Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Game
Game2014
Deadstone
Developer Timeslip Softworks
Based on the inhospitable frontier world of Mars, against the backdrop of a bacterial outbreak, Deadstone offers a compelling blend of frantic combat and tower defense, backed by a highly nuanced character development system and strategic elements of resource management. From the Steam store page
58 reactions from 1 source (Steam reviews) · newest Apr 19, 2026 · last updated Oct 8, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
81
LovedLoved
47 positive · 11 negative
95% range 69–89%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 47 | 11 | 0 |
Steam's own rating
Very Positive
56 of 70 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What people are saying
Summary pending — the reactions are listed below.
Reactions
58 of 58 · most liked firstDeadstone looks like a top-down shooter, feels like an rpg, with all the character progression, perks and weapon upgrades, and plays like a tower defense game ;) You are on mars and a deadly virus (called Chimera something) is spreading everywhere, converting all living creatures into monsters / zombies. Your goal is to protect the colonists from the zombies, while they drill for something and paying you for your services. The colonists are actually not visible in game, you know, that they are…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →TL;DR Deadstone, a classic 2D top down shooter where you defend a base against a parasitic incursion, campaign is a bit long but the story is interesting enough to slog through. That and survival mode is good for a quick session. Also has Co-Op mode! If you are interested please read the important note located at the bottom of this review. Game Info Name: Deadstone Developer: Timeslip Softworks Genre: Lite-Rpg, Base Defense, Hoard Mode, Top Down Shooter, CO-OP Personal Verdict: A fun enough…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game is a very serviceable combination of top down shooter, tower defense and rpg game with a decent story campaign to bring it all together in a fun package that is definitely greater than the sum of its somewhat janky parts. So go save the colonies and don't let Mars become another big deadstone in space.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A 50 mission game which is 20 missions too long. I was hoping for more maps/enemy models/story development/action! The cutscene art and voice acting are fantastic, and the RPG elements are solid, but gameplay repetitive and dull and the story stretched out far too thin to make me recommend this game to anyone.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Hybrid of top-down shooter mechanics with a levelling/perk system, and placement of defenses. Pretty much hits every button for me gameplaywise. I wholeheartedly recommend it if you like the genres in question, and want some arcadey fun. The writing is solid, the voice acting in the intro is also solid. We're not talking Bioware here, but by the standards of the indie games I've played, both stood out as better than the average Greenlight. While this sounds like faint praise, I was…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Overall a rather cute and pleasant game. The controls are smooth, the RPG elements give you interesting synergistic options (in short, are you an 80's Action Hero, Grizzled Demolitions Expert or a Tower Defense Engineer?), and the story has some well-written characters. Shooting zombies feels satisfying, and there are 3 game modes even in the story missions (Patrol, a TD-style; Arena, a survival match; Rescue, what it says on the tin) so it doesn't wear out its welcome. It even has a "Side B"…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Deadstone is a top down twin stick zombie defense game in which you protect a bunch of colonists from the rampaging horde of Martian Zombies. The games strengths are in it's depth of strategy, there are many ways to protect your colonists and many ways to build your character. There is also a really cool UI Function where you set up ans save defense layouts before a mission adding a nice splash of tower defense to the gameplay. With that you can better cover all your zones more effectively.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a good game for $10. It has a passable story and fairly rewarding progression in terms of perks and upgrades. Don't expect too much depth though. It's more than worth the money if you're getting it with a discount.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Disclosure: I wrote an article for TechRaptor on this and got early access to produce a review for them. Fans of the top-down shooter genre will like the progression system in this game and will enjoy the accuracy needed to go further in the game. Hitting zombies in the center results in more damage, and rewards accurate gameplay without being too reliant on it. The progression system makes your character really feel like your own: there are hundreds of combinations you can end up putting…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Amazing game! Both the Campaign side and the Survival side are amazing, action packed, entertaining and down right amazing! The campaign immerses you into a thrilling story line, full of action! Campaign offers awesome features such as tower defense that spice the game up and make it that bit better! Survival mode is where all the action constantly takes place, being able to choose guns and earn credits to buy better ones, better upgrades and much more! Survival throws you into the action…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Everything about this game is terrible. The game mechanics are boring, the graphics are terrible, the story is pathetic. I really cant say enough bad things about this game. I can almost gurantee you will be done after just a single play through the campaign. Honestly, I'm not even sure why I bothered