FINAL FANTASY TACTICS - The Ivalice Chronicles
FINAL FANTASY TACTICS - The Ivalice Chronicles
Game
Game2024
Hexguardian
Developer Split Second Games
Hexguardian is a roguelite, tower defense game where you build your own maps with hexagonal tiles! Build and upgrade towers, recruit armies, learn spells, construct wonders and place hexagonal tiles to create a path to enhance your defenses. With plenty of game modes and talents to unlock! From the Steam store page
192 reactions from 3 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Mastodon) · newest Sep 29, 2026 · last updated Oct 8, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
72
Fresh
131 positive · 52 negative
95% range 65–78%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 131 | 52 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mastodon * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
9 newer reactions are still waiting for a label.
Steam's own rating
Mostly Positive
564 of 708 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What people are saying
Summary pending — the reactions are listed below.
Reactions
60 of 192 · most liked firstThe creators clearly played RogueTower and thought, "I like it but it needs polish." And they definitely polished it, but that is all they did. They made it shiny but didn't really fix any problems. Some they made worse. Most of all, the reason why I do not like RogueTower, and by extension this game, is the way the RNG is handled. The RNG doesn't seem like it would be a problem, at the start, but as you get deeper in, the RNG becomes a bigger and big problem. The biggest offender is the…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game has all the elements to make it a great game, and it was generally fun to play. Other reviews capture these details pretty well. However, the game is basically unplayable after wave ~40 due to lag. From what I can tell this has been reported and known for quite a long time. I cannot recommend supporting this game and developer until they fix this issue. Stay away.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →After wave ~40 it's literally unplayable. The devs just refuse to do anything about this.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Editing my review to be in the negative, too, now. Issues with the game, or lag of longer runs don't get fixed 'cuz we're not worth the effort. Other reviews were replied to with "just play higher difficulty, lag exists" without any notion of "it's gonna be worked on one day". Mentioning that in the discussions... well I'm blatantly told that 90% of players play sloppily and don't care about lag 'cuz they don't get as far in and move on to the next game. Well, I guess I'll move on to the next…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Final Verdict: 63.5/100 - Okay Final Verdict Breakdown Value: 3/5 The amount of time a player can expect to get out of Hexguardian will largely depend upon their enjoyment of the underlying concepts and gameplay mechanics. Personally, 13 hours was more than enough time for me to feel satisfied in my exploration of the game. That said, it would take an average player approximately 20 hours to unlock all of the content available within the game's meta-progression system (including towers,…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Sounded cool and was looking forward to play it. Unfortunately the game isn't very well optimised and one can't change any graphic setting besides resolution to make it "lighter", as such couldn't really play because of very low fps. Not cool
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →fun but not worth buying as the game cant run after so many waves
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I enjoy the game but unfortunately it runs very bad. Once you get to the really interesting part of the game (crazy difficulty, day 40+), it literally becomes unplayable. FPS is down to 1, sometimes even <1, hotkeys stop working and you need to pause so that you can scroll around the map. It's a snowball effect as you need more units to stop the growing number of waves which in turn grow in numbers within. I was really having fun and out of all the games I got this Summer Sale, this one…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →POSITIVE POINTS: - Hexguardian is a roguelite tower defence game in which you build towers and armies to defend against endless hordes of enemies travelling across a modular hexagonal map laid out for you: a very original concept. - In addition to the standard mode, there is a challenge mode that changes every week. - Nice and colourful graphics, different biomes, deck building, constant progress with step-by-step side achievements, global rankings, constant support from the developers... it…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Overall its not bad but not worth buying because there's better games in the same category. The bad: - Graphics. - Don't like the tile build mechanic. - Map design - Towers - Enemies are basic nothing unique.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →---see where this game landed on my tower defense tier list beneath this review!