Best Tower Defense Games 2025

Few things are as gratifying as successfully standing your ground while waves of enemies get crushed by a cacophony of spikes, turrets, and other fortifications.

Tower defense games challenge us to explore different strategies and come up with the optimal solutions for surviving in the face of peril.

In this game list, we’ll highlight the excellent tower defense games to play in 2025, including tactical tower defense games on Steam, PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, and mobile.

Related:Best Strategy Games 2025Best Puzzle Games 2025Best Roguelike Games 2025

Candy Disaster is a 3D tower defense game that looks to combine ridiculous traps with infinite strategies to stop the candy zombies from invading your base.

In it, you take on the role of Jick, a demented scientist on a mission to help their mysterious partner collect Energy Candies scattered across different planets.

However, to gather them all, you’ll have to ward off waves of undead enemies using a broad array of traps with distinct effects.

The game uses procedural generation to ensure every session feels distinctive, with even the zombies changing their tactics to try and catch you off guard.

A somewhat concealed gem of the TD genre, Barricadez offers a mix of tower defense and survival gameplay in one smart little package.

In it, you control a robot assigned to protect a baby from waves of zombie-like creatures by constructing defenses such as barriers to ensure you both make it through the night.

This requires you to investigate nearby subterranean locations to gather resources for building traps and discover fresh blueprints.

It’s a straightforward yet engaging mix of action and discovery that creates a fulfilling gaming experience that has only improved through updates after its launch.

If you’re looking for a strategy game you can play in short bursts, 3 Minute Heroes is an attractive choice that combines tower defense gameplay with deck building and rogue-like advancement.

Each run sees you selecting a champion, organizing your deck, and heading into battle with the goal of keeping your home safe for 3 minutes.

During battles, ferocious monsters will constantly try to flank your base, forcing you to summon units onto the field that differ based on your hero’s capacity and deck configuration.

There are over 20 characters to pick from and a total of 400+ unique cards that can turn the tide of battles across increasingly difficult stages.

Bloons is one of the most acclaimed free-to-play tower defense games around and Bloons TD Battles 2 shows why the franchise is still so cherished.

In it, you gather a hero, assemble a team of powerful Monkey Towers, and enter into battle against other players and endless waves of Bloons.

Much like its predecessors, TD Battles 2 focuses on competitive tower defense gameplay in which players must outmaneuver and defeat their opponents head-on.

There are countless strategic combinations to explore, as well as an abundance of unique arenas and a rank system to chronicle your rise to victory.

One of the distinctive properties of tower defense games compared to other genres is their ability to turn deceptively basic mechanics into engaging gameplay.

Such is the case with Vectorio, a rather simple-looking strategy game with vector graphics and first-rate tower defense gameplay.

In it, you’re tasked with claiming resources around a map and using them to research novel weapons and technology to survive attacks from an onslaught of hostile shapes.

Still in Early Access, the game has benefited from constant updates adding fresh defenses, enemy types, and trials.

The Riftbreaker is an innovative tower defense mech game released in 2022 by EXOR Studios in which you take on the role of a scientist/commando named Ashley.

Ashley is joined by her mech Mr. Riggs as the pair attempt to establish a settlement on an alien planet whose native inhabitants aren’t too keen on visitors.

Alien creatures will frequently invade settlements, forcing Mr. Riggs to step into action and blast them away using his automated weapon, rocket launcher, sword, and more.

Gameplay incorporates survival, tower defense, and dual-stick shooters elements along with crafting and resource management.

When They Are Billions first released in Steam Early Access in 2017, it was immediately evident that Numantian Games had lofty plans for the Steampunk-inspired strategy game.

In it, players are tasked with guiding the last surviving humans as they strive to reclaim civilization from massive hordes of flesh-eating zombies.

Included are two modes: Campaign, in which you defend colonies from the undead while researching fresh technologies, and Survival, which focuses on staying alive for as long as feasible.

One of the game’s most distinctive features is the ability to pause the action and give yourself time to build fresh structures, issue orders to troops, or just catch your breath.

