FINAL FANTASY TACTICS - The Ivalice Chronicles
FINAL FANTASY TACTICS - The Ivalice Chronicles
Game
Game2024
Artisan TD
Developer 4rtisans
Artisan TD is a puzzle-oriented Tower Defense game where you must survive by building mazes. From the Steam store page
183 reactions from 2 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky) · newest Oct 8, 2026 · last updated Oct 8, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
63
Fresh
112 positive · 67 negative
95% range 55–69%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 112 | 67 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
4 newer reactions are still waiting for a label.
Steam's own rating
Very Positive
2,203 of 2,537 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What people are saying
Summary pending — the reactions are listed below.
Reactions
60 of 183 · most liked firstMore of a puzzle game than a strict TD. You can easily brick your perfect run because you didn't produce the perfect maze and placed the towers in the most optimal position. Not impossible by any means, but the rigidity strips the fun out of it for me. If you're more into trying to find the perfect combination of towers/placement then you might enjoy this, but personally I found this game more frustrating than anything. Performs very well, though.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →At first I was a little confused, game seemed really hard and as some reviews mention it's like a puzzle game a lot of the time. What many fail to mention is that you easily can backtrack to a earlier wave and do not have to start over, let's say you realise on wave 8 that you overinvested in the air level and struggle on the next ground level. you can easily go back to board state on wave 7 and go from there with better decisions. This feature makes all the difference. When you get in the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →You can tell right away that the devs want you to use THEIR solution for each map. So, it's not actually a TD it's a puzzle game where you try to decipher what towers the devs want to build, where and when. Other people have pointed this out, thankfully I'm used to this type of lazy format for the genre.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I have played the game only on nightmare mode with full stars and perfect HP. I don't really understand the bad reviews, claiming there are only one exact way on winning every map. This is absolutely wrong, and after checking, most of these reviews come from people that have played less than 5/10 hours. Sure, the very first levels are really limited in how you are supposed to win perfectly, but that's a given since they are supposed to make you learn the game. After learning the game with…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →There's a right way to finish each level and a wrong way. Resources are so limited that you're forced to find the one optimal solution instead of experimenting and having fun with your own approach. It looks nice, but I got bored pretty quickly. Can't recommend it.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Artisan TD is a fantasy tower-defense-strategy game that does everything very well but not exceptionally well. Quite strategic with a use for every tower, but had way more emphasis on creating mazes with towers than other TD games I've seen. It was not a negative; it was even the original feature that made it stand out from the rest. The other thing being the limited quick shots, extra manual-fired shots, which I didn't care for. I appreciated the zoom feature. I wish more TD games had that.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →As others have mentioned, this feels more like a puzzle game than a traditional tower defense, especially if you play on the higher difficulties. I'm not much of a fan of TD games that don't allow room for creative strategies. In this game, a single wrong tower choice or misplaced wall can completely ruin your run. The game offers a rewind feature for each wave, but honestly, it gets boring constantly trial and erroring just to execute the specific sequence the devs expected you to use. The…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I wanted to like this game, but everything has to be done a certain way the game wants or you don't stand a chance of winning. Instead of figuring out a solution that just works you, you just play around until you get the exact combo of towers to win. This tower defense winds up feeling like picking a lock... You get it perfect or get nothing at all, really makes the game tedious. Update: I'm now about 1/3 through the maps and the only tower I have that can fight air units is the stupid archer…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Tower defense game Artisan TD got a new update that fixed up sprites on the #SteamDeck, added a new game mode, and more: steamdeckhq.com/artisan-td-g...
unlabelledView post →Solid basic TD. This is a first impression review. Generally I enjoy TD's, so when this was in the monthly Humble bundle, might as well check it out!! It starts very basic, you can build walls, and on top of those you can build a tower. It feels balanced on nightmare, but you have to really optimise for the later maps. There is no Roguelite mechanic to upgrade your things, as far as I can see. I appreciate that, because that means that skills matter. You can play on, 4x speed, as a…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game, for me, is the pinnacle of tower defense. At least of its puzzle side. Mechanics are clear, the challenge is punishing, and you can always retry from any wave of a given level. Choices are extremely impactful, and the core feature - reshaping the enemy path - is very fun to engage with. Sidenote: the system requirements are incorrect. I have less than 8GB of RAM (recommended 8-16), and the game runs perfectly.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I tried to like this game. It looks great, and have some fun animations. However, the maps are designed for you to place towers in specific locations. I can't stand games like this. Let me have fun and do my thing, otherwise EVERYONE is playing the maps the same way. Except I might put my archers here instead of there. And the towers pretty much do the same damage to the enemies, except some can't shoot in the air. I'm sure some people love this game, it's too boring for me.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Worst Tower Defense I've ever played. This game sells the illusion of choice, You can choose where to place towers to "build" the path, as well as the type of towers. However you don't actually have a choice, the map is so small and limited that you can easily see where you place towers to win or lose. Just like any other TD you start getting flying enemies and armored enemies. If you invest in a tower upgrade in the wrong place at the wrong time, you'll have to restart the level if you want…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →"It's overly choreographed — you can't really experiment with fun combos. You're forced to build exactly how the developers intended, which honestly takes the fun out of it."
