Thank you Humble Bundle for sending the game to review!

Aegis Defenders is a pixelated, 2D platforming, tower defense game for up to two people. Later in the game, it gets very challenging if you're playing on your own. After many attempts at this particular level, I got someone to come help me and was able to breeze through the level playing in Co-op. Playing the game in single player can be difficult and frustrating at times. The best experience you can have with this game is playing with a buddy.

The game itself is a good mix of platforming and tower defense. Each level will consist of you platforming though different terrains, gathering resources, and using light puzzle solving to help your characters move through the level. You will be at least controlling two people on your own, which means you will be switching between them a lot. This part of the game is not as frustrating as the tower defense portion of the level.

There are secret items to collect and even bad guys to kill. Each character has its own attacks and special attack. There are color-coded doorways that allow only one character to pass, forcing you to switch characters to open up a gate. Often times you will get to the end of a level, where you have to stand on a switch to let another player though the gate, which then starts a tower defense game. Now you must defend against hordes of creatures and can be dangerous by just the number of enemies that can swarm you.

The story isn’t all that interesting, though there is a twist later in the game. The story is told through cutscenes and often have an interactive element to them, in that you are given dialogue options which reward you with points to upgrade your arsenal of towers. It feels like there is a right choice in the dialogue options and you do not really get to roleplay. Bart and his granddaughter are Ruinhunters, and they scavenge in a world of Deathless(gods). The two other characters you unlock are more interesting to play, as one can shoot fireballs and the other can fling shuriken through multiple enemies.

The tower defense part of the game can get crazy while switching between multiple characters. You have a short amount of time to set up towers before each wave, but each character only has one tower they can build. You can upgrade them or sometimes if you build on top of a tower, it changes into something completely new. For example, Clu’s tower is a bomb that you can lay down, but if you build another bomb on top it becomes a spike trap. To build each tower for each character you will need to collect resources. It becomes hectic switching to each character, collecting resources, and building each character's towers in a strategic way. It can be done, but later on, in the game, it can become very stressful. This is where the local Co-op comes into play, making the game way less frustrating, as you do not have to worry about multiple characters, just the one you are controlling. You can split up tasks and the game just flows better.

Morally there is some minor language used and there is some violence. You obviously destroy creatures in the game and while there is no gore, there is some mild blood that appears for a second after the creature is destroyed.

Aegis Defense is a decent mash-up of genres. The game is cute with its pixel graphics and the platforming sections are great. It only gets frustrating in the latter half of the level where the tower defense starts. It’s unfortunate that the game is meant to be played with other people, as you may not have another person around to help. If you plan on playing this game solo remember that it gets brutal towards the end of the game.