If you’re a longtime fan of tower defense games, chances are you already know about the Dungeon Defenders series.

Dungeon Defenders II sees 1-4 players battling to protect the land of Etheria by constructing traps and turrets designed to freeze, incinerate, or simply annihilate piles of monsters.

The game’s roster of heroes is fairly diverse and includes some fascinating playstyles such as the well-known Gunwitch, a blunderbuss-wielding-mage with a broomstick.

While it can feel a bit more repetitive compared to the original DD, we consider that a fair tradeoff for enhanced visuals and more playable characters.

If you’re a fan of games like Satisfactory and Factorio, you may enjoy Mindustry, a resource management-focused tower defense game.

In it, players chain together countless conveyor belts to supply turrets with ammo, produce building materials, and defeat waves of foes.

A powerful map generator tool lets you modify the shape of the terrain, ore generation, placement of rivers and resources, and even enemy wave layouts.

Mindustry boasts five game modes: Campaign, Survival, Attack, PvP, and Sandbox in addition to supporting cross-platform remote play.

Repetition has always been an issue for tower defense games, particularly those with a limited number of defenses, enemy types, and maps.

Dungeon Warfare II shakes things up by incorporating randomly-generated resources to aid you in your mission as Dungeon Lord.

In a fascinating role reversal, the game sees you trying to prevent greedy adventurers from robbing dungeons blind by placing deadly traps and obstacles all throughout.

This is made even superior by the game’s simulated physics, which can see enemy heroes hurled across the map by swinging death orbs or knocked off ledges into blazing pits of lava.

Grim Nights is a relaxed yet challenging side-scrolling survival game with tower defense elements.

In it, you control an entire village, assigning townsfolk various tasks such as chopping trees for lumber and exploring mines for precious ores.

These resources allow you to expand your village and strengthen its defenses, which you’ll want to do sooner than later if you plan on surviving come nightfall.

At night, creatures will appear and try to invade your village, requiring your townsfolk to unite their strengths and hold off the foe until the morning.

Orcs Must Die! 2 maintains the thrilling strategic tower defense gameplay of the original while focusing more on online co-op.

The game sees you and a friend taking on the role of a mighty War Mage or Sorceress as you protect fortresses, dwarven mines, and more from crowds of monsters.

The sequel also sees the return of cherished defenses from OMD, in addition to new traps and game-altering arcane trinkets.

Those who prefer to do all their Orc-hunting solo will be pleased to hear the game is still entirely playable in single-player as long as you don’t mind a bit more difficulty.

Bad North is a challenging, real-time strategy roguelite with tower defense elements.

In it, you’re tasked with defending your tiny island kingdom against hordes of Viking invaders alongside the last remaining soldiers.

Instead of assaulting directly, gameplay revolves around positioning and relocating troops to counter different Viking enemy types.

Islands are procedurally-generated and entirely unique in layout and appearance, providing the perfect opportunity to develop battle-hardened soldiers and crush the Vikings once and for all.

Minion Masters offers fast-paced, MOBA-inspired tower defense gameplay in which players use cards to summon minions to do their bidding in intense combat.

In addition, players are assigned a Legendary Master with exceptional abilities that can be further enhanced with a deck of spells that complement their playstyle.

Once minions are summoned, their movement and attacks are governed by AI, allowing you to concentrate on planning your next move.

It’s perfect for both competitive and casual battling and features online matchmaking with 1v1 and 2v2 co-op modes.

Kingdom Two Crowns expands upon the success of the acclaimed 2D building sim while featuring a fresh campaign tailored for both solo and co-op play.

In it, you’re tasked with establishing a mighty nation capable of defeating an army of enemies known as the Greed.

To do so, you’ll have to journey throughout the land acquiring treasures and recruiting devoted followers to help your kingdom reach its full potential.

As your kingdom continues to expand, more villagers will request to join you, lending their distinctive skills and abilities in exchange for a safe haven.