finishishing the game it was so bad. I have played plety of flash games that are superior to this game. If this game was free or under $.50 it might be worth it just to kill an hour or so. But…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →First Impressions: Deadstone might not be the prettiest game out there, but I do appreciate the fact that it mixes RPG, Tower Defense, and Top-Down Zombie Shooting mechanics (and it does so well). I was also both impressed and pleasantly surprised by the quality of the voice acting and the dialogue. There are three game modes available and assuming they each take a few hours to complete a single playthru (I haven't gotten far enough to gauge that yet) then yes, $10 is worth the price of…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Hybrid, walking shooter - with elements of leveling/perks and setting up defensive elements such as turrets. A lot, various customizations, elements affecting gameplay. I recommend wholeheartedly if you like this type of genre - with arcade elements and a lot of extras. Interesting storyline, fair-developed system of rewards and progress. I positively surprised myself, as for a game with such simple foundations. If you manage to snatch it on promotion, just enjoy it, and if you find it in a…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Sorry to say it so boldly, but this is a pretty bad game. The missions are boring and repetitive, the artwork is downright horrible, and the gameplay just plain sucks. For a game that came out in 2014, even if it's 2d, it's a really poor game lacking content; It's not interesting to play even for the wonky storyline.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The video gameplay seems to suggest a fast paced, multi-layered tower defense game ... but slow down the videos by about 50%, slowly, tediously add in the upgrades, ignore the general rules of tower defense games (like walls to funnel enemies) ... and you've got this. It's dry, much like the planet Mars it's set on.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →tl:dr Playing this feels slow, clunky and is at times unresponsive. For $10 I would not recommend, for $1, I might recommend, but it's really up to whether you can justify paying for an experience you could probably get for free from a hundred better games on armor games. I was going to write a much longer and more detailed review but just read the tl;dr. this game feels like it's from the 90s, the graphics are bad, the voice acting (where present) is bad, the sound is bad, the story/writing…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fun enough to play through once despite the repetition. Too repetitive to get all the achievements.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Cons: the game is short. I finished campaing in 9 hours including restarting once due to incorrect spendings and upgrades. And I don't see any reason to play survival mode or replay the campaign. Probably I return to this game again after several months. Pros: I was withdrawn from real life for these 9 hours. The game is so addictive, you just can't stop playing... until the campaign is finished and you understand that you had enough of it. This game ends sooner than becomes boring, which is…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a top down shooter with some tower defense and rpg elements. After each wave of enemies you gain experience points an money to level up your charachter. There is a great variety of weapons and perks to select from. The voice acting and the cut scenes are done well. Unfortunatley the sprites and the menu graphics look quite lackluster. The level backgrounds also are very uninspired, have no detail and remind me more of tiled desktop wallpapers from the 90s than anything else. Another…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Meta-money growth and interesting skill trees make this top-down arena shooter a lot of fun. Get a strong character going and you could have turres, allied soldiers, mechanical robot pets, minefields, and more going up against hordes of never ending monsters.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Too basic game, too basic gameplay, too repetitive. The few extra features with the shop, some weapons choices, some items, changes nothing to the result, tedious and repetitive.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's like a free flash game from 15 years ago. Only it isn't free.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Having fun with this on ubuntu linux. Pretty simple, repetitive twinstick gameplay combined with some nice upgrade paths and a decent story. Good for a few laughs, but becomes very dull after a short while. There is a super extensive upgrade system that would be great for another game, but with the the lackluster gameplay here, it is hard to imagine playing enough to explore many of the upgrade tree branches.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I do not have much time to play games currently, but I def. will continue playing Deadstone as soon as I can get some time for it. I like games with a mars setting and I think the developer made a pretty good job. + Nice music + Nice menu system + Nice story images + Simple but very honest gameplay + mars setting (a personal favorite of mine) + quite cheap ;-)
