Guardians of Holme Review

Guardians of Holme, developed by MossTech Studio and published by indienova, is a roguelike tower defence game that includes deck-building elements. Years ago, the Demon King, who almost destroyed the world, had been sealed away, ending his reign of terror and driving his demon minions away. As time passed, people began to forget about the suffering and agony that occurred during that period. The demons reappeared and started marching towards the Royal City, attacking the land on their way.

 You play as Seth, a skilled artisan from the village of Holme. Fortunately, he is also adept at setting traps and has made it his goal to protect the land and save the world. There are other characters, Nicole and Horus, with their own skills that will be available to play as soon as you progress and unlock them. Your quest is to take down the demon orcs that are invading and stop them from advancing.

A large scroll is rolled out over a table, showing a map of the area that you will be defending. Like other roguelike titles, there are multiple paths that you can take that will lead you to the boss of the area. There are a variety of different locations to visit if you choose, like stores where you can purchase new trap cards for your deck, bonfires where you can restore some of your hit points, a blacksmith to level up your existing trap cards to make them stronger, or event spaces where you can meet new characters that can help you out or give you supplies for your journey. Depending on the spots you choose to visit, some other locations will be blocked for you, so decide carefully. For example, if you have full health, it doesn’t make sense to bother visiting the bonfire.

On your journey to the boss, you will stop at a variety of levels to fight waves of demon orcs. These foes have one task: to get to the red gem — referred to as a core — and take it out. Before the enemies advance, you will see the exact path they are going to take to get to their goal. This shows you exactly where you want to set your traps to try and defeat the enemy before they get to the core. Some traps are laid on the ground, while others are attached to the wall. If you plan it out and play strategically, you can have Oil Tar Traps to slow the orcs down while arrows are repeatedly shooting at them, causing a tonne of damage. You can’t lay as many trap cards down as you want; you are restricted to the amount of resources that you have available. The controls are very easy to learn; select a spot to place something, then choose what trap you want to put there. It doesn’t get much easier than that!

As the orcs come through the stage and get destroyed, you will gain more resources to use for more traps. You can lay them as soon as you want, though if you notice that no one is getting through the first area anyway, it may be more beneficial to wait until the enemy gets further along before wasting what you have on traps that may never be used. In the beginning, you will need to defeat at least five waves of enemies before you clear that area.

It was entertaining to see the comments from the demons entering the level. Some were incredibly confident, yelling, “For the Demon King!” while others were saying, “I want to go home”, or “I’m dying!”. As you progress through the levels, you will see other types of orcs showing up, like elite Giant Orcs wearing armour that makes them stronger than your normal demons or Shaman Orcs, who can summon more enemies. They aren’t very hard to defeat if you take advantage of both the floor and wall traps in the same area.

The game has a charming, hand-drawn style to it. The levels look like they were drawn with a black pen and then coloured. Each of the areas that you are defending looks like mazes that were carved into the ground. This gives you plenty of spots to attach wall traps to and routes where you can lay spike blocks for enemies to step on or magma and acid pits to cause extra damage. The enemies look cool, and there is a variety between the different types of demons that you face, like the ones suspended by balloons, but there isn’t a variety between members of the same type; they all look the same. To accompany the gameplay, we have music that sounds like you are getting ready to go on an adventure, and the song that plays before you start a new stage has a jungle feel to it with the drums that are playing. These tracks are good, but there isn’t a lot of variety.

When you reach the point on the map where you see a skull on fire, you know this is going to be a boss battle. One of the first bosses that you will face is a Troll Witch Doctor. They have the ability to heal nearby demon units, but if they are being hit with a barrage of spikes, arrows, and poisonous gas, the healing won’t help them much. It was entertaining to see the 12 waves of enemies and the boss get obliterated. There is something so satisfying when you see that the enemy can’t move more than five spaces before being defeated.

I’ve had fun playing Guardians for Holme, though it can get a bit repetitive at times. In my time playing, I was only defeated once, but it wasn’t the worst thing as your character levels up and a villager shows up wanting to give you supplies before you head out again, letting you select a random legendary trap or your choice of epic trap. You will have to start over at the beginning, but these perks make it worthwhile. If you are a fan of roguelike games, especially tower defence-style or deck builder titles, this may be worth checking out. It feels like the difficulty is set to be quite easy, so it won’t be a title that destroys you right from the get-go. There aren’t any quick daily challenges to play, so it may be more of a time commitment than you expect. But knowing that, if you have the time, this is a game to check out!