Dungeon Defenders: Awakened

Dungeon Defenders: Awakened asks for attention in two directions at once: where enemies will come from, and how the defense line should be built before they arrive. By our assessment, that tower-defense-and-action mix is still the series’ real hook, because you are dropping traps and walls while also jumping into the fight yourself. The trade-off is that busy hybrid play can become messy if you do not like juggling building, looting, and frontline combat at the same time. In practice it is a game of routes, choke points, and quick repairs between waves, which gives it a direct, hands-on feel. It sits above simple lane defense and below the cleanest modern strategy games in terms of elegance, but it has more personality than a plain tower map. Dungeon Defenders: Awakened is strongest when the screen is full and the plan still holds.