--- HexGuardian combines the tile-laying aspect of something like Dorfromantik with Roguelike Tower Defense. You'll build lot's of paths and rivers based on the tiles that come up for you, and you have a massive upgrade tree of unlocks which is fun to chip away at (rogue-lite style upgrades). I've read some of the negative reviews and I think there's a lot of valid criticism; I feel like the game could be better…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Dissatisfying rogue-lite AND td mechanics makes this game a flop in both categories IMO. The game punishes restricting spawn points but also punishes building wide, which means I guess figure it out? Technically a "win" still feels like a loss because by the time your setup feels good you're meant to be ending the run (or, more likely, your variance isn't great and you just lose.) I would give this one a pass.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game is fun and I enjoyed it. But the framerate just starts diving towards the lategame. There is something great here, but the performance problems are now alone what keeps me from returning to the game. Early game you won't encounter these issues, but once you start getting better and unlocking new features and going farther you'll be rewarded with a single frame per second when trying to play the game. I will provide my hardware specs, I don't believe the framerate issues are tied to…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game desperately needs graphical quality settings or performance optimisation. In its current state, I was getting about 1 frame every 5 seconds when I got to level 120 and my pc is no slouch. If you are the kind of player that wants to enjoy late-game content and unlock everything, then DO NOT BUY THIS since apparently they won't refund you if it took you longer than 2 hours to encounter this issue.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Abandonware left in a poor state.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Hexguardian is a roguelite tower defence game where the player must protect their castle from the armies of a rival kingdom. Its a fairly simple game, but fans of the tower defence genre should enjoy it. Each map starts with multiple roads and rivers leading to your castle. Enemies will spawn from portals at the end of each path, and there are several different enemy types who will attack by land, sea, or air, while mounted units move faster and higher difficulties have bosses. Killing…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I really wanted to like it, it seems like it's close to being a really fun little game. Unfortunately between the bugs (units getting stuck, units not targeting properly, etc.) and the poor design (glaring omissions like: not being able to see what a unit does when picking its associated building, having to set the targeting priority per archer (or preconfigure in a niche setting in the main menu), having to roll the dice on whether you get an armour piercing unlock or not each game), it…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Hexguardian, developed by Split Second Games and published by Yogscast Games, is a distinctive take on the roguelite tower defense genre that combines strategic planning with a dynamic and engaging gameplay loop. Players are charged with defending a castle against relentless waves of attackers by constructing towers, recruiting armies, casting spells, and erecting wonders. What sets Hexguardian apart is its use of a hexagonal tile system, which introduces a spatial puzzle element to the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →8/10 Roguelike tower defense done pretty well! It's not perfect, but it is addictive and quite satisfying. + Lots and lots of upgrades, difficultly levels, tilesets, and modes of play + In-run upgrade system is tense and fun + Runs at a nice clip until you get to 'extreme' levels past 30+ (with a 5800x3d) + Runs can be a few minutes up to an hour which feels like a satisfying length - due to luck of terrain tiles, it can be very difficult to 'finish' a level through no fault of your own -…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Game is really poorly optimised and the dev won't fix but instead recommends a higher difficulty where the issue still persists.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Highly recommend for TD enthusiasts and Hardcore players It plays more like an RTS. Variety of Towers but also production buildings. the random tile that allow to build path or block them is great and there nothing like the feeling of shutting down a path and reducing the amount of them the enemy can come from. Dear Dev please make a Mobile port so I can enjoy this everywhere.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This roguelite tower defence hits the sweet spot where you advance by metaprogression AND by learning the game, at more or less the same rate. Also, as far as tower defences go, it has decent balance of playing wide (with stupid amount of towers on field) and playing tall (with stackable upgrades and synergies)
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The idea is nice, has lots of potential but something about this game just turns me off. :/ From the slight sluggishness of the UI / handling to the art that is not 100% to my liking, I just don't really enjoy my time with it. Already after 2,5hrs of playing, I still have lots of unlocks to do but I am somehow not intrigued to continue.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I very much enjoed the game. I think it's well paced and has reasonably interesting depth to a tower defense by building your own paths and juggling the pieces the game throws at you. However... The optomisation is utterly attroctious.... I'm certain a patch would be able to fix it if the developer returned to. But until then, do not buy, becuase you will find every map becomes unplayable eventually.