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TOWER-DEFENSE
WitchCraft TD Review: A PICO-8 Tower Defense That Actually Made Me Miss My Bedtime
I've played tower defense games since Warcraft 3 custom maps were the only thing worth launching Battle.net for. WitchCraft TD gets it—the random summoning, the desperate merging, the merchant screwing you over. It's brutally honest about being hard, and I respect that.
Paul
December 23, 2025
7.3
Overall Score
"WitchCraft TD is what happens when a developer actually understands why those old WarCraft 3 tower defense maps were addictive."
First Impressions: Oh Great, Another Tower Defense Clone
I saw 'tower defense' and 'PICO-8' and my finger was already hovering over the close tab button. We've all been here before—some indie dev discovers Defense Grid exists and thinks 'I can do that but worse.' But then I read 'inspired by WarCraft 3 maps' and suddenly I'm 19 again, failing college because Random Farm TD consumed my life. WitchCraft TD isn't trying to be Bloons or Kingdom Rush. It's channeling those chaotic WC3 custom maps where RNG could ruin your day and you loved it anyway. You don't place towers where you want them. You summon random towers for 100 coins and pray to whatever deity handles gacha luck. Got two identical towers? Merge them for free and watch them evolve. The merchant shows up offering bonus gold for specific tower types, forcing you to sell that perfect Freeze tower you were nursing because capitalism waits for no witch. This isn't polished AAA comfort food. This is that sketchy food truck that might give you food poisoning but the tacos are incredible.
The Core Loop: Gambling With Extra Steps
Every tower costs 100 coins. Every summon is random. You will get five Poison towers in a row when you desperately need Splash damage, and you will learn to live with disappointment. The merge system is where this game shows its teeth. Match two level 1 towers, get a level 2. Match two level 2s, get a level 3. Sounds simple until you're juggling six different tower types across limited space, trying to create powerful level 5 towers while enemies leak through because you sold your only Slow tower to fund your gambling addiction. The bonus quest system adds another layer of masochism—get five identical towers simultaneously for extra coins. Great in theory, until you realize you need those five towers MERGED to actually survive wave 20, not sitting around looking pretty for a quest reward. I spent three runs ignoring the quests entirely because I'm not here to complete challenges, I'm here to not die. Then I realized the quest gold is how you afford to keep summoning towers when the merchant is offering pennies for your desperate tower sales. It's all connected, and I hate that the game is smarter than me.
Skills and Strategy: More Depth Than My Patience
Six tower types with 30 total variations means there's actual strategy buried under the RNG chaos. Poison towers are your bread and butter—consistent damage over time. Burn towers do burst damage but need targets to, you know, burn. Splash handles crowds. Freeze buys you time. Fear sends enemies backward, which sounds great until you realize they're just coming back angrier. The skill combinations are where veterans of the genre will find their groove. Freeze plus Splash wipes grouped enemies. Fear plus Burn gives you extra burn ticks as enemies retreat. But here's the thing—you can't plan any of this because you can't choose which towers spawn. You're not playing chess. You're playing poker with a deck that hates you. The last five waves are legitimately punishing. I'm talking 'stare at the screen wondering if this is really how I want to spend my limited time on Earth' difficult. Enemies swarm faster than your towers can rotate, and if your merge luck was bad early game, you're just watching your crystal ball die in slow motion. But when you DO survive because your janky tower composition somehow countered the enemy wave perfectly? Chef's kiss. That's the dopamine hit that keeps you clicking restart.
Visuals and Audio: Peak PICO-8 Aesthetics
Look, it's a PICO-8 game. You're getting 16 colors, chunky pixels, and audio that sounds like a Game Boy having a fever dream. I'm not here to critique the art style because that's like complaining that a haiku is too short—it's the format, folks. That said, the pixel art is clean and functional. Towers are distinct enough that I can tell my Freeze tower from my Poison tower without squinting, which is more than I can say for some 4K unity asset flips I've suffered through. Enemy sprites are simple but readable. The portal animation is appropriately ominous. It's not going to win any awards, but it does the job without assaulting my retinas. The audio is where I have opinions. The music is standard PICO-8 chiptune fare—pleasant for about three waves, then repetitive enough that I muted it and put on a podcast. The sound effects are fine. Towers go 'pew' and enemies go 'oof' and that's all you really need. I've played indie games with orchestral soundtracks that still felt emptier than this little pixel box, so I'm not mad about it. The PICO-8 limitations actually work in WitchCraft TD's favor—there's no bloat, no unnecessary visual noise. Every pixel has a job.
