I would recommed this game when on sale. I haven't had any of the technical issues mentioned, I think the controls work just fine for a mouse/keybord combo, and I like the graphics. The only reason why I would'nt recommend this at full-price is just the repetativeness of this type of game. This game doesn't "blow the doors off the genre" but it is a solid game, none the less.

Deathtrap is a towerdefenseactionroleplayinggame (TDARPG) [I totally made that one up]:

• You can build traps on specific points on each map to defend against waves of nasties trying to reach your defense point(s).
  
• You can build up your character (of which there are 3 to choose from) over the course of the game.
  
• You can level your trap skills as well as active and passive skills for you hero(ine).
  
• LOOT! At the end of each map, if you were able to beat it, you can loot treasure chests. Sometimes with bonus-loot for quests you can complete on certain maps.
  
• Between maps you can shop and craft items to complement your skill set.

Either as a Sorceress, a Marksmen or a Mercenary you will have to beat the campaign first. It offers 13 Maps with increasing difficulty (3 different speeds possible), an appropriate learning curve and after that a lot of different game modes as expected from a Tower-Defense-Game. You can play each of the 13 campaign maps in an endless mode or in something called scenario mode, where you can choose different modifiers for the game to increase the amount of gold, loot or experience you gain from completing it. And after that you can visit the steam workshop that offers some quite good community maps to try you skills against.

What you get with Deathtrap is solid tower defense game with a sprinkle of RPG on top, a little bit of crafting and, more importantly, a working system for items that complements your chosen skillset for your character and traps.
Something I like very much is that the amount of nerve wrecking can be finely tuned by choosing your own pace and difficulty in this game. It does make the progress feel smooth.

The looks are decent. The feel is a solid TD with a twist and the sound is okay.

Having to build traps on predefined spots may drive one or two people away from the game before trying, but it helps avoiding the construct-deconstruct work you have to do in other TD games, which I find rather tedious, to change the route of your enemies.

You get a TD game with all there is to get, repetitive gameplay in which you tune your skills and tactics and a nice sense of achievement once you beat the crap out of those monsters. If you liked the Van Helsing games you even get the bonus of having a setting you know and like in which the tower defense takes place. Get it if you are a fan of the Van Helsing games and like TD. Or get it if you don’t care about settings and like solid Tower-Defense-Games. If you are not into TD games, this one probably won´t sell it for you either. But if you are: Go grab it!

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Deathtrap in multiplayer co-op is:

• Tons of fun! I mean really, nearly, better than single-player. Both game modes have their shining moments.
  
• Co-op campaign, co-op endless, co-op scenario! The whole game is co-optimized (sorry for that one).
  
• Different map layout for multiplayer. Increase in monsterspawns and variety.
  
• Totally not as easy as single player (at least for me it wasn´t).
  
• You basically have a new game plus with people. It doesn´t get any better!

New Game plus with people! It takes you to a whole new experience both in terms of difficulty and in terms of the necessity of new tactics. You can use some setups from single player, but that is limited. I enjoyed the multiplayer very much because of all that.

The game needs you to be aware of the stuff you do and to the things monsters do. One of my co-op partners compared the feeling to that of some classic real-time strategy (RTS) games - a fitting comparison. Micromanagement needs to happen.
The pace of each map changes dramatically with every wave. You constantly have to adapt, react and be a heroic defender! That takes a lot of concentration! (my multiplayer experience was on “hard” mode with two co-op partners, so it may be different from other players experiences) In its entirety Deathtrap offers a lot of depth, replayability and fun! If you need more excuses to try it, see below!

If you were not sure whether to buy or not to buy Deathtrap, you should do it if you have someone to co-op with. Go ahead, ask your co-op buddies to get the game, or get some co-op buddies and then get the game! You still here?!

I usually like playing tower defense games, but the added 3D, 3rd person roaming part of the game takes away from the experience. The visuals are great, but the gameplay is lacking due to the reason above. It is often difficult to move around the map with a mouse/keyboard which means you can't get to the towers you want to upgrade easily. It requires you to click and hold to move your character, who doesn't move very quickly. Using a controller helps, but also limits the number of actions you can do.

It didn't turn out to be the game I expected. I wouldn't personally recommend this game to my friends, so I don't feel comforable recommending it to all of you.

Tower Defense clashes with ARPG very nicely.

