Keep Defending

Developer / Publisher – Faster Times Games Limited
Price – US $10.99 / EU €10.99 / UK £7.99
Release Date – July 19th, 2017
Input – Tracked Motion Controllers
Play Area – Standing, Room-scale
Store – Steam
Reviewed on – HTC Vive

Keep defending is a tower defense game where you will need to protect your castle from an incoming raiding horde.  Your goal can change from map to map, though typically this boils down to not allowing a certain number of enemies through a gate or your base have a standard amount of health and ending when the health is depleted.  During the game, you will face waves of enemies that will progressively become more frequent and harder to kill using a bow and arrow to shoot down the enemy trying to destroy your castle.

Man, they really need more than 1 archer on these walls

The feeling of being rushed harder and faster begins to force you to shoot at a faster pace, hopefully not sacrificing your accuracy.  Enemy troops get progressively harder to kill and come in larger numbers which will almost certainly lead to frustrations with your inability to kill every enemy before they reach their intended goal or target.  This is a physically demanding game that, at times will push you to your brink, but stay fast and once you get into a groove, you’ll be wiping out the enemy at impressive rates.

 This places you in the first person view of an archer manning the towers of his keep.  You must grab arrows from your side or quiver and knock them onto your bow before firing them into the enemy mob rapidly approaching your gate.  Tower setups on each level allow you to jump from spot to spot to get a better vantage point.  As the constant horde becomes thicker you can buy other troops or power ups to assist you in the battle.  Though ultimately the success of the game lies upon you, forcing you to hone your inner archer or die and fail you guardian mission. At the beginning, you will have time to take aim and fire but towards the end you will not be able to loose arrows fast enough to prevent your imminent demise from your other worldly foes staring down the gates of the stronghold. Let the arrows fly or die trying.

The enemy comes in all shapes and sizes

Keep defending delivers a visually appealing experience.  It is not too demanding when it comes to the graphics, but it does succeed in immersing you in the world around you, with everything carrying with it a toonish, exaggerated look and feel.  Lighting effects are noticeably great and the overall polish make this a joy to behold.    Watching your enemies march toward your door delivers that feeling of impending doom knowing you are all that stands between them and victory.  The audio delivers as well matching the visual experience perfectly.  You can hear your enemies coming and the howls they deliver when your arrow connects.  Everything here is pretty seamless and keeps the action flowing nicely.

It’s not a perfect experience, though the few issues I had were minor. The motion of grabbing and notching an arrow, while very intuitive, can occasionally miss, wasting precious time as you grab the next arrow.  Collsion detection as well seemed sometimes spotty as, on more than one occasion, when I watched my arrow connect, no health decreased and in a game where every shot counts, it disappointing when they don’t.

I got a slight feeling of nostalgia, bringing the old-school gaming charm to the virtual reality gaming world.  I found myself being drawn ever more into the game as I attempted the impossible, single handedly saving my kingdom from destruction.  The game offers you a multitude of experiences in which you attempt to become the best archer you possibly can be to either save your people or obtain the high score.

The unrelenting horde will not stop, and you can’t either

Keep Defending provides an immersive fun experience giving you wave after wave of VR archery fun.  The style of game is best played in smaller doses as long plays are not only exhaustive, but start to feel repetitious.  Issues aside this is still a solid title to add to your VR library and a tonne of fun!

What would I pay?  I would easily pay $10 for this game it will provide hours of fun and make you push yourself to get the high score that you are striving for.

Faster Times Games Limited provided theVRgrid with a review copy of this game and, regardless of thihs review, we thank them for that!