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great top down shooter, with a good story accompanying it. Loved the upgrade system and the tough choices of whether to buy the new weapon or suffer for a while with just the pistol in order to buy the even better version. I got a lot more time out of Deadstone than I expected and I still feel I can play a good deal more thanks to an endless mode, the few different level types throughout the story and replaying missions because winning isn't winning if innocents died.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →TLDR: Good game. Buy it on sale. See conclusion for what sets it apart from other TDS games. It's a simple top down shooter. The main shooting gameplay is simple and repeatative as such is the typical restriction of the TDS genre, but yet also at times pretty intense and challenging. And the gameplay as a whole is a repeatative cycle of mission then prepare for the next mission but keeps the player in a comfortable flow that removes the negative feelings of repeatativeness and replaces it…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Deadstone is a rather fun top-down shooter with RPG and mild tower defense elements thrown in. There is a campaign and survial mode, and a lot of replayability even once you complete the normal campaign. I really can't judge this style of game on graphical quality...but I have for sure seen better looking top-down shooters. I would say that my favorite aspect of Deadstone are the RPG elements....you level up your character and weapons with the xp and money you earn while completing…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A really solid top-down shooter. I have not tried survival mode (beat campaign mode in ~8 hours). The gameplay is fun, though can feel repetitive due to small variety of enemies. Controls are good, and there are levels and unlockable perks to add variety to tactics. The story is enjoyable ,the quality of dialogues was a pleasant surprise. tl;dr For its low price, this is a great deal. Recommended.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →After crash landing on the Red Planet, your mission is to protect the colonists from hordes of flesh eating zombies. In the style of top down action, this gem has strong elements of RPG and Tower Defense with a strong storyline to boot. With multiple play modes, build your character up with weapons and perks to accomplish your mission. Addictive game play and very challenging the further you get. Once the missions start, there is no hold-up until completed, it gets very intense when the waves…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great Game. Retro, top down, zombie killing, rts. Must buy for any gamer.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Yeah, I'm really enjoying this. The zombie killing is satisfying and the level up happens at a good rate to keep it interesting. The weapon selection is nice. THe shotgun could be a little more devistating at close range... is my only gripe. Would recommend :)
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Nice game. Simple control, easy to understand how to play. Good tree of perks, characteristics and wide range of items and weapons. I recomend this game!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Deadstone is an ambitious indie hybrid developed and published by Timeslip Softworks that attempts to fuse several familiar genres into a single, systems-driven experience. At its core, it is a twin-stick shooter, but layered on top of that foundation are tower defense mechanics, light RPG progression, and a narrative framework set against the backdrop of a collapsing Martian colony. Rather than focusing purely on reflex-based shooting, the game asks players to think defensively, manage…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A pretty decent base defense game. Sometimes a man just wants to shoot an incoming horde of zombies, and Deadstone gets the job done.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a really enjoyable game! Great price, too, I recommend it if you're into both twin-stick shooters and tower defense games. It's essentially a hybrid of the two genres, done very well I'd add, with gunplay that reminds me of Teleglitch in some ways (or maybe Neon Chrome). The writing is heads and tails above most indie games, most tower defense games period, and literally every twin stick shooter I've ever played. Though it also has a goofy mode that makes the story more farcical, and a…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →6+ hours of zombie killing fun.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →⠄⠄⣿⣿⣿⣿⠘⡿⢛⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣧⢻⣿⣿⠃⠸⣿⣿⣿⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄ ⠄⠄⣿⣿⣿⣿⢀⠼⣛⣛⣭⢭⣟⣛⣛⣛⠿⠿⢆⡠⢿⣿⣿⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄ ⠄⠄⠸⣿⣿⢣⢶⣟⣿⣖⣿⣷⣻⣮⡿⣽⣿⣻⣖⣶⣤⣭⡉⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄ ⠄⠄⠄⢹⠣⣛⣣⣭⣭⣭⣁⡛⠻⢽⣿⣿⣿⣿⢻⣿⣿⣿⣽⡧⡄⠄⠄⠄ ⠄⠄⠄⠄⣼⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣶⣌⡛⢿⣽⢘⣿⣷⣿⡻⠏⣛⣀⠄⠄ ⠄⠄⠄⣼⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣦⠙⡅⣿⠚⣡⣴⣿⣿⣿⡆⠄ ⠄⠄⣰⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⠄⣱⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠄ ⠄⢀⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠄ ⠄⣸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⠣⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠄ ⠄⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠿⠛⠑⣿⣮⣝⣛⠿⠿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠄ ⢠⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣶⠄⠄⠄⠄⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡟⠄
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Simple cheap fun. The developer is pretty active in the forums so that's nice to see, and admits this first game is a bit primitive. It's a shoot-em-up where you are a single character taking on waves of zombies. It's pretty mindless fun for a couple hours. There are some RPG elements to help you keep pace with the increasing challenge and if you build up your turret capability, it's even got a little tower defense in it. There's also a survival mode. I got this game in a bundle with the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Deadstone is a simple game that's deeper than it appears to be, but ultimately, how much that RPG elements added to the character is a bit suspect. Basically, you play a mercenary who were forced to evacuate Icarus station over Mars. You made your way to the Deadstone colony, and it seems to be attacked by... zombies. Initially, there is only you, and a pistol, and you have to be accurate and fast to make sure there are no leakers. Every leak means one death in the colony. Too many leaks and…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Awful. Belongs on a Flash gaming site. Mediocre even then.