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Game
Game2020
Mainframe Defenders
Developer Synthetic Domain
MAINFRAME DEFENDERS - Turn-based tactics centered around gear and unit customization. It offers simple combat, high replayability, and tons of loot. Items don't just provide stats boost, but also offer distinct mechanics that can be combined into powerful builds. From the Steam store page
186 reactions from 3 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Mastodon) · newest Sep 4, 2026 · last updated Oct 8, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
79
LovedLoved
140 positive · 38 negative
95% range 72–84%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 140 | 38 | 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).
8 newer reactions are still waiting for a label.
Steam's own rating
Very Positive
697 of 796 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What people are saying
Summary pending — the reactions are listed below.
Reactions
60 of 186 · most liked firstYou command a team of four prototype mechs to fight a computer virus in a futuristic complex, combining items and abilities into a variety of builds ✅You can freely choose one of several missions and choose the difficulty level ✅Large quantity of items ✅Every choice you make matters because destroying all the mechs ends the game ✅A lot of missions and different goals ✅Very dynamic gameplay ✅The game has an autosave ✅Nice soundtrack ✅Low price ❌The opponents have a different set each time and…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →PERMANENT ADS in a paid game will always be a downvote. This could be the best roguelite ever (It's definitely not) and I still would not reward this practice! Boooo, game companies, who do this bs! Boo. Tacky. Ugly. No. Stop it! NO! *spray bottle*
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Mainframe Defenders is a console ported 2D retro pixel turn based tactical strategy game with a "hacking" theme as you control "robots" or whatever and hack into some kind of mainframe or something, I don't know. The graphics are so bad and lame this is impossible to get into, but it does look like there's some welcome depth in the game design, level design, and different unit types and so on. All completely wasted effort because the graphics really suck. No wonder they had to pay Russians to…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Just purchased, and played one mission. Seems like a decent game. Though a little disappointed to see an advertisement on the lower left corner of the home screen. Games you pay for should not have advertisements... remove that and I'd definitely recommend.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →In my experience, it's a very shallow game. It often gets compared to games like XCOM for the gameplay/strategy or Cogmind for the UI. After having played both of those games, the comparisons honestly feel insulting. I feel like the strategy in this game boils down to getting in range and using your best weapons, there isn't much more to it than that. The mission > upgrade cycle feels repetitive and unrewarding. Cogmind's UI was minimalistic but highly stylized and easy on the eyes. In…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Lovely little game, found it while browsing the sales like the cheap-ass I am, and found this little gem. Nice variety of Mechs, Upgrades and Items. Requires paying attention to positioning, prioritizing the right enemies and accurately building your Mechs to synergize and cover eachother weaknesses. Also the soundtracks are bangers.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I did enjoy it for my time, but I really can't recommend it to others My stats show about 13 hours but I'd say I played around 8 with the rest idling. It grew thin around the 3h point but I kept pushing. The biggest annoyance is the battle HUD which has almost no at-a-glance information. You have to cycle through troops constantly (select each one) to see what status effects it has. So annoying because almost none of the game is about straight damage, it's all about status effects and…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →From the get-go, it's highly repetitive: Move your units into range, and spam your best attacks until everything dies. A good turn-based tactics game or roguelike should have you making interesting decisions from the start, or at least have enough depth that you can tell the mechanics are deep even if you keep dying very early on. This game just doesn't do that, and had me groaning as I had to pain-stakingly move my units one-by-one every turn. The graphics and UI are also eye-bleeding (even…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →gameplay feels pretty lacking in depth overall, certainly not on the level of XCOM which, frankly, i don't feel is an appropriate point of comparison in any case. ends up feeling pretty monotonous pretty quick, to the point where i couldn't justify more than one playthrough. not a whole ton of variety between battles, little customization above the basic level that seriously affects your interactions and battle strategy, overall just felt very blah.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →disproportionately niche game, I could probably list like 20 roguelikes that are both worse than this and more popular. probably my favourite tactics game in general. obligatory price mention, it's under a dollar on sale
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Browsing through games under a certain price usually feels like looking through a junk basket on a thrift store. Amid the junk, sometimes a gem appears, and this game is the perfect example. Imagine XCOM and FTL with robots inside a mainframe, with upgrades and customization, and everything very dynamic. For this price, it's a steal.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Grateful and honored to be nominated for an Indie Game Award at @tmgexpo.bsky.social ❤️ Congrats to @syntheticdomain.bsky.social on winning!! Mainframe Defenders is👌🏽 #indiegames #indiedev #gamedev #videogames #toomanygames