I bought this game based on my love for the VH series. However, this game is not of the same quality as the VH series. The game constantly crashes, fails to start or freezes every chance it gets. I have a rather nice PC and a very nice MBP. This game will likely be my first stream return :(

I don't know what's up people's behinds about this game. I always avoid playing anything that looks like an RTS, and only kind-of like Tower Defense games, BUT: this game is STILL awesome to me. I got this on sale, yeah, but I just played it for 5 hours before I had to force myself to quit and go outside. It would take less than 2 hours to earn that at work, so even if I paid full price it's well worth it.

I literally only opened this just to see what to categorize it as in my library and ended up playing for 5 hours straight... that should tell you how encapsulating this game is! Great combination of "MOBA" feel with "Tower Defense", with upgrades that feel good, no hand-holding (play on hard mode, it's not that hard and it's more challenging and fun!)

I am mad that I have to put this down for a while. Can't wait to come back and play some more. I played the sorceress class and it's great fun due to the spell casting and all that.

I don't know, yeah, try to get it on sale, but don't let the red "Mixed" fool you, because I'm a picky gamer, I hate almost everything, and I had a blast. Maybe the game got lucky with me and it will suck for you, but idk, I had a great time and it will take another 35 hours at least before I can even feel like I'm partially "spent" on the game.

A very nicely made game. :D

- I love the music
- I love the RPG aspect
- Fun with friends

I feel like this should've instead been made into an Mmorpg though rather than tower defense.. I feel like it'd be much more popular then. :P

I can understand if this game does not seem very appealing to you from the outside. The visuals look a bit clunky and indeed they are. But if you overlook the graphics and just dig a little bit deeper, you will find that there's an extremely good and especially original gameplay beneath the surface.

Deathtrap basically takes the tower defense mini game from Neocore's The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing and creates a whole new game around it. And holy ****, it is so freaking good. You've got a mix of Tower defense (obviously), RPG elements like looting, leveling and skill trees and also a good amount of Hack'n'Slash. It works just so well: You use essence to build traps, which should kill the monsters that attack in waves. For every monster kill and every wave you gain more essence to build more traps. For completing levels, you gain experience, level up and distribute skill points into a HUGE skill tree. 'cause not only you can choose from different classes, every one of those got alot of different spells which you can skill in the order YOU think is best. So good.

So you basically got Tower Defense, but with a champion equipped with a weapon and up to four spells - genious. The gameplay is near flawless, and I know that I sound like I'm exaggerating. Don't care, it's great.

There are a few flaws, though: The traps you can build differ from level to level, but the game determines which kind of trap you can put at already defined places. Yet you can vary between different skills, because the monsters have weaknesses and strengths. Deathtrap has alot more of that deep strategic stuff, and I can't enumerate all of those things. Just find out yourself, this game is a must-have for every RPG fan and I wonder why it's got so little attention until now.

Oh, did I mention the perfect map editor with workshop support?

Tower Defence games are like Frosted Flakes...

Tower defence games are great aren't they?

If you said no, then Deathtrap, even with its unique take on the genre probably isn't going to change your mind.


... They're Grrr-reat

Still here? then I'll assume that you agree with me....

They're fun and easy to drop in and out of when time permits, great for a quick level or two at the end of a busy day.
You fire them up, trace the path the enemy will take, find the choke points, plan and place your towers, hit the start button and watch wave after wave of "bad guys" get chewed up (hopefully) by your turrets, fireballs, lighting towers etc.
Upgrade a tower here and there, increasing its range or power, maybe place a few new turrets and then take on the next level.
Rinse and repeat until you win, or if you're skill level matches my own, until you lose and try again!


Tower Defence games are like Deathtrap

At its core, that's what you'll find with Deathtrap, a competent, polished and very enjoyable tower defence game, filled with all the varying enemy, tower and trap types you could want to keep you entertain throughout it's increasingly difficult levels.


Archipelago of Doom

The levels in Deathtrap are divided up into islands, each island will have several waves of bad guys for you to destroy.
Should you manage to defeat the initial wave of cannon fodder you will then get chance to spend any points you've earned by placing new towers and traps in preparation for the inevitably tougher next wave.
Stand your ground against each wave and you'll have to face off against an end of level boss, which will likely be one tough demonic cookie to kill.
Defeat the big bad boss and it's level complete, the next island will be open for you, but before you take on the next challenge you might want to go shopping first... (more on that later)


You know what other genre is like Frosted Flakes...

RPG's!
Choose your character, collect loot, equip yourself with the best armour and weapons, visit the obligatory adventurers store to sell your junk and buy new stuff, level up your abilities and maybe do a little crafting before heading into battle
That's right, they're great too!


A Little RPG on your Frosties?