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →pacing is slow pathing is dumb upgrading just seems like a slog synergy is forced and not practical doesn't want to create a progression path so just leaves it to you, so dumb and a slog. price increasing just punishing a dumb. the tiled pieces are a weird "rng" that isn't really rng. I hate rng that wants you to think it's rng. good pathing should allow you to path the way you want to maximize your effect, not always battling it on a stupid time table. the time to do things is dumb. final…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Poorly Optimized. RTX 3090n Ryyzen 9 5900x 12 core and 32gb of ram. less than 1 FPS after wave 25-30 after wave 30 not playable without spawn killing.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Without a doubt the most disappointing TD Game I have ever played. You will never feel satisfied. The base inspiration for this game is RogueTower. Then there is a Kingdom Rush element. The towers are weak and pathetic. You will never feel like the towers have any meaning. For the Kingdom Rush type ''towers' - Waypoint Marco is a must. It’s just not fun at all to play. There is no real challenge because there are few real choices to make. Every time a choice is presented there will be…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I want to like this one but I don't. I feel like the whole point of this game is to build a path to your advantage that works with the towers you've chosen. Instead the game doesn't really use that pathing mechanic because the scaling of how much towers cost and how tanky the enemies are raises too quickly for you to really take advantage of it. Chances are you'll just try to kill the extra portals then build most of your towers in one group not too far from your castle because the extra towers…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a great little tower defense game with roguelike talent system and a neat feature where you build the map as you play. you can get strategic not only with your defenses, but in how you build the map as you progress the level. very fun. highly recommend if you enjoy tower defense games. no microtransactions is a bonus! those always ruin the tower defense genre on mobile.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great game, however, after level 40 it's almost unplayable due to low performance (1-5 FPS).
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →don't let its cute shell fool you this game is an decent guard the castle game, in hex tile format. still gives an solid game play loop.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I didn't really want to like it but I did. a really fun little game
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Hexguardian looks like a typical tower defense game. But there is a lot of tactical depth to it. You get hexagonal tiles to add to your map, changing where enemies can spawn from, closing gateways altogether, or opening new paths. You can buy towers with gold you make and place them almost everywhere on the map. After a round you get to choose an upgrade or new ability. There is a tech tree to unlock new towers, abilities, and perks over time and a system to block unwanted items from the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I did not like the game, I find it boring. Every enemy wave feels the same, the towers are not very unique from each other, and the sound design is minimal in the game. The talents system seems to be a major grind, and I am not willing to play hours upon hours of the game to unlock them to maybe make the game a little more interesting/enjoyable. Also, they punish you if you want to respec the talents by only refunding 80% of the points. So if you wanted to try out a new "build", you are…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Every time you set a priority and hit "apply to all x unit" you have to do it again each time you summon a new one. It should become the default for at least the match, then you can customize from there.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Hexguardian isn't a good tower defense game, there are much better ones out there buy one of them instead. Not recommended
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great tower defense game that uses land placement in addition to unit synergy and world effects. Very much enjoy it and would love to see a friend's challenge added so you can compare your score to others.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's funny. You play TD games and when you reach the end of a level, you wish it had endless mode, but then you get this game which is all endless all the time, and my brain has a hard time coming to grips with this. So you get as far as you can, do some upgrades and rinse/ repeat? No end? ever? I just can't play like this.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It looks fun, and I kept wanting to like it, but I found the game surprisingly dull and uninspired. It definitely does NOT feel like it was a labor of love. It's more of a labor of "I need to pay rent". If there's any deep strategy, I wasn't able to find it.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →You like Bloons? You like Slay the Spire? You like jigsaw puzzles? You're gonna love Hexguardian.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fun and addictive. loads of unlocks even if maps are a bit sparse ATM. Well worth the money. Edit: Just seen that the last update was 2 years ago, and therefore my review has changed. I paid 99p (about $1) for it and that's worth the money. There are bugs and balancing issues and doesnt feel like a finished game. Which is disappointing as its really good, but just feels like an alpha at times. If you can get it on sale for really cheap, do it. If not, don't.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →[Epic via Prime] *Hexguardian*, roguelike tower defence. > A strategic, roguelite, tower defense game. Build and upgrade towers, recruit armies, learn spells, construct wonders, and shape the terrain to protect your castle. > Shape your realm > > Control enemy paths with randomly generated hexagonal tiles. > Defeat enemies from land, sea, and air > > Build towers, recruit armies, and learn spells to protect your castle. > Survive! > > Unlock new maps, buildings, and units with every day you…
