I’ve recently bought an offer for Sanctum 2 on Steam, and while at the start I was a bit skeptic, I must say that I like this mix between a Tower Defense and an FPS.
Sanctum 2 is the sequel to the world’s first Tower Defense/FPS hybrid game
Pick from four unique character classes and take up the mission of protecting the Cores from hordes of mysterious aliens. In Sanctum 2 you play your character exactly the way you want through the new and extensive customization system. Pick your own loadout of towers, weapons and perks, and pick well, because you are humanity’s last defense against the hordes set out to destroy it.
The normal cost of the complete bundle that includes the game + 5 DLC it’s around 23 € on Steam, but if you like it I suggest to put it on your wishlits and wait for some offer, the game it’s a bit old and so offers should be frequent, I got it with a discount of the 70%
The game has a great graphics, still it’s playable on my crappy computer, and both the solo campaign and the online co-op multiplayer are funny enough, so let’s see now some detail about this game:
Background
Sanctum 2 takes place in the future on the planet Loek-III where a major human colony has been established by the Britech Foundation in the city of Elysion-1, a vast elegant metropolis. A previous arboreal settlement, Brightholme, had been set up in the wilderness but had collapsed from repeated attacks by the Lumes, a race of diverse creatures native to the planet. It is hinted that some settlers still survive in the ruins of Brightholme and are part of an obscure organisation known as Tsygan, which is opposed to the vast, almost governmental power that Britech holds. Tsygan is a minority compared to the “Brightsiders” – those who side with Britech. Key to the colonies’ survival are Cores, which appear as large blue spheres of energy. They convert inert gases like nitrogen into oxygen, and cleanse areas of toxic mushroom-like spores native to Loek-III, which are linked to Lume activity.
The Lumes, which are hostile to Cores, propagate large plant-like access shafts until they are close to a Core, and then launch a coordinated attack on the Core until it is destroyed. If successful, the area will become swamped with poisonous spores. To counter the Lumes, the Britech Foundation has created and armed a military wing known as the Core Guardians, who are tasked to defend the Cores using their arsenal of weapons and defensive towers. The war between Britech and the Lumes has been going on and off for an indeterminate amount of time.
The player takes control of one of four Core Guardians in the game, and it is shown they travel together as a squad. Skye Autumn, the player character of the first game; and Sweet Autumn, Skye’s younger sister; both follow on from their father, who was killed in action. Haigen Hawkins is a former Brightholme slum dweller who somehow managed to make it to Elysion-1 and join the military. SiMo, a robot designed to aid the Core Guardians, is the fourth character.
Gameplay
The concept at the base of Sanctum is to protect the cores using walls, towers, and your own shooting skills. Waves of aliens seek to destroy the oxygen producing cores; therefore your survival depends on protecting them. Each map has a set number of waves (which you can customize along with other settings in other game modes) of enemies that the player(s) have to defend against. The alien horde comes in all different shapes and sizes; from fast-paced tiny creatures, giant tanks that tower over the battlefield and flying creatures that ignore the path laid out for them, gunning it straight for the seemingly exposed core. Each enemy has a glowing red spot which serves as a weak point players can shoot at to deal critical damage. After all the enemies have been killed the wave ends and the player gets a set amount of resources to build more walls and towers, or upgrade existing towers to give them more damage, range, attack speed, etc
There are 5 different game modes in Sanctum 2:
- Campaign
- Survival
- Easy Mode
- Sandbox
- Online
Campaign features a set number of waves that you have to get through to complete the level. These missions usually end in a final boss. These bosses can be a huge pain as they have a ton of health and can destroy both turrets and base units. On levels where there is a boss and regular units in the same wave, it can be super annoying as the normal units will have an easy time getting to your core without turrets.
Survival is just what it sounds like. You have to survive through as many waves as you can as each wave gets progressively harder. There is a nice leaderboard too if you love to show off your skills to your friends and the rest of the world.
Easy mode is basically just a simplified campaign mode. Not too much different, it is just easier to beat each level.
Sandbox mode is where you go if you:
- Want to just mess around and experiment with the towers.
- Don’t like the tower cap that has been placed.
- Want to make the game extremely hard…
In online mode, you can create online games with up to 4 players and play on all the maps of the campaign.
Features
Tower defense – Design complex mazes and build powerful towers to stop the enemies from destroying the Core
First Person Shooter – Don’t just sit back and watch, jump into the action yourself!
4 playable character classes – Each with their own unique strengths and weaknesses.
Vast customization system – pick perks, or make the game crazy hard by adding Feats of Strength.
In-game visual novel – Unlock a comic-book page for every map you beat to discover the secrets of LOEK III
Progression system – Increase your rank and unlock new weapons, towers and perks!
4 player co-op – Progress through the storyline yourself or team up with other players whenever you want!
Conclusions
It’s a great game, I like it, another thing that I’ve not told yet it’s that you’ll gain experience at the end of each map, and with that your level will go up unlocking different towers, perks and weapons, this plus the 5 characters (with the DLC, otherwise 4) give a great amount of customization and you can choose how to fight in every map.
Popular Posts:
- None Found
