More often than not when it comes to Tower Defense titles, the experience of despair when enemies have finally breached the proverbial gates is often pre-faced by a sense of euphoria due to the extra adrenaline derived from the “I’ve-probably-got-this” mindset most fans of the genre would no doubt have.

Screenshot from the Left 2 Die Tower Defense mod in StarCraft 2
Yup, gotta to burn them good in a TD game (StarCraft 2. Left 2 DIe mod)

It’s one thing planning and placing your defenses in anticipation of a wave, and it’s another thing altogether reacting dynamically when shit hits the fan, and a while a good TD game will test players on both fronts, a great TD game will pummel players on both ends and have them asking for s’mores . I’m happy to report that Refinery Productions’ 2112TD is definitely one heck of a TD title.

Screenshot of Refinery Production's Tower Defense title 2112TD
2112TD: Gotta place them turrets, and raise them fortifications

The first thing that strikes you when you first start up the title is how much the game’s design aesthetic is a homage to late 90s RTS titles, particularly Blizzard’s StarCraft and it does convey a sense of foreboding going into missions. In defence of human colonies in the far future, players deploy different turrets to fixed hard points in each level, but those wouldn’t be the only things at their disposal.

While some titles like Kingdom Rush practically play themselves after towers have been place, 2112TD require a fair bit of micromanaging in order to achieve victory. Turret upgrades will need to be planned and quickly accessed as you’ll definitely need the firepower to manage the hordes of unrelenting alien creatures. Careful timing of air strikes and drone deployments as well as making use of fortifications may mean sparing your command post from being destroyed.

Screenshot of Refinery Production's Tower Defense title 2112TD
2112TD: See that base there, those critters will get real close to it in this game.

There’s one issue that I have with this otherwise excellent game would be the screen is rather zoomed-in; personally I would prefer a bigger view of the battlefield.

If you are looking for a challenge in a TD title, 2112TD is the way to go, we give it a 4 out of 5. At USD 1.99, it doesn’t come with any additional charges (which is a darn good thing), check it out over here: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/2112td-tower-defense-survival/id1514617649