unlabelledView post →played a 3-4 runs on 'normal', tended to die on first couple missions. next run i made it past the first couple missions, snowballed so that end of tier 1 and all of tier 2/3 were 'too eacy', then died on final run (which seemed to be a significant bump up in difficulty, and maybe needs some particular attention to one's build as the 'real goal'. so like FTL that way, but i think such a 'reverse difficulty curve with curve-ball at the end' isn't great design IMO. i'll echo some other…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is one of those games I wish I could give a mid review to. For the price its not bad. But...there are a lot of other great games that are frequently this price, which are more deserving of your time. If the market wasn't so crowded this would be worth it. My main issue is that there just isn't much here, and what is here is fairly obfuscated. It's often not clear exactly how an ability works, and the economy is not particularly forgiving so you kind of just have to try things (and…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I did not expect to enjoy this game so much. It is very simple, somewhat questionable but serviceable AI behaviour, it has repetitive missions. But the progression, weapon and item synergies, squad possibilities make for all those faults. Climbing the game's difficulty after learning how to min max and combo is very satisfying. It has enough weapon variety to keep you going. If you are a fan of turn based squad games, I can 100% recomment it.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Enemies spawn from no where into the battle. Not the most brilliant idea to make the game fun to play.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Niche game. It is a little overwhelming at the start, but it can be ease into it.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Where is the option to hyperspeed enemy turns? Oh my GOD it's so boring waiting for the 15 enemy units to take their turns one by one. Literally cannot bring myself to play this game any more because of how slow it is.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Missions, robots, retro style. At the same time, there is leveling and equipment. And all this in a turn-based game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Please for the love of god allow us to refund upgrades or change them, permanent unit upgrades (especially from a misclick) is so horribly frustrating. Other than that, good strategy rogue-like.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The gameplay of choosing mechs, upgrading and equipping them seems fun, but you won't see very much of that until you get some new gear and/or research points. So you start with 4 plain mechs with 0 upgrades, and send 'em in. The combat is pretty basic: Click unit, click square to move to, click weapon, click target. Maybe it can fire twice. For my first round I had it on very easy, even then it took my team nearly all their attacks to kill 1 mook, and more mooks kept spawning in, even…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I think that I would've liked what this game could have been. It suffers from major readability issues and poor UI. Having to scroll through so many missions and consider what the rewards are is a bit much. Fewer, more distinct choices and less fiddly numbers would be better.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →After an hour an a half and several unsuccessful attempts on the easiest difficulty setting I just cannot recommend this game. Easy is supposed to be just that, EASY, it is not, it also does not help when you are constantly getting harried by enemies teleporting in randomly right beside your units. Add to that you get nothing from either a failed mission or quitting a mission that you know your not going to make it so your starting from scratch every time. I really wish dev's would understand…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A gem especially with that price. As others have mentioned it's like a mix between Cogmind and Xcom, so if you're a fan of those you should definitely try this one out. It's overwhelming the first time you start but if you stick to it you'll notice that it's quite easy to get into, though hard to master. As a start-up tip: You can change the colors of your mechs to have them more distinguished from the background and each other.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I'll be honest, I suck at this game xD. But it is pretty damn good, especially considering the price/quality ratio. It's very complex, and it's very hard to get a build going, but it feels very good if you do (even though it happens rarely). The lack of guides doesn't help. The complexity of this game is both a blessing and a curse. I found it to be a bit too complex for me, but I definitely see the appeal. Would recommend.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is not necessary x-com, but (and colors and interface layout give it away) - laser squad (amiga one, not god awful dos port). Finalized with equipment acquisition, research system and proper difficulty rampup. Only thing it could've really used is proper looping tracker music, but outside of that - i'm quite satisfied with it. Has that frustration/reward curve i was looking for too.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A well-balanced rogue-like. Every mech is distinctive and has 2-3 builds. Every enemy is dangerous in its own way and has its own weaknesses. Every weapon or item in this game has its application. Every choice matters. Interface and mechanics are intuitive but deep. The only thing this game lacks to be truly perfect is secondary goals in missions. There are no random events or random encounters, so missions of the same type can seem monotonous