unlabelledView post →TY for joining us for Hexguardian (a roguelite, tower defense game) thanks to Yogscast Games! #ad TY double raiders: 💜 @queenofpenguins.bsky.social 💙 @tenthemperor.bsky.social We raided ❤️ @jeeroh.kumako.live to end the night! #TwitchStreamers #YouTube #livestream
unlabelledView post →Decent tower defence. Yet like everyone else: performance is a massive issue. There comes a point each run where you are just hoping your defences fall apart, yet you don't have the heart to quit out because 'just think how much of the meta resource I can get from this run!'. Have to say, I don't feel ripped off after getting this at a discount. There really is something here, and you can see the dev knows that too. Decent fun for £2.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →not fun when your constantly die at the same spot even with upgrades not fun then on top of that your ♥♥♥♥ doesn't scale with the enemy so you just get rammed by ♥♥♥♥ you cant do anything about but die ya like i bought dark souls if i could beat balloons with no upgrade then this shouldn't be a problem but yet there is
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Love this game so far. I wish we have a disable timer feature in between waves though. One of the reasons I love the tower defense genre is that you can do other things while playing. This game demands your full attention solely because of the timer.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Genuinely so fun. It can be frustrating at times, but I'm having a time with it!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →What a shame that this game is so underrated! I really love it! A friend gifted it to me 2 days ago and Im totally addicted. Such a simple yet challenging little game! Im sure Ill put much more hours in it! :)
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Tower defense based on pure luck... how fun...
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It introduces flying units with no warning, even if you do notice its about to happen and click the 'show path' button it lies and says they're going to follow the road when they actually go straight towards the castle.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fun game, simple to understand. - Procedural generated - Tower Defense Game - Form your own Map - Talents tree for unlocking more towers, skills and passives - Good replay potential - Has a rogue like game mode If Dorfromantik and the base game of Bloons had a baby.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Game has a lot of potential but unfortunately the lag ruins the late game.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A surprisingly addictive strategic hex game with good early and mid-game depth... but needs more work on the late game. Its worth the money.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Hexguardian is an amazing mix of roguelite and tower defense. The game is simple yet complex, making you think about which towers and units to use. The dev is great at fixing bugs and listening to player feedback. Plus, the weekly challenge keeps things fresh and exciting. If you like strategy games, definitely give this one a try!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's a wonderful game :) NEEDS optimization. anything past maybe day 35 to day 45 runs at 1 to 10 fps.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A good solid defense game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I think this is a great tower defence game and very much recommend it! The gameplay is pretty simple on it's face but there is some interesting depth to the land placement mechanics which can make or break a run, and that's not to mention the fact that your choice of towers and units for each map can be wildly different based on the modifiers that makes the maps feel different. Further the developers are putting in a lot of work to keep an eye on the game and make adjustments to balance so…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's not perfect and when you get past day 20 it certainly starts to slowing down, but to it's credit It's the sort of game you can casually play for 15mins / 20mins and put down. To get all of the achievements it becomes a bit of a chore but part from that.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →New PSA live on FGF: [PSA] Hexguardian (EGS), Around the World: Travel to Brazil – Collector's Edition (Legacy Game) are complimentary with Amazon Prime #FGF #FreeGameFindings https://redd.it/1r30gtt
unlabelledView post →Picked this one up cheap on winter sale but it is well worth it! LOVE IT
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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