Defend your Basin against the Tides
TDS - Tower Defense Strategy is a hybrid of tower defense and real-time strategy. Maps have no set path for enemies, so you decide where the fight happens. The Tides approach your Basin and you have to hold them back. Placement matters as much as raw power: you can push through with a single ultra powerful tower, build an impenetrable wall, or lean on wit instead of upgrades. The maps are handcrafted and fully realized, ranging from floating woodcraft in the sky to massive derelict structures, and they differ in visual design as well as in how they play. No two maps are the same, and each one challenges you in its own way.
Control Vessels and build your defense
Vessels are your anchor to the world. Each one is both a unit and a tower: control them to mine, fight, and build your defense. Every Vessel comes with its own set of extremely unique towers, so the choice of Vessel shapes what you can put on the field. Towers and units work together, and upgrades are rich and synergistic, playing off one another in many combinations. Towers can expand on one another and Vessels can too, which gives you plenty of room to find strategies that fit how you like to play.
Play with friends
TDS is built for playing together. You can play with up to 3 fellow Vessels and defend as a group, which opens up far more combinations and strategies than going alone, including goofy cheese ones. Coordinating who mines, who fights, and who builds lets a group cover more ground and react to what the Tides throw at you.
What to know before starting
The game is in Early Access, so expect it to still be taking shape. Difficulty varies across areas and it can get really hard, so resistance is part of the deal. The PvE focus means the enemy is the Tides themselves, and they fight back. The store text also carries an unverified claim about beating whole areas with no towers, so treat that one with a grain of salt.