Dungeon Defenders II

Dungeon Defenders II mixes tower defense with action combat, so the player is always splitting attention between building lanes and fighting inside them. By our assessment, its real strength is the co-op rhythm: placing traps, upgrading towers, and jumping into the fray gives every wave a busy, hands-on feel. The downside is that the game can become cluttered, because loot, heroes, and upgrade paths pile up fast and the screen often turns into a lot of flashing systems at once. In practice it is loud, busy, and most alive when a team understands who is building and who is cleaning up. It sits between a lane-defense strategy game and a loot-driven action game, and that hybrid is the whole point. Dungeon Defenders II works best for players who like a steady stream of upgrades and do not mind micromanaging the middle of a fight.