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Mainframe Defenders is a simple to lean turm-based squads tactics game. You get to build a team with a few different units, and equip them with a variety of weapons and gear. As you pass the mission you get to upgrade your units with new stats that look quite similar with the gear you can equip the units. What keeps the game simple to learn is, is it relative small size. You have some units you can pick from but there aren't that many is becomes hard to remeber all their abilities. Same goes…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Just doesn't do it for me. Tried it for a few hours but gave up on it. Combats are too short for real tactical play. I find Bionic Dues much more engaging in this genre so I can't recommend this one.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game is not bad, but is not what I'm looking for, maybe in the future (I asked for a refund), the tags are misleading, the game is not Roguelike nor Traditional :facepalm: the game is a Turn-based, Strategy, Sci-fi and Tactics. I didn't play much, but I don't see a sandbox style in the game either, a similar game is "Frozen Synapse" or "X-Com" which I also liked. I don't know what the heck rogue-"lite" even mean, it seems everyone just tag whatever they want. If your looking for a game…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Pros: - Full-package tactical squad-based roguelike - Cyberpunk theme (cyberspace, really) with mech combat - Short missions that you can quickly jump in and out of (or do as many as you want in a row) - Cheap when on sale (70% discount on Steam's 2021 Autumn Sale) Cons: - Mediocre user interface with several unhandled edge cases that you will run into all the time (nothing game-breaking but definitely annoying) - "80s terminal" pixel art visuals that are as stylish as they're plain ugly…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Mainframe Defenders turns 6 today! 🎉 To celebrate, the game is 90% off on Steam. Learn more - tr.ee/aGgJpb We’re also part of: #TurnBasedThursdayFest, Wholesome Underdogs, 2026 Women's Day Sale. #IndieCredible #WomensDaySale #WholesomeUnderdogs
unlabelledView post →This game caused me to learn to really appreciate games of its kind. I never appreciated the turn based strategy games before this one. I like RTS and turn based RPG very much. Never turn based strategy before. I am a fan of traditional roguelikes though. This game really caught my attention. It causes me to miss sitting at my computer. I have not experienced this because of a game in more than a decade. I recommend this game to you. It is tremendous fun also wish to thank the developers. I…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Standout presentation, especially at this price point. This is a very replayable tactical roguelite, with a lot of flexibility.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is actually quite simple than I first thought when I began playing, so that's good for me, since I don't play Tactical RPGs often. But man, this game had me sucked in for quite a while. I finished playing in hard mode, and while it kicked my butt in the beginning, after a while, getting a grasp of the mechanics and whatnot, I still wanna continue playing and unlock some cool gear, experiment with builds till I can't anymore. Really fun little game. This is a great gateway to more of…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I love how no matter how much I play the game, the runs will always be different from each other.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →a tactical game in retrofuturistic style with roguelike elements. Simple combat system, high replayability and a variety of loot create a variety of strategies to defend the complex mainframe. A great choice for fans of tactical games and retro graphics.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great turn based jewel, which does NOT play like a puzzle. + Roguelike/-lite -vibe due to plethora of gear/loot/maps/<things that could happen> + Fantastic customization option for the players without player being able to pursue any "best path"; instead you react to what pieces of loot would work best for you / the resource (matter) rewards + Squad of 4 "mechs" chosen out of much more + Lots of loot / mech unlocks + So light you can eg. play Gloomhaven on second display while playing this +…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I only played a couple hours but Mainframe Defenders didn’t really catch me in that time. As a top down turn based strategy game, its fine. But there doesn't appear to be any sort of compelling story to shoot for and the information you need to make meaningful decisions is often obfuscated or hidden. I think most of my lack of interest in the game came from feeling like I was just floundering around. Not knowing where your objective is, or sometimes even the general direction you're supposed…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →While a pleasantly addicting Battletech-style turn based mech game, Mainframe Defenders commits the cardinal rpg sin of giving the enemy intelligent targeting. What I mean by this is if you have one character who has less armour than anyone else, expect every enemy on the map to aggravatingly slip around and utterly ignore your other characters (and even break down walls if it can't) just so that it can surround that one character in asphyxiating melee range. There's lots of options, sure; but…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fest, Fest, Fest! > Ancient Costume Game Festival [ Lords of Ravage ] - tr.ee/aFbu8y Event (Nov. 3–17) - tr.ee/J99JzY > DevGAMM [ Lords of Ravage ] - tr.ee/aFbu8y [ Mainframe Defenders ] - tr.ee/SY4yTj - 90% off [ The Bunker Notes ] - tr.ee/HtwCD0 Event (Nov. 3–9) - tr.ee/V8xY59 #IndieGame
unlabelledView post →This game is a bit like Slice&Dice wearing a mech skin. The 'XCOM-style tactical squad combat' is pretty thin -- the maps are too small and too linear, and the terrain mechanics too simple, for any real tactical depth in that regard -- but for what it is, a loot-driven roguelite, it's a good game
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is one of the best turn-based tactics that i've played!! I really like the idea of combining different modules into interesting setups, and that the heat level not allways can be harmful if you have the gun that adds more damage the more your unit is heated up. Really advise to play this game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Although quite solid, it also seems to be rather repetitive. In the first few hours or so you'll have seen all there is to it. But I suppose that the 99 cents I paid, was more than reasonable.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Unfortunatelly both the UI and the Spritework are just horrible. It looks cool on the screenshots, but plays very badly.