The Steam Version Question: Do I Need to Pay for This?
Here's where it gets interesting. The itch.io version is name-your-own-price, including FREE. The Steam version costs actual money and adds new enemies, bosses, revised balance, and working achievements. I played the free version and got hours of enjoyment, which makes me feel like I should actually pay the developer something. Wild, right? For the itch version alone, you're getting a complete game. The 30 tower variations, the merchant system, the quest bonuses—it's all here. The difficulty curve is brutal but fair. I beat it after about a dozen runs, then kept playing to optimize strategies, which is not something I do for games I don't respect. The Steam version is basically the director's cut. If you fall in love with the core game like I reluctantly did, the Steam version gives you more reasons to hate yourself for losing wave 25 to a boss you didn't see coming. But start with the itch version. Pay zero dollars. If you bounce off the difficulty or the RNG frustrates you, you've lost nothing but time. If you get hooked like I did, throw some money at unikotoast because this game punches way above its file size.
What This Game Needs (But Probably Won't Get)
More tower types would be nice, but I understand PICO-8 has hard limits. What I actually want is a practice mode where I can test tower combinations without waiting 20 waves to try out my theory. Let me sandbox this thing so I can figure out if Fear towers are secretly good or just disappointment factories. The merchant system is brilliant but unpredictable. Sometimes he wants towers I don't have. Sometimes he offers gold for towers I desperately need. A tiny bit more control—like choosing ONE tower type to boost your summon odds—would reduce frustration without eliminating the core RNG challenge. And for the love of everything, give me a speed-up button. Once you've played 50 runs, you know waves 1-10 are formalities. Let me fast-forward through the tutorial waves so I can get to the part where I'm actually struggling. But honestly? These are nitpicks. The game knows what it is and executes that vision with confidence. It's not trying to be everything to everyone, which is refreshing in an era where every game wants to be a live service with a battle pass and seasonal content that disrespects my time.
Rating Breakdown
Quality
7
For a PICO-8 game, this is shockingly polished—no crashes, clean UI, and the merge system actually works without eating my towers.
Innovation
6
Random tower summoning and merchant bonuses are straight from WC3 custom maps, so it's more 'faithful homage' than groundbreaking, but the combo system has legs.
Value
9
Name your own price for hours of tooth-grinding challenge? I paid zero dollars and got more replay value than most $20 roguelikes.
Gameplay
8
The last five waves made me say words I can't print here, but I immediately hit restart—that's the sign of a compelling core loop.
Audio/Visual
6
It's PICO-8 pixel art, so you know what you're getting—chunky sprites and bleepy music that I muted after wave 10 because I'm old and tired.
Replayability
8
Random tower rolls mean every run feels different, and I kept coming back to try 'just one more strategy' like a fool with a gacha addiction.
What Didn't Annoy Me
Actually captures the chaos of WC3 custom tower defense maps without feeling like a lazy copy
The merge system is satisfying when you finally get that level 5 tower after 10 waves of bad RNG
Genuinely challenging endgame that doesn't hold your hand or apologize for difficulty
Free to try on itch.io, which is how more games should launch
Quest and merchant systems add strategic depth beyond 'place tower, watch numbers go up'
Tight gameplay loop that respects the PICO-8 format limitations
What Made Me Sigh
RNG can absolutely ruin a run through no fault of your own, and you just have to accept that
Last five waves are a massive difficulty spike that will frustrate casual players
PICO-8 audio gets repetitive fast—bring your own podcast
No speed-up option for early waves makes replays feel slower than they should be
Merchant requests sometimes feel impossible to fulfill without sabotaging your defense
Final Verdict
WitchCraft TD is what happens when a developer actually understands why those old WarCraft 3 tower defense maps were addictive. The random summon system sounds like a terrible idea until you're 15 waves deep, desperately trying to merge your way to victory while the merchant dangles bonus gold for the one tower type you haven't seen in five summons. It's frustrating, punishing, and I kept hitting restart like a rat pressing a dopamine lever. For a free PICO-8 game, this has no right being this replayable. The difficulty will chase away anyone looking for a chill tower defense experience, but if you miss the days when games kicked your teeth in and you thanked them for it, WitchCraft TD is worth your time. I'm annoyed that I enjoyed it this much.
WitchCraft TD
Tags
tower-defense
pico-8
pixel-art
roguelike
strategy
challenging
retro
fantasy
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