The challenge of tower defense meets the randomness of a board game - Isle of Arrows Quick Review

I love tower defense games, but it’s a genre that can sometimes feel like once you’ve played one of them, you’ve played them all. That’s why I’m always excited when I see new twists on the formula, such as the more trap-oriented approach of Candy Disaster (read my review here), or the subject of this quick review. Isle of Arrows is a game that blends the strategic intensity of a great tower defense title with the adaptation required by the best board games and card games.

THE STORY

Isle of Arrows doesn’t have any plot at all as far as I recall, so instead I’ll give some background on the game. This title comes from Gridpop, a one-person game studio. That one person is Daniel Lutz, who previously served as the creative director behind Hitman Go and Lara Croft Go, two brilliant titles that took big, triple-A video game franchises and reimagined them as brain-busting board game-style puzzlers. Though it no longer has a big intellectual property behind it, Isle of Arrows carries on Lutz’s interest in and prowess at utilizing board game layouts and mechanics with deviously difficult design.

PLATFORMS

Isle of Arrows launched for PC on Steam in September, but it just hit iOS and Android last week. I played the Android version, which ran without any issues and allowed me to quickly jump back into games where I had to stop in the middle. Please note that screenshots from the game in this article are taken from the PC version.

TIME PLAYED

I’ve sunk around six hours into Isle of Arrows over the past week, mostly playing in small stretches on my phone while away from my apartment or to wind down before going to bed. That time has been enough to complete the full tutorial mode and one of the three campaigns, as well as testing out the Daily Defense mode.

WHAT’S AWESOME

• Minimalism. From the visuals to the sound to the game design, Isle of Arrows is an exercise in stripping elements down to their basics and focusing on what works. The tiny enemy troops have just enough detail to be able to quickly tell different types apart from each other, the various towers and buildings are aesthetically pleasing while being similarly easy to differentiate, and I’d be shocked if it took anyone more than ten or fifteen minutes before they completely understand how this game works and what it’s all about.

• Challenge. A good tower defense needs to be hard, and Isle of Arrows gladly delivers in that respect. There were scenarios where I found myself absolutely agonizing over where to place a certain tower, or whether to pay out of my very limited gold fund to get rid of an undesired tile card. While I was able to zoom through the tutorial mode in one go, finishing the first campaign took me multiple tries, including one brutal death where I was only a couple waves from the end. But the unlocks I won through each effort kept things fresh, and my failures felt like they were all my responsibility most of the time.

• Daily Defense. If you end up digging Isle of Arrows as much as I did, this mode will be a godsend. Daily Defense offers one new map and tile deck setup every day, so there’s always a new thing to challenge yourself on and see if you can survive.

• No ads, no microtransactions. Whether you’re looking to play it on Android, iOS, or PC, Isle of Arrows is a paid app. That’s the bad news. The good news is that for a mere $5.99 on mobile devices ($12.99 on PC, presumably due to being a slightly better-looking and more fully-featured version of the game), you get access to all the content, including the aforementioned Daily Defense, with no strings attached. You won’t ever have to watch an ad when you die, and you won’t ever get prompted to purchase extra lives or a battle pass or whatever. Pay the money, play the game. That’s always been the best way to do things, so props to Gridpop for embracing it.

WHAT SUCKS

• RNG. Hardcore tower defense fans are used to having a lot of control over things—where they place towers, what kind, in what order, and so on. Isle of Arrows isn’t a traditional tower defense game, though; after each wave, players are given a tile card that is picked at random. These cards could be a tower, a bit of road to extend the path enemies have to walk along, or a building that provides other bonuses. Whatever it is, though, you either have to adapt to it, spend gold to replace it with another randomly chosen card, or play through the next wave to get a new one.

For my part, coming at this as a fan of card games and board games, the randomness didn’t bother me. In fact, I think it helps keep the game very fresh and challenging between runs. But there was at least one or two attempts where I felt like I died due to having a series of really bad tile draws. If that’s the kind of thing that drives you crazy, you may get angrier with Isle of Arrows than I did.

SHOULD YOU PLAY IT?

Yes! If you dig tower defense games, board games, or just having your brain stretched to its limits, Isle of Arrows is an excellent choice. And while I’m sure the PC version is great as well, it’s especially well-suited to mobile platforms, as this is the perfect pick-up-and-play game when you need something to focus on or distract yourself for ten or fifteen minutes. I’m certainly going to be returning to finish up the other campaigns and keep testing myself with Daily Defense challenges.

💬 What’s the one thing in your life that you would build an elaborate series of towers along a windy path to defend? For my part, I’d say it would be my Steam Deck. Don’t tell my son. How about you? Share your answers in the comments below!