Critical Play: Themes in Tower Defense Games

What makes a tower defense game?

The main element of a tower defense game is the player defending a base from increasingly numerous/difficult waves of enemies, using typically-stationary defenses that damage or block enemies. There’s usually a focus on controlling an economy, where towers cost money that is gained through defeating enemies or from buildings who’s sole purpose is to produce money. There is also an emphasis on strategically placing defenses for maximum effect, as enemies follow very predictable, and potentially exploitable, patterns. The aim of the game is to survive for as long as possible, or beat increasingly difficult levels, upgrading and adding to your defenses as you progress.

Thematic Differences

Bloons TD 5

This game is very whimsical and lighthearted. The core premise is that you play as a group of monkeys defending against waves of balloons. The stronger enemies you face are just different colored balloons, balloons made out of steel or eventually blimps. Your towers are almost all adorable monkeys including ninjas, Jedi, pirate ships that shoot grapes, and the super monkey (a monkey dressed up as super man). The color pallet is bright, and the enemies and allies are cute, which makes the whole game feel relaxed despite the constant threat of your defenses being overrun by an endless horde of balloons.

Plants vs. Zombies

This is similar to Bloons TD 5 in that the presentation is generally light-hearted as you pit plants with very expressive faces and big eyes against cartoonish zombies wearing pots and traffic cones. But, there is still a bit of darkness to the game. The zombies eat their way through your plants and the plants make horrified expressions as they’re eaten alive or they watch a zombie chew through the plants surrounding them. The game is cute, but occasionally hints towards the more sinister implications of the zombies attacking you house. This way it maintains the engaging, light-hearted spirit that makes it approachable, but still holds on to the scariness of a relentless zombie advance. As such, the experience is largely relaxed, but there is a greater sense of unease when the zombies start to gain the upper hand than there is when the balloons do in Bloons.

Canyon Defense

Canyon Defense is the opposite end of the spectrum from Bloons. The units aren’t characterized at all, your towers are military gun emplacements and buildings that you use to destroy bland-looking cars that drive through your canyon. The game doesn’t spend much time establishing theming, but from the look of the cars and the type of weapons you can use, it appears that the game is set in some form of futuristic apocalypse where warring cities regularly attack and nuke each other. This significantly darker, and more understated tone, makes the strategies at play the most noticeable part of the game. As such, the experience of playing feels like it only concerned with strategy and beating the opponent, rather than also experiencing a fun/strange world like the other games.

Ultimately, the theming serves to guide the player’s focus while they are engaging with the game, and adds weight to the mechanics. It can amplify or reduce the stress of beginning to fail, or simply establish the basics of the experience and leave the player to engage with the mechanics on their own.