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Mainframe Defenders is a console ported 2D retro pixel turn based tactical strategy game with a "hacking" theme as you control "robots" or whatever and hack into some kind of mainframe or something, I don't know. The graphics are so bad and lame this is impossible to get into, but it does look like there's some welcome depth in the game design, level design, and different unit types and so on. All completely wasted effort because the graphics really suck. No wonder they had to pay Russians…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's a fun squad based roguelike with interesting equipment to build OP teams with. Serious lack of mission variety though; I got bored repeating the same missions over and over on my *first* run. Because of this I don't think you'll stick with it, but it was fun while it lasted.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →An interesting visually-minimalistic retro-style tactical game. It features a very complex turn-based tactical combat system in a procedurally generated environment, all of that in the retro-futuristic 80's-style visuals and art design. You can tell that a lot of effort has been put into this game. If complex turn-based strategy games are your thing, then you should definitely not miss on this one.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Mainframe Defenders, developed and published by Synthetic Domain, is a tactical roguelite that stands out for its deep customization, strategic combat, and retro aesthetic. Released on February 25, 2020, the game has garnered a "Very Positive" rating on Steam, with 88% of over 600 user reviews praising its engaging mechanics and replayability. Set in the 2080s, players command a squad of four prototype robots tasked with defending the Stargazer research complex from a rogue computer virus. The…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Very hard... so hard it makes you question your life choices and finally start that thing you’ve been procrastinating for a while
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game is good, ignore the mentally deranged people whining otherwise. They are very likely homosexual.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I thought that the concept was neat, but I found the gameplay to be a bit on the repetitive side in terms of player/foe movement and combat options, which aren't too different from what you can expect from other turn-based strategy games on the market. Though, I don't mind supporting the devs, given the big sale discount.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I am 32 years old. My ex-wife and I have a daughter together, and we adopted our son together. Both are now 4 years old. When we were going through our separation, I felt lost and unhappy. I was self-destructive. One day, I was so angry with everything spiraling out of control that I punched a concrete wall in a moment of overwhelming emotion. This resulted in breaking my fifth metacarpal in my right hand—the hand I worked with, played games with, and used to carry my children to bed—the hand…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fun game! Starting off was a little overwhelming and confusing (mainly with wording/figuring out specific mission objectives) but overall it went well. I've seen some complaints in the discussion chat mentioning things are "Too OP" or "Impossible to beat Very Hard", but when I tried, I (got decently lucky and) managed to beat Very Hard first try (after my first clear on Normal). If you've played games like Fire Emblem, Final Fantasy Tactics, or even XCOM, you will probably enjoy this game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Please drop the soundtrack as a dlc it's good
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I like MainFrame Defenders. I recorded some of my progress in MainFrame Defenders. Please take a look if you value a more Audio / Visual experience, as I discuss the game as I cyber crawl my mechs through it; in some semblance of style perhaps! https://youtu.be/VItxE9gm6uY MainFrame Defenders is an Indie, Turn Based Tactics, Roguelike Tactics RPG where you control 4 battle mechs, battling across destructible lvls packing Pixel Graphics and Procedural Generation; cool! Procedural Generation…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game feels like it has everything Liberty There is a dread that comes along with the complete liberty this game provides. You don't get any instruction, just cogs and gears and missions to work through. It feels as though this is what this sort of game is meant to be. The zenith of the medium. No one has beaten this game The pitfall comes in the game's vast difficulty. As of now, the achievement for completing the game on any difficulty has only been achieved by 4.5% of players. You…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you're considering this game because you like tactical squad games like XCOM or Into The Breach, this one is probably worth a try. None of the mechanics are particularly deep or emergent, but they all work well with each other, and learning how to cobble together optimal builds so they become essentially unkillable or do 100 damage per turn or apply every status effect under the sun is pretty fun. At 60-ish hours it feels like I've "completed" the game and that there's not really any very…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →8/10 TL;DR Great challenging roguelite tactical game, that constantly builds time pressure and risks due to spawning enemies or stacking debuffs. The enemy variety is sufficient and requires a diversely build squad to counter all the different strengths of the enemies. Sadly the RNG of mission rewards and craftable items can screw a few of your runs. Furthermore some QoL features are missing. -------------------------------- Pros: Overall look and feel Soundtracks are banger Visuals are…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →i love waiting for a discount and this synthetic domain really knows what they are doing. this game is less luck and more skill soo actual experience from run to run is what makes you better at the game. the robots will catch you lacking if you are not reading every stat for everything you and the enemy are using. you are constantly searching around the map and checking enemy ranges it almost makes you paranoid, well it does me, and id have to say that is very cool. every robot destroyed is…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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