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Very nice td game, fan of the genre so I started on the hardest difficulty, it gives a nice challenge for the entire game, since the game has a nice buildup of new towers and monsters, combined with different maps and terrain bonuses. A must have for any TD fan. Music is also very relaxing :)
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I really wanted to like this tower defense game, because visually it’s genuinely beautiful — the art style and presentation are top-notch. Unfortunately, the gameplay feels far too restrictive. The biggest issue is that viable strategies seem extremely limited. Instead of experimenting and creating different builds, you’re basically pushed into one “correct” solution and that’s it. On top of that, air units are poorly handled: only a single tower can reliably shoot them, which removes even…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's not fun. The game is technically well made but just not satisfying to play. It feels purely like a struggle. Edit after extra playtime: I kept playing because I wanted to complete the game. I still didn't particularly enjoy it, though the second half of the game is a lot more tolerable, especially with prince mode.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The Good Artisan TD has decent depth on paper, and tower synergies and deterministic waves should make it a planner’s dream. The core mechanics are solid and the game isn't bad. If you like building systems, the tools are all here. The Problem: Nightmare Perfect Isn’t Hard, It’s Opaque Nightmare difficulty kills what makes tower defense satisfying. There’s a fixed solution and near zero error margin, and theoretically optimal tower placement will leak. Winning requires specific “trick”…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →0 diversity - you can only play by the "right way to". I find it super boring for a tower defence game
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Good, but not excellent, Tower Defense. Visually it is very appealing and the interface is efficient and clean. Good variety of tower types and mobs. What is missing, in my opinion, is any sort of metagame like unlocking towers or upgrades.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →𝕀 𝕡𝕝𝕒𝕔𝕖𝕕 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕨𝕣𝕠𝕟𝕘 𝕥𝕠𝕨𝕖𝕣 𝕒𝕥 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕨𝕣𝕠𝕟𝕘 𝕥𝕚𝕝𝕖, 𝕟𝕠𝕨 𝕀 𝕘𝕠𝕥𝕥𝕒 𝕣𝕖𝕤𝕥𝕒𝕣𝕥 𝕝𝕠𝕝 In a genre often dominated by endless upgrades, overwhelming menus, and flashy effects, Artisan TD takes a refreshing step in a different direction. Rather than trying to reinvent tower defense through complexity, it focuses on careful planning, elegant design, and satisfying tactical decisions by keeping the gameplay as basic and linear as possible. When you first…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →4.5/10 minimalist on the tower side instead of giving you gold at the end of a wave you only get gold well you kill things. this game is all about upgrading things as soon as you possibly can, even more so on the last wave. + you get to build the maze - tower range and where it fires at are not the same, they can fire father - hardly any map at all and a large % of the tiles have x thing on them so they cant be built on - wave 7 is going to be nothing like the last few and you have no chance to…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Mediocre game. Not fun at all. I was expecting a decent TD game, but it is just a boring puzzle game. One mistake and not possible to win the stage. No tower upgrades not real creativity.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a weird one. I like the enemies, I like the mazing, I like the towers, the music is nice, the visuals are good, and the ability to "rewind" to prior waves is a potential leap forward for the entire genre. However, as great as these things are, this game feels like a puzzle game masquerading as a tower defense game. Yes, you do all of the tower defense "stuff," but on quite a few maps, any decision to use certain maze/tower layouts other than what the developers intended will lead to…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →good luck resetting 20 times to figure out that perfect tower replacement, figured this game out in map 4.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Pretty mid, while the concept of puzzle+td sounds interesting, the execution for the game turns out to be quite rigid, making so theres a bunch of trial and error. Also made my GPU go at 99%
