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TOWER-DEFENSE
Reynard Review: A Tower Defense RPG That Borrows From the Best (But Doesn't Always Pay Them Back)
Hyper Fox Studios wants me to believe they've cracked the tower defense/action RPG hybrid formula. I've seen this attempted seventeen times in the last two years. Let's see if Reynard earns its Zelda namedrops or if I'm about to write yet another 'nice try' eulogy.
Paul
February 1, 2026
6
Overall Score
"Reynard is a competent genre mashup that executes its procedural roguelike foundation better than its tower defense or action RPG components."
First Impressions (Or: Another 'Influenced By Zelda' Game)
Look, I see 'influenced by Legend of Zelda' in a game description approximately four times per week. It's the indie equivalent of a dating profile saying you like travel and pizza—technically true but utterly meaningless. So when Reynard announced it was mixing Zelda with Binding of Isaac and tower defense, my excitement level hovered somewhere between 'skeptical' and 'actively preparing my disappointed sigh.' The premise is standard fantasy fare: wife kidnapped, villain named Goulash because apparently we're doing food puns now, and you've got a high-tech gauntlet because—sure, why not throw sci-fi into this already crowded genre blender. But here's the thing that kept me from immediately closing the tab: Hyper Fox Studios actually seems to understand what those influences mean. This isn't just slapping the word 'roguelike' on a game because permadeath exists. The procedural generation affects level layout, enemy placement, and resource distribution in ways that matter. After three runs, I wasn't seeing the same rooms reshuffled—I was encountering genuinely different tactical scenarios. Did it blow my mind? No. Did it respect the fifteen minutes I invested before judging it? Surprisingly, yes.
Tower Defense Meets Action RPG (The Marriage Nobody Asked For)
The core gameplay loop has you exploring procedurally generated levels while placing defensive towers and directly engaging enemies with your gauntlet. In theory, this should create dynamic encounters where you're simultaneously planning defense and executing offense. In practice, it often feels like two separate games awkwardly sharing screen time. The tower placement works fine—you've got your standard damage, slow, and AOE towers with upgrade paths that are serviceable if uninspired. But here's my issue: the action RPG combat is fast-paced enough that I frequently forget I even have towers until I'm overwhelmed, at which point placing them feels reactive rather than strategic. The Zelda influence shows in the top-down perspective and room-based level design, but the combat lacks that satisfying weight Link's sword has had since 1986. Hits feel floaty, enemy feedback is minimal, and I found myself button-mashing more than I'd like to admit. The Binding of Isaac comparison is more apt—the procedural generation and roguelike structure create that 'one more run' pull, especially when you unlock new tower types or gauntlet abilities. But Isaac succeeds because every item combination feels meaningfully different. Here, upgrades feel incremental rather than transformative. I kept playing not because I was excited to see what I'd unlock next, but because the baseline loop was just engaging enough to justify another fifteen-minute session.
Visuals and Audio (The Forgettable Package)
Let's talk pixel art. I have nothing against pixel art as a style—some of my favorite games of the last decade are pixelated masterpieces. But Reynard's visual presentation is what I call 'functional pixel art'—it communicates information clearly but has zero personality. The fox protagonist could be swapped with any generic animal hero and I wouldn't notice. Enemies are distinguishable from each other, which I suppose deserves acknowledgment in an era where some indie games can't even manage that basic requirement. The procedurally generated environments avoid the sameness trap better than I expected, with enough tile variety that level five doesn't look identical to level one. But there's no cohesive art direction, no visual hook that makes Reynard memorable. And the audio. Oh, the audio. I'm convinced the sound effects were purchased from the same royalty-free asset pack that seventeen other tower defense games used this year. The music exists—I can confirm sound waves were produced—but I literally cannot hum a single bar from memory despite playing for multiple hours. For a game invoking Zelda, where music is practically a gameplay mechanic, this is damning. Link's Awakening had iconic melodies on Game Boy hardware from 1993. Reynard in 2024 has background noise I actively tuned out.
What This Game Actually Needs (Free Consulting)
Dear Hyper Fox Studios, I'm about to save you months of post-launch patches. First, commit to either tower defense OR action RPG as your primary mechanic and make the other one genuinely support it. Right now they're competing for my attention rather than complementing each other. If towers are meant to be strategic, give me time and incentive to plan placement. If direct combat is the focus, make it feel impactful—add hit pause, screen shake, better audio feedback. Second, your procedural generation works, so lean into it harder. Give me modifiers for each run—increased enemy speed but better tower damage, or melee-only runs with boosted gauntlet abilities. Make each attempt feel like a different challenge rather than the same challenge with different room layouts. Third, and I cannot stress this enough, hire a sound designer who has actually played a video game before. Your audio is actively making the experience worse through sheer blandness. Even simple improvements—distinct tower firing sounds, impactful hit effects, a memorable boss theme—would elevate this from 'forgettable' to 'decent.' Finally, give your upgrades more weight. I should feel meaningfully more powerful after three successful floors, not just incrementally less likely to die. The roguelike structure only works if progression feels significant.
