I’m gonna keep running this joke into the ground until the day I die… ROGUELIKE DECKBUILDER! But this time, we’re tower defending! I was pleasantly surprised about this one, at least with first impressions. There’s a real sense of ambition in terms of blending the card combo-y nature of Slay the Spire and kin, while really capitalizing on what makes tower defense so fun. In particular, I was intrigued by the “archetypes” or innate strategies/synergies that were at offer. Suddenly, I would see ways to accelerate the attack speed/cooldown of my buildings, get bonuses for displacing (aka pushing, pulling, dunking into water, etc), setting up different trap bonuses for MAJOR discounts, and more! Not to mention a variety of enemy types that demand your attention and micro-management in real time. I am only reviewing a demo of the game, so I expect the mechanical balance and whatnot to be tweaked closer to a version 1.0 release. But on the whole, I think CD2: Trap Master has a lot of potential once some of the tooltips and information are cleaned up, and some individual balance updates roll out.

CD2 embodies a very classical Slay the Spire-esque map of events structure with varying bosses and maps to explore before completing your run. I’m not 100% clear how long the final version of the game will be, but the demo (which is available for anyone to download) is quite robust. I received a reviewer copy build, but I was unclear exactly what changes my version had compared to the public. The formula is pretty standard, but there are some cool twists. There are merchant events, that allow you to get special passive abilities, cards, and card removal. One of the more particularly inspired events is these card enhancements that can modify the costs, abilities, and other aspects. It reminded me a lot of Monster Train, in a good way.

Once you get into a fight, you are presented some information on the types of enemies you will see throughout the waves of enemies you must subdue before moving on to the next event. Pretty standard map presentation, with indicator lines to preview the incoming waves’ movement pattern. From there, you draw your first hand, are shown a little demon with a meter ticking upwards, and a “mana” bar with a similar ticking meter. Interestingly enough, the game leverages these active time bars to lean more heavily into the real time strategy component. You gradually gain mana every few seconds, analogous to something like Clash Royale, and you aren’t permitted to draw a new hand until the little demon on the right side of the screen tells you. This makes the order of operations of where you place your cards important(which are often traps that permanently stay on the map, or spells with a one time effect). Don’t worry if you want some time to think: you are able to pause, slow down, and double time the real time aspect at any time. Keep in mind that if you pause, your mana/deck timers will freeze as well, but it will give you ample time to plan where you place your defenses. At times, it can be a little difficult to gauge which enemies will spawn, and whether or not your hand will accommodate their forces. Especially with some of the tankier enemies, where I’m not necessarily sure how often you’re being forced to eat hits. Fortunately, after completing a boss fight, you do fully heal your character, and you can visit campfires to regain about a quarter life points.

All in all, I think this is a must-have for tower defense fans looking for a just the right twist to the formula without ruining what makes the genre so addictive. For newcomers to the genre, this may be a tad intimidating, especially seeing how odd and unique some of the particular card effects can be. I think as the game develops, some information will become more clear, and synergies will be made much more concrete. Take a look at the demo yourself, and definitely consider picking this one up if you enjoy it!