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Love tower defense games and generally enjoyed this one. Actually enjoy it enough that the lack of any sort of endless or custom map mode is really disappointing. Aside from that my only complaint is that there is not a lot of flexibility in setups if you want to 100% a map. Overall it's a good TD that's worth playing, but i personally may not have pulled the trigger buying it until i saw an endless mode was at least being worked on. Without that there is really no replayability to speak…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The main thing this game has going for it: - Visuals - Seemingly no game breaking bugs Other than that, its a slower paced and pretty boring TD. Just the most basic towers that you see in nearly every other TD game, minus any interesting towers or mechanics that other TDs often try to add. Ground tiles are the only real innovation attempt here, and even then, they arent enough to make this game all that much fun. Dont get me wrong, its not an awful game. Its just a very average game. I cant…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Poorly balanced. I love TD games, but this one misses the mark. This one is too strict, it feels like you have to have a very specific and optimal layout right from the get go, so much so it strips the fun out of it. There is some weird thing where choosing a tower with your mouse often doesn't choose it, and you have to click it 2 or 3 times. In the time I spent with it there doesn't appear to be any meta game to upgrade things, pretty simplistic. It looks nice, the layout is nice, but it…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I have very mixed feelings about this game. On one hand, it has beautiful graphics, very pleasant music (reminiscent of the compositions from Fable), a good variety of towers and monsters and an almost perfect save system for this type of game - saving at every wave and allowing you to replay ANY stage. The gameplay can be truly engaging, especially on Veteran difficulty when you’re trying to complete a map perfectly. There’s also the ability to build your own custom labyrinth. On the other…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game has very little replay value. Due to the nature of the maps and the tower set ups, the game pushes you toward specific choices and limits build options. Those factors all work together to make a game that was alright the first time through but very quickly fell flat. If you love TD games and find it on a good sale it might be worth the pick up but I don't feel like there is enough here to recommend it over other competitors.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game runs. The game has towers. The game has enemies. The game had as much love and creativity put into it as this review. Actually I went back and reworked that line, so I think I was a little more creative than the devs of Artisan TD.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →boring tower defense game with few choices and medieval aesthetic that doesn't hold up. videos about it misleading. locks you into very long tutorial.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I'll finish the game sometime after this review, but only because I'm trying to 'finish' all of my games in the library. I never will but one can dream. That said, this is exactly what is described by the devs. It's a td game where you need to construct towers to defend a portal from a myriad of enemies. Where it seems to fall flat is the puzzle part of the game. As others have noted, there are more or less optimal choices that need to be made in order to 3 star each map. This is more…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →To all my Chubby Checkers, I'm giving away free game codes for the following titles. Artisan TD Crysis 3 Remastered Nordhold Cubic Odyssey Mini Settlers If you're following me and am interested in one or more of these games, please feel free to reply down below. It's 1st come, 1st served.
unlabelledView post →The core tower defense gameplay is solid enough, especially if you enjoy building mazes and slowly optimizing your layouts. It starts off pretty engaging, but after a while the maps and strategies begin to feel a bit too samey, and there’s not a lot of depth keeping things fresh long-term. The minimalist visuals are clean, though the overall presentation can feel a little bland. Still a decent time for TD fans, just not one that really stands out from the crowd.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Looks like Artisan TD store.steampowered.com/app/2224640/...
