Guardians Of Holme Early Access Preview

As a recovering fanatic of the Kingdom Rush series, seeing a title that mixes tower defence with deck-building, with a delicious rogue-lite centre wasn’t ideal. How many hours will I lose on Guardians of Holme? It’s an Early Access, so surely it’ll be short-lived? Questions, questions.

The research papers haven’t been published, but perhaps most people don’t want a story in a tower defence. There’s undoubtedly some exposition in this indie from MossTech Studio and Indienova, but it’s not so prominent in the game. The Demon King, a bona fide douche, has resurfaced, and his entourage threatens the citizens of Royal City.

Being the people’s champions, you and another hero get the task of defending the city from the invaders. This isn’t your typical fortress-style RTS; the enemies teleport directly into your compound, and in the most effective way, you’ll place towers and traps to slow, maim, and eventually kill them. What’s unique about this game is how towers are allocated: through decks. War has never been so spontaneous.

Guardians of Holme Early Access Preview

Not that I’m bitter, but the story gets pushed to one side, and immediately you’re fighting back the hordes. This isn’t Age of Darkness: Final Stand – there’s plenty of time to plan in Guardians of Holme, and as is tradition, you have the option to play slowly, slowly, or slap the tempo button and speed up the process for an easy win/quick death (for you).

A portal appears on the map, and a marker will show which way the enemies plan to take to your base. Like PixelJunk Monsters (excluding the Chibis) and the Kingdom Rush series, players have so much health until it’s game over. However, this is the rogue-lite element, as you could effectively lose one or two health points, but the remainder carries over to the next stage. In other words, you’ll want to get a clean sheet for each battle, as the more health you have at the end, the better chance you have against the final boss.

Should you inevitably die on this… run, you’ll gain bonuses, level up, and have access to near gear, so it’s never in vain. That said, Guardians of Holme is stupidly easy at the start of the game, and nigh on impossible to fail those early missions. For some of the first stages, just using three or four traps was all it took to win. Whack up the game speed, and it’s all over in a few minutes.

Is it Already Over?

These early wins were disappointing, and it didn’t help that the game wasn’t intuitive to begin with. I initially played with the Steam Deck, and while that works (the save games sync beautifully), playing with a mouse on a larger screen is advised. In my opinion, the visuals, such as the graphics and colour palette, weren’t anything special. Pairing that with tricky controls on the Steam Deck, I was losing interest, but if you’re looking for an honest opinion…

Switching over to the PC did the trick, though, and within about 30 minutes, I was addicted. Yes, Guardians of Holme is far too easy for many of the early stages, but the moment the demons have multiple spawn paths, and it’s evident that losing all those hearts means starting a new run (it’s a rogue-lite!), the appeal kicks in, and the door opens for that grinding loop of continually trying to better yourself and progress further.

Towers aren’t the conventional type and instead are mounted onto walls, deciding which way they face. These are then complemented by traps on the floor. Each unit can be upgraded, and through game progression, new skills are unlocked for said tower, as well as hero skills with a cooldown function. Between skirmishes are a wealth of bonus options where you can buy new cards, upgrade and sell, plus invest in new skills. It offers variety and is well suited to the fast nature of the stages.

Verdict

This isn’t a proper Guardians of Holme review as it’s currently in Early Access, albeit it should be a short phase. Judging by the content, the future is very bright, and it’ll be an absolute must for folk who like Kingdom Rush-type games. While the presentation isn’t the best and a little tricky at first on the Steam Deck, patience is encouraged as there’s a lot of game for your money. Try the demo on Steam now and see what you think. I really like it.