The One Thing Worth Reluctant Praise
I'll give Reynard this: the procedural generation system actually delivers on replayability in a way most indie roguelikes don't. After a dozen runs, I was still encountering room layouts and enemy combinations that required different tactical approaches. Finding a chokepoint for tower placement in one run, then getting an open arena in the next that demanded mobile combat—that variety kept me engaged when the moment-to-moment gameplay started feeling repetitive. The roguelike structure also avoids the cardinal sin of making early runs feel like complete wastes of time. Even failed attempts contribute to meta-progression through unlocks, and the runs are short enough that losing doesn't feel devastating. This is basic roguelike design, yes, but plenty of games screw it up. Hyper Fox Studios understood that procedural generation needs to create meaningful variety, not just shuffle assets randomly. When the tower defense and action RPG mechanics occasionally align—when I'm kiting enemies through my tower gauntlet while landing direct hits with my gauntlet—there are genuine moments of satisfying tactical execution. They're rare enough that I wish the entire game felt that cohesive, but frequent enough that I kept playing hoping to recreate them. That's the mark of a game with a solid foundation that just needs more time in the oven.
Rating Breakdown
Quality
6
Functional and playable with decent procedural generation, but rough UI edges and that certain indie jank that tells me the polish pass got skipped for launch day.
Innovation
5
Tower defense plus action RPG was novel in 2012 when Orcs Must Die did it right, and procedural generation hasn't been fresh since Spelunky—this is competent genre-blending, not revolution.
Value
7
Free on itch.io with procedural levels means theoretically infinite content, which is generous even if I won't actually play it infinitely.
Gameplay
6
The core loop kept me engaged longer than expected, though the tower placement feels like an obligation rather than strategic depth, and combat lacks the precision Zelda comparisons demand.
Audio/Visual
5
Generic fantasy pixel art that could be from any of three hundred itch.io games, and audio design so forgettable I had to check if my sound was even on.
Replayability
7
Procedural generation and roguelike elements actually deliver here—each run feels different enough that I didn't immediately uninstall after my first death, which counts as a win.
What Didn't Annoy Me
Procedural generation creates actual variety between runs instead of just shuffling the same content
Free price point makes the rough edges considerably more forgivable than if I'd paid twenty dollars for this
Roguelike structure respects my time with short runs and meaningful meta-progression
The core concept of tower defense plus action RPG has potential when it occasionally clicks together
Doesn't overstay its welcome—you can have a complete experience in short sessions without feeling obligated to marathon
What Made Me Sigh
Tower defense and action RPG mechanics compete for attention rather than complementing each other, making both feel underdeveloped
Combat lacks the weight and feedback needed to justify Zelda comparisons—hits feel floaty and unsatisfying
Audio design is so generic I had to verify my sound was working, with zero memorable music or effects
Visual presentation is functional pixel art without personality, making it instantly forgettable among hundreds of similar indie games
Upgrades feel incremental rather than transformative, missing the roguelike appeal of meaningful build variety
Final Verdict
Reynard is a competent genre mashup that executes its procedural roguelike foundation better than its tower defense or action RPG components. Hyper Fox Studios clearly understands what makes roguelikes replayable—the variety is genuine and the run structure respects your time. But invoking Zelda and Binding of Isaac sets expectations this game doesn't meet. Combat lacks impact, towers feel obligatory rather than strategic, and the presentation is forgettable despite functional design. At its free price point on itch.io, it's worth an hour to see if the concept clicks for you. I found just enough moments of satisfying tactical gameplay to justify my time investment, even if I won't be thinking about Reynard next week. It's a solid 6 out of 10—genuinely above average for free itch.io games, but nowhere near the classics it namedrops. If Hyper Fox Studios commits to a post-launch polish pass focusing on combat feedback and audio design, this could easily jump to a 7. As it stands, Reynard is fine. And in 2024, 'fine' barely registers.
Reynard
Genre
Tower Defense
Developer
Hyper Fox StudiosPlatform
Windows, Mac, Linux
Release Date
Jan 1, 2023
Rating
6
/10
Tags
tower-defense
action-rpg
roguelike
procedural-generation
pixel-art
indie
zelda-like
free
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