unlabelledView post →saves are erased for seemly no reason. Interesting ideas but boring overall even withholding the wasting my time.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Nicely made TD game with traditional progression. (levels - stars) Many modes and developers seem to keep dropping updates lately. Highly rec. to any TD game collector!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →They showed nice labyrinths you can build, but 2/3 types of mobs completely ignore what you built. Have nice gameplay.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Oh yes, I am huge TD fan and I have to say this is a good one. Haven't played a TD game I could enjoy that much in quite a while. Defenitely recommend it! Also really nice challenge to go for 100%. You can think a lot yourself how to build the maces, which I like a lot. You have a lot of freedom when it comes to creating the paths.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a puzzle game, not a tower defense game. Each level requires a very specific placement of towers to succeed, and often with very specific timing as well. Drop a new tower or upgrade a tower a second too late? Too bad, an enemy will slip through because the margin for error is crazy slim. There is no opportunity to try different strategies here, because there is only one path to victory on each level. The game does have one nice feature - you can retry from any wave in the level.…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →2/10 It is cute and a simple tower defense game. But, for a game like this to run so poorly is... odd. Even on the lowest settings and smallest resolution it still heats up a PC like the 4th of July. It was literally running hotter than Baldur's Gate 3. I can't recommend unless this issue is fixed.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I have to admit, I think I picked well with this one. I sat down intending to record a first look video and ended up playing for just over 42 minutes, making my way through the first seven levels. The only reason I stopped was because I had a video to finish and upload. Had I simply been playing for myself, I could quite happily have carried on working through the rest of the campaign. The thing that immediately grabbed me was the classic maze-building gameplay. As someone who has been…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's not bad, it's just that there are so many better options. 6/10 Don't waste your time with this one.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Artisan TD is a lot more about solving puzzles than your standard tower defense experience and as such might not be for everyone. There's not a ton of "builds" or upgrade types when it comes to towers. Mostly just placement and upgrading a single stat. Once you figure out how to structure the "lane" that will work the best on the current map, you just fill it in with the appropriate tower types and keep them topped off on upgrades to maximize your ability to vanquish incoming units.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Not a tower defense game in the sense that you can't do whatever you want. Like other reviews said, it's a puzzle game and you're just trying to solve the puzzle. It's frustrating that there's no early quit button knowing that. You have to sit and just wait for the level to complete itself which is where I lost interest and couldn't recommend it.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Artistan TD is a tower defense/puzzle game made to test your ability to work with limited resources. Pros: -Variety of difficulty levels/settings which allows you to play the game as you wish. -It's not just set up your maze and let it run, there is a lot of on the fly things you need to do, like buying towers as you kill enemies or selling a tower to replace it further along the map. -The design is nothing crazy but I do like the aesthetic. It is both easily readable and looks nice.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →i really wanted to like this but theres so many small issues
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →More puzzle than TD, and sometimes the game throws a red herring at you, punishing you for just making what seems like a good play forcing you to restart.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →mostly a puzzle game, than actual TD. Maps are limited and allow almost zero flexibility. Also, towers are not that much varied and lack different update paths it seems.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is one of the least fun example of a TD game I've tried to play. The tutorial is strung along over an incredible length of the game. There are no meaningful decisions to be made. It's a puzzle game masquerading as a TD game. Your real goal is to figure out the intended order for you to place or upgrade your towers in. The flyers really sink this point home. While they offer no unique mechanic compared to other TD games (they skip your maze and some towers won't target them) I have never…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Boring TD “Puzzle” game. This game leans so heavy into the puzzle aspect that it looses all the tower defense fun. This game forces you to play in a singular way for each level. No replay ability and not worth your time.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great game, many differents ways to solve a situation, even in nightmare master difficulty. Still, very hard, but completely doable as long as you love trying different stuff that doesn't work until you figure out what could be the beginnin of a good idea
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I don't know how this game gets "Verified" status for a steam deck. The controller support is bad, the text is barely readable, the performance is terrible (the game runs at ~45 fps on lowest settings with a huge battery drain)
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →One of the best TD's out there. Well thought out level design and just enough difficulty to challange even the most hardcore TD veteran. There are alot of room to grow. But this is a great foundation, from great developers.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Pretty standard tower defense. Nothing more, nothing less. Acceptable graphics that are a great match for mobile, but still look fine on PC. Enough towers, enough difficulty, some slight variations. Good for when you want to play a round of something while listening to your favorite podcast. When playing, remember that you can sell weapons, not the stone basement of the towers, at any point of time. So you can (and probably have to) change your setup at a moments notice.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I've read the negative reviews, and I can see why some people might find this frustrating. But I think it's a really well designed game that fills a particular niche. I've gotten pretty frustrated at times, and it's pretty clear that most levels are optimized for particular solutions, but there's not always one right way to win. If you're up for a challenge in a tower defense game, this is a good choice. It's pretty, too, although do note that if you want full pretty, you'll need a pretty beefy…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →可以自建迷宫的塔防游戏，玩法挺有独创性
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Game is definitely missing a lot of content which I'd love to see from a Tower Defense Game, but I just finished the entire game on Adventure mode which is the easiest mode to win with, its a very easy mode, which i chose to do since I wanna relax and turn off my brain. But for what it is, I really enjoyed it. If they in the future ever developed this further it could be like a 10/10. but I'd say its a very solid TD game. And when I say its missing content, its not everything works and is as…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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