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A really good game I loved the story and I really hope to see a sequal. You rarely see anyone trying to do a game that would be not simple survival horror but to fight back. So I'm really looking forward to a sequal.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is an excellent top-down twin stick shooter, with some interesting RTS elements. I love the upgrade system, and the story mode has both a regular story and a more light-hearted funny take on the same story. It's very unique and hope to see this in future games. Multiplayer is very fun too so grab a friend! Highly recommend!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A bit similar to Sang Froid, this is a game where you build your character stats and equipment & place mines and turrets which will help you defend your line.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Horrific. Clunky controls, slow, plodding menus and dialogue. The graphics are worse than a grade-school comic book drawn by a kid. They're insultingly bad. There's just nothing here to enjoy. This would have been an OK game in 1978. Playing it in 2022 is unconscionable.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →My Secret Guilty Pleasure, What does this zombie wave game has that hasn't been done before or better? IDK but when i feel the need to chill and pu my brain on zero output and want to still blast things, i always come back to this little title. i recomand for the price, just don't expect anything you haven't seen before, Spoilers!!! Zombies on mars you somehow become the sherif or security guard of said town as no one else seems to know how to fight, you'll slowly get help from the locals…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The basics of top-down shooting with some turrets to aid you are fun enough, but the gameplay really gets repetitive over time. Very little variety in enemy types means that once the last new enemy has been revealed you will be doing the same thing over and over again for far too many missions to complete the campaign. There are a wide variety of ways to level up your character, but the options don't feel very meaningful and I don't believe they have any significant effect on how things play…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Xpadder works better than the controller support here, just an fyi Basically no menu support and clunky controls that xpadder doesn't have. Its essentually a top down wave shooter with very little to do. RPG mechanics are low and there isn't a rannking system, or any kind of upgrade system of any importance. I was hoping to see something like SAS4 zombies with loot and upgradable weapons, etc.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I bought it to support the dev and gave it a quick try. It's a surprisingly fun little top-down shooter with an interesting storyline. It's a little old school as it's been around for a decade, but it all worked smoothly on my Windows 11 PC. I think bundled with the new game just released, Prometheus Wept, it was around a dollar extra.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Satisfying fight gameplay. combined with many interesting options to develop through perks and weapons. Access to both of them are defined by your character level and stats. Story is nice. Graphics are nothing incredible but they communicate well the information and the mood.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Wow, this is a really good top-down defense shooter! How did I sleep on it for so many years!?
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Decent defense game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Decent twinstick rpg thing. A bit repetitive and long.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a fun little game that delivers with reliable game play and a somewhat cliche but still engaging story.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Only a short way in I feel, but this is a simple but fun game, with a nice story and upgrades galore. The core game play is that you have a guy defending a small area from zombie like creatures. You have a pistol, though you can buy a few more guns as things progress, and eventually a few defensive devices like mines and turrets. In addition your character gets to increase his few stats, and earn perks to personalize the play style. Not much more to it than that, but it all seems pretty solid.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Crude graphics aside, this bargain basement priced hoard game is decent, mixing up lite RPG and tower defense elements with basic (slow and tactical) arena shooting. I've enjoyed my time with this title.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →there are some good times to be had. the story is well done, very well done even. good voice acting. i do wish the dev would fix a few of the controller glitches. like the co-op being a bit goofed. but over all. gg.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I can't...stop...playing......help......
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Visually a bit breezy game. Effects.. from late nineties... But story is pretty good, RPG system offering stats and perks, economical level, when earned profits can be turned into better weapons, later better defenses and upgrades. Local co-op is also worth mentioning. Campaign has even 2 stories modes and one "havoc - shoot'n'kill" mod. Of course, in 21. century, there is no sci-fi plot, we have note heard/seen/read, but the story is absolutely fine, interesting and supported with comics-like…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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