Castle Guardian: Tower Defense

Kale Muhafızı (Turkish for castle guardian) is a tower defense game. Bandits, wolves, golems and dragons march along the road towards your castle; you build towers on the empty squares beside the road, upgrade them and command the young guardian Alp on the battlefield. Every enemy that reaches the end of the road costs the castle lives. Stop the last wave before your lives run out and the map is yours. The game has a 27-map Campaign split into 9 chapters, 5 tower types, a Castle Book about real castles of Anatolia, 3 difficulty settings, an Endless Mode in every chapter where the waves never stop, and a Siege of the Week with a new rule every week.

Each map has a set number of waves (between 10 and 16). Enemies walk the road to the castle; an ordinary enemy that gets through costs 1 life, while big ones such as the Ogre, the Dragon and Karabash cost 5. Clear the final wave and the screen reads The castle stands!, and you collect your stars. If your lives drop to zero, The castle has fallen.

Tap an empty square off the road once: it is marked with a + and every buildable square lights up. Tap the same square again and the build menu opens next to it. On a touch screen the first tap on a tower previews it on the map with its range and the button turns into Build; the second tap builds it. With a mouse, hovering previews and clicking builds.

Tap a built tower to open its menu. Upgrade takes it up to level 3; after that you pick one of two specialisations and the tower becomes an Expert. The Target button changes who the tower aims at: First, Last, Strongest, Closest. Sell returns 70% of the gold you spent on the tower and asks for confirmation first.

Alp is your hero on the map. Tap him (or the Hero button), then tap where he should go. Alp blocks enemies on the road and strikes them with his sword, giving your towers time to shoot. He gains experience from enemies that fall near him and can reach level 5, with more health and damage at each level. If he is badly wounded he returns to his starting spot 12 seconds later.

You also have two abilities. Arrow rain: press the button, then tap where the arrows should land; four volleys hit that area, usable every 22 seconds. Ice storm: freezes every enemy in place for 3.5 seconds, usable every 45 seconds.

When a new enemy appears for the first time, a New enemy card opens, and the top of the screen shows who is coming in the next wave. Things to watch for:

• The Wolf is very fast but weak; the Bat flies, ignores the road and cannot be hit by the Cannon Tower.
• The Armored Soldier and the Stone Golem wear armor: arrows, cannonballs and Alp's sword do little. Magic and ice damage ignore armor.
• The Slime splits into two small slimes when it dies. The Shaman heals those around it, so target it first.
• The Ogre arrives every 5th wave and the flying Dragon every 10th. The bandit chief Karabash leads the last wave of Red Canyon and Dragon Peak, and returns at Uçhisar at the end of the campaign. These big enemies are only half affected by slowing and cannot be frozen by towers.
• The Pirate arrives by boat, lands at the piers and joins the road halfway. The pirate captain Black Sail appears at the end of the Coast chapter and returns at Inner Castle on the Black Sea.
• The Mounted Raider is very fast; an Ice Tower at the start of the road slows him down. The Rock Giant at the end of the East chapter wears very thick stone armor, so use magic on him.
• 35% of arrows, cannonballs and trebuchet stones miss the Fog Ghost; magic always hits. The Shadow Soldier is armored and walks faster on night waves.
• Black Sail and the Rock Giant cost 5 lives if they reach the castle. The Shadow Dragon at the end of Marmara flies and costs 10 lives. Towers cannot freeze these big enemies either.
• In the Aegean, the Shield Bearer's magic shield blocks half of all magic damage; arrows and cannons work well on him. The Bronze Giant at the end of the chapter has a very strong magic shield (60% magic resistance), so hit him with cannons and trebuchets. He costs 5 lives if he reaches the castle.
• In Central Anatolia, the Tunneler now and then dives underground for a moment; meanwhile he can't be hit and moves faster.
• In the break before a wave with a Dragon or the Shadow Dragon, a warning appears and every tower shows whether it can hit flyers: a teal wing means yes, a red cross means no. The next-wave preview also shows chapter enemies and bosses.

The Campaign has 9 chapters and 27 maps, three per chapter, with 10 to 16 waves per map. Chapters 4 to 9 are Alp's journey through the Castles of Anatolia: from Alanya to Van, from Sinop to Rumeli Fortress, and on to Bodrum and Uçhisar.

Each map unlocks when you win the one before it. Before you start you choose the difficulty:

Stars depend on the lives you have left when you win: keep at least 90% for 3 stars, at least half for 2, anything less for 1.

