down, your towers keep fighting, and clearing the wave brings everyone back.

MAKE IT YOURS
Build your own defender in the character creator and dress them in clothes you win along the way. Pick two of six weapons, from a repeater crossbow to a chain-lightning lance, and upgrade them with tokens you earn clearing maps.

YOUR RULES
Four difficulty settings, from Easy to Impossible, and eleven optional rules that change a run: a boss every fifth wave, every balloon veiled, bosses that attack your towers, no propeller, no last wave.

FEATURES
First-person tower defense: build by hand, then fight in the lane yourself

Eleven towers, three upgrade paths each

Six weapons: carry two, upgrade them all

Eight worlds across the solar system, 24 maps

1 to 4 players, local split screen and online

Four difficulty settings and eleven run modifiers

Character creator and a wardrobe to win

Controller support