So we've got too great and very distinct genres and as I stated earlier, at its core, Deathtrap is a tower defence game, but it's also more than that...
It's a tower defence game with a generous sprinkling of sweet RPG goodness.
Everything I mentioned above regarding the Tower defence and RPG genres are available to you in Deathtrap.


Wave to your Avatar

To be an RPG game, you need an avatar, an in game presence beyond your mouse pointer placing towers and traps and that is exactly what you'll find here.
At the start of the game you'll be given a choice of 3 character types, The Sorceress, The Mercenary and the Marksman, each with their own specialities and styles of play.
Whichever character you choose, they're yours to control in the game world as you see fit.
Wander around exploring, go on the offensive and single-handedly blast wave after wave as they emerge or you might want to hang back and help defend your towers from the onslaught.


Wave to your Friends

Did I say single-handedly blast the bad guys, that's not necessarily true.
You can also play Deathtrap online in a co-op mode or versus modes both of which are huge amounts of fun.


A View To A Kill

Deathtrap has solid visuals, you can zoom in pretty close to the action and it still looks crisp and moody, although you'll find yourself playing through the majority of the game zoomed out as far as possible to get a bead on the bad guys as they march relentlessly onwards.


A Matter of Prospective

If you've ever played the "Orcs Must Die" titles, you'll recall that they are tower defence games with an in game avatar too.
However, "Orcs Must Die" let you experience the world from a first person perspective.

Whilst Deathtrap also places you in direct control of your character, instead of taking the FPS approach, you'll find yourself viewing the action from a top down, isometric view.

This is a little less immediate than the first person view but this decision does make the direct intervention mechanic feel much more tactical.
What you lose in immersion by not having a first person perspective is more than made up for by a clear isometric view of the approaching bad guys which certainly makes it easier to plan your positioning strategically and get in a few long range shots.


It Only Makes Me Stronger

As well as the traditional tower defence elements you also be taking down specific enemies located on the map (and hoping your towers can take care of the waves of monsters whilst you're wandering off the path to get to them).
These special enemies will drop keys which will open chests full of lovely loot.

You can find all the armour types you would expect in any RPG, including rings, hats, belts etc. each of which will improve your statistics and help you hang in a fight longer.
There is skill system in the game so you can not only upgrade your trap building abilities, you can also upgrade your own prowess with your weapon of choice.

There's a shop where you can buy and sell items, there are health potions, there's even a crafting system!


Wave Goodbye

The genre mash-up works surprisingly well, there's enough RPG elements to make the game feel refreshingly different without straying too far from its tower defence heart.

Deathtrap is a great game, quick to pick up and hard to put down, It's so addictive that I've genuinely found it difficult to stop playing long enough to write this review, and on that note, If I stop writing now I should have time for just one more wave...


( To view the full review (and others) please take the time to visit http://www.review-well.com/ )

Deathtrap is a hybrid tower defense game crossed with an isometric action role-playing game by Neocore, the developers of the Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing series.

The Great:

- Very satisfying trap and level design makes for top notch tower defense aspects
- High production values makes the game feel adn play very well
- Great RPG mechanics make the playing of the level as fun as the strategy (better than just watching your towers do their work)
- Significant layers of interlocking strategies (leveling up traps and player character at the same time) allowing impressive variety in playstyles
- Provides the same compulsive gameplay of other tower defense games with the added benefit of being able to play the levels yourself
- Levels are well designed and rarely if ever rely on cheap tower defense tricks (e.g. sending all the bosses up the previously least used path)
- Steam workshop support will give this game hours of additional playtime possibilities

The Good:

- Optional side objectives make for more interesting moment to moment gameplay
- Difficulty ramping is well-balanced and appropriate
- Good Steam support for achievements, cloud saving, and trading cards

The Bad:

- The campaign is slightly short with it able to be completed in about 5-6 hours which is offset by heavy modding support which should give this game hundreds of new maps to play
- Does not tie itself very much into its sister games (The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing series) which is a missed opportunity for expanding both series

Conclusion:

This is a slightly odd complaint, but I think Neocore could have done better than they did with this. After two exceptional games in the The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing I and II, I was expecting more of that to come over into this game. The story, the characters, the world are all too shallow compared to their earlier works. I beat this game in a day's time which is almost impossible for my schedule, and I got a great game, but I was expecting more.

Still, this is one of the best tower defense games around complimented by incredibly engaging RPG elements for the both the player character and the tower defense aspects at a bargain price. It would be nearly impossible for me not to recommend.

9.0 / 10