Upgrades: every star, every medal and every correct quiz answer is 1 point: 81 stars (3 per map), 27 medals and 18 questions, 126 points in all. Spend them on 8 permanent upgrades from the Upgrades button on the title and map screens: Archery, Cannon casting (cannon and trebuchet), Frost magic and Spellbook raise tower damage by 10% per level; there are also Treasury (25 more gold per map), Castle walls (2 more lives), Alp's training (health +20%, damage +15%) and Archer battalion (Arrow Rain 3 s sooner, 15% stronger). Each upgrade has 3 levels costing 1, 2 and 3 points; maxing all of them takes 48 points. Reset gives every point back for free. Hard is tuned to be played with upgrades.

Heroic challenges: once you beat a map, its challenge opens on the map card and is played on Normal: for example archer towers only, at most 4 towers, without Alp, without losing a life, or without abilities. Win it to earn a medal, which is also 1 upgrade point. The "without losing a life" challenges are close to impossible without upgrades. Every one of the 27 maps has a challenge, so there are 27 medals.

Chapter features: each chapter has its own rule:

• Valley (Fertile soil): a tower built on one of the 3 glowing wheat squares hits 25% harder.
• Desert (Sandstorm): now and then a storm rises; a warning comes three seconds early, then tower range drops for 6 seconds.
• Mountains (Icy road): enemies speed up on the icy road, but frost tower slows are much stronger there.
• Coast (Landing party): pirates row to the piers and join the road halfway; hold the piers with towers.
• East (High rock): a tower built on one of the 3 grey rock tiles gets +25% range.
• Black Sea (Sea fog): enemies on foggy stretches of road can only be targeted by towers within 2.5 tiles; build right next to the fog.
• Marmara (Night raid): even-numbered waves come at night: archer, cannon and trebuchet lose 25% range, and Shadow Soldiers move 30% faster. Ice and Magic Towers are not affected.
• Aegean (Sea breeze): every so often the breeze blows; for 8 seconds archers and trebuchets get +20% range and flyers slow down.
• Central Anatolia (Underground tunnels): enemies in a tunnel can't be seen, and towers, Alp and abilities can't hit them; build at the tunnel mouths.

On your first game a short tutorial guides you step by step on Green Valley; you can skip it with "Skip tutorial".

The hero of the campaign is the young guardian Alp. After every map you win, a short story scene plays. From chapter 4 on, Leyla, the scribe of Alanya Castle, joins the journey and tells the history of each castle the first time you enter its chapter. After the Shadow Dragon falls at Rumeli Fortress, news of a bronze giant takes Alp to Bodrum. On the fallen giant's chest is written "In the service of Karabash": the bandit chief who fled the Valley is back. His trail leads to Uçhisar, where the story ends with Karabash finally caught and three closing scenes.

The Castle Book opens from the title and map screens. It covers the 6 castles of the journey: Alanya Castle, Van Fortress, Sinop Castle, Rumeli Fortress, Bodrum Castle and Uçhisar Castle. Each castle has a picture drawn in code, verified facts and a source (the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism); castles are added to the book as you unlock their chapters.

At the end of each of these six chapters, and any time from the book, you can play a 3-question Quiz. Every correct answer is 1 upgrade point and your best result counts, so trying again never costs points. The six castles have 18 questions in all.

You start the first wave yourself with Start wave, so take your time placing towers. Later waves come on their own, but you don't have to wait: Call early brings the next wave right away and pays 2 gold for every second left on the timer. The game speed button switches between 1×, 2× and 3×.

If the castle falls, the end screen offers an optional Second chance: +5 lives: watch a short ad and you carry on from the same wave with 5 lives, while enemies close to the castle are pushed back. It works once per map. Endless Mode never runs out of waves; the aim is to hold on as long as you can. Every chapter has its own Endless Mode: it is played on the chapter's first map, unlocks once you win that map, and the chapter's feature applies there too. Your best wave is saved separately for each chapter.

Siege of the Week brings the same map and a special rule for everyone each week; it is played on Normal and your score goes to a weekly leaderboard. It unlocks once you finish the Valley chapter. The rules: Swift raid (enemies are 20% faster), Iron armor (every enemy has thicker armor), Great horde (30% more enemies per wave), Famine (less starting gold, 25% more loot), Last stand (only 5 lives, but 150 extra gold) and Dark cloud (an extra bat swarm every wave).