Defender's Quest 2 art banner features the turtle-like Reeves and Evni out in the sickly green world. Published on: LadiesGamers

Defender’s Quest 2: Mists of Ruin Review

Game: Defender’s Quest 2: Mists of Ruin
Genre: Tower Defense, RPG, Strategy
System: Steam (Windows)
Developers: Publishers: Level Up Labs | Armor Games Studios
Controller Support: Yes
Steam Deck: Playable
Price: US $17.99 | UK £15.07 | EU € 17,55
Release Date: January 30th, 2025

A review code was provided; many thanks to Stride PR.

Tower defense is an occasional niche for me, personally, but there’s no ignoring that the genre can offer some fast paced yet relaxing fun. While Plants Vs. Zombies is probably still the king of the crop in terms of popularity — especially among casual gamers — it’s not hard for players to find their own favorites. Fantasy themed ones, in particular, offer a ton of ways to make the world and its unceasing attacking hordes interesting.

Defender’s Quest 2: Mists of Ruin follows up on its predecessor, Valley of the Forgotten, released way back in 2012. Though I never got around to it back then, at a glance, I can see I agree that it’s a deep, fun, casual game that offers a lot for your money and time. So, it’s thirteen years later, and at last Level Up Labs is on the cusp of releasing a shiny new iteration on what’s clearly a classic. How did it turn out? Despite some review build glitches, there’s a ton of potential ready to satisfy fans of the original.

Defender’s Quest 2 Isn’t Straying Too Far From The Original

Though Defender’s Quest 2 features a brand new story, the gameplay looks comfortably similar to the original. Polished cel-shaded art with vibrant environments — and monsters — replace pixelated levels and an art style that reminds me of the high era of Epic MegaGames. No shade there, I thrived on Dare to Dream and Jill of the Jungle back in the day. Menus, at a glance, look like they’re ready for the return of your muscle memory.

Defender's Quest 2: Mists of Ruin shows a post mission status screen. Bars indicate earned experience for each character deployed, with a skill tree visible for the selected character. On the right is a banner featuring a rat impaled on an arrow. Published on: LadiesGamers
Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler is going farm to table by serving the rat on the arrow that got it. Sorry, Pratchett joke.

Characters level up regularly, with the extent of your tweaking mostly applying to options in a no-frills but impactful series of individual skill trees that can be freely readjusted anytime between missions. Good stuff for min-maxers who want every ounce of power they can eke out of their favorite defender in certain missions.

Those missions, too, run in a fairly similar style to the original game. Operating on a clear grid, you select who you want to deploy and where they’ll stand, with some useful upfront information available on how many waves of enemies are coming and from what entry points. Adding onto that is your ship’s cannons, which take a minimal amount of “juice” — more on that shortly — and charge time, allowing a way to mop up the enemies that slip through your defensive line. It’s all streamlined and easy to figure out, making a new player quickly comfortable with its concepts.

Defending Your Life For a Taste of That Juice

Defender’s Quest 2 drops you into the middle of a world undergoing some kind of environmental cataclysm, with a sharp-mouthed but kind set of characters slowly revealing details about what’s actually going on in this slimy hellhole. It’s a premise slightly similar to Against the Storm, which I say fondly: Something really bad happened, and the remnants of civilization are pressing out into the Mirk-cursed lands to try to reclaim whatever territory they can. It’s not always going well.

Evni speaks during an early battle, where enemies will come from one direction. Published on: LadiesGamers
She cares a ton, she’s just spicy about it.

Fueled by “juice,” the monstrosities rampaging the surface of the world are offering up the tools of their own demise. Every enemy your team cuts down grants you their remaining stores of this dangerously addictive and powerful substance, fueling your in-mission leveling — a staple of tower defense games — and goosing your ship into helping you out, as noted above.

Casual tower defense games often skimp on story, offering up just enough of an excuse plot to put you in the mix. This story’s characters, including our lead heroine Evni Hunt, whose internal dialogue has to be “look how hard I’m trying to be gritty WHY ARE YOU HUGGING ME,” immediately invest you in what’s going on. Many of these people feel like they’ve clearly known each other a long time, giving them a hefty sense of personality. It’s nice to see.

The Technical Stuff, With Caveats and Notes

Sometimes, review builds of games are shelf-ready, while others are current early access builds. Our Defender’s Quest 2 review code came with some upfront notes about it being a near-finished build with a few clunks when it came to both mission balance and Steam Deck controls. It’s my duty to report that, yes, I did notice these last-minute issues when I was playing. But overall, the game runs very well on the Deck, and I think the problems I had will be cleared up either by launch or within days of release.

An enemy screen shows details about a beak-heavy monster called a Pinchy. Published on: LadiesGamers
His name is Pinchy. He has a melee attack. But does he love his mother? We’ll never know.

I stuck with hitting my normal goals in the spread of missions I tested out, so I didn’t notice too many issues with game balance. I did fall in love with some of the deadpan humor when it came to early enemy critters. Sometimes flatly stating the obvious hits right, what can I say? Eventually, my Deck controls began to slide around and stick to the top of the screen. Touch controls helped me continue, along with the ability to pause anytime to get things situated.

I was also unable to purchase weapon and ship upgrades from the shop without the game hitting an infinite hang, forcing me to exit the game completely and simply continue on missions, which I do think also added some additional difficulty in missions after the shop opened. I partially assume this was a skill issue on my part, too. Again, I fully believe that these glitches will be quickly fixed, and they may not even be an issue in desktop mode at all.

Conclusion

Defender’s Quest 2: Mists of Ruin is going to offer up some happy times to people who’ve been wanting more of this particular franchise’s jaunty style and accessible RPG/defense gameplay. I also believe this game is a good option for new players, with some familiar bits from other genres — I really like the skill trees, for some reason — and a pause function that also allows you to catch your breath, move tactically, and even aim your ship’s weapons. That removes a lot of stress from real-time gaming.

While my review copy did have some issues, they were disclosed upfront, and I’m confident in this developer’s ability to go after any big problems swiftly enough that most people wouldn’t know they were ever present. And with an interesting story featuring some genuinely great characters, there’s more than enough reason to give Defender’s Quest 2: Mists of Ruin a good, solid try even if you’re not normally a tower defense fan. A pleasant surprise, and a great way to zone out from the world for a little while.

Final Verdict: I Like It A Lot

I like it a lot

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