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Manuel Ineichen made a tower defense game where I have to play Tetris with my own buildings while enemies queue up to destroy everything. It's 2024 and somehow this is the first time I've seen this done properly.
Paul
February 26, 2026
6.7
Overall Score
"In six months I'll remember Wretched Lead as 'that Tetris tower defense game that actually worked.' That's higher praise than it sounds."
Apparently yes, because Wretched Lead made me care about building placement in ways that standard grid-based tower defense hasn't since Desktop Tower Defense in 2007. The premise sounds like someone's game jam fever dream: defend your city from waves of enemies, but you can only place buildings as falling tetromino blocks. Lock the pieces you want to keep, shuffle the rest, pray the L-piece you need actually shows up before the next wave. I expected this to be gimmicky nonsense that falls apart after ten minutes. Instead I spent two hours reorganizing my city like I was Marie Kondo-ing a military installation. The tetromino constraint forces you to think spatially in ways regular tower defense doesn't bother with. You can't just spam towers wherever â you need to fit them together like a demented puzzle while enemies are literally at the gates. It's stressful. It's clever. I'm annoyed at how well it works.
The gameplay loop goes like this: place tetromino buildings, defend against a wave, gather resources from underground mining, rearrange everything before the next wave hits. The kicker is you can lock buildings you want to keep and reroll the rest, but your building pool is limited. Want more towers? Better hope the RNG gods smile upon you, or reorganize your entire city to make space. The resource gathering adds another layer â you explore underground areas for materials, which means expanding your city footprint, which means more surface area to defend. It's a snowball of spatial problems that keeps escalating. Enemies come from multiple directions, so you can't just funnel them through a killbox. You need overlapping fields of fire, but tetromino shapes don't care about your strategic plans. They drop where they drop. The friction between what you want to build and what the game lets you build IS the game. Most tower defense titles hand you a sandbox and say 'have fun.' Wretched Lead hands you tetris pieces and says 'figure it out.' I did not expect to enjoy being constrained this much, but here we are.
The building lock system is genuinely smart design. You can flag structures as permanent and only shuffle the disposable ones, which creates this evolving city where your core infrastructure stays put while support buildings rotate in and out. It's like planning a city that's half concrete foundation, half temporary carnival. The underground exploration surprised me too â it's not just 'click resources, get resources.' You're expanding into darkness, dealing with whatever's down there, managing risk versus reward. Go too deep too fast and you've overextended. Play too safe and you're under-resourced when harder waves hit. Manuel Ineichen clearly thought about how these systems interact. The tetromino mechanic isn't just window dressing â it fundamentally changes how you approach tower defense. I can't just copy-paste optimal builds from my last run because the pieces won't cooperate. Every playthrough requires adapting to what the game gives you. That's replay value I didn't expect from an itch.io tower defense game.
Visually, Wretched Lead does absolutely nothing to stand out. It's pixel art. It's clean. It's functional. It looks like forty other indie games I've reviewed this month. The buildings are readable, the enemies are distinguishable, the UI doesn't make me want to claw my eyes out. That's the entire audiovisual report. There's sound. Towers go pew pew. Enemies make enemy noises. Music exists in the background doing music things. None of it offends, none of it impresses. It's the video game equivalent of beige wallpaper â does the job, won't be remembered. For a game this mechanically interesting, the presentation feels like an afterthought. I'm not asking for hand-painted masterpieces here, but something to make it visually memorable would've elevated this from 'solid indie game' to 'solid indie game I'd actually recommend to friends.' As it stands, screenshots won't sell anyone on this. You need to play it to get why it works.
The biggest issue is that once you understand the optimal strategy, subsequent runs lose tension. The tetromino constraint creates interesting problems early on, but experienced players will quickly learn which building types to prioritize and how to manipulate the lock system. The randomness that makes the first playthrough exciting becomes a minor speedbump by the third. The game could use more enemy variety or difficulty modifiers to keep veterans engaged. Underground exploration feels underbaked too â it's there, it adds resources, but it never becomes as interesting as the surface defense puzzle. Feels like a system that got 80% finished and then development moved on. I also wish there were more building types or defensive options. The current roster works, but more toys to play with would extend the longevity significantly. And Manuel, if you're reading this: the game needs a tutorial that actually explains the lock/reroll mechanic clearly. I figured it out through trial and error, which is fine for me because I'm stubborn, but normal humans might bounce off it.
If you like tower defense and want something that makes you think differently about the genre, yes. If you enjoy spatial puzzle games and want them to shoot back, yes. If you're tired of tower defense games that feel like spreadsheets with graphics, definitely yes. Wretched Lead isn't going to replace your favorite tower defense classic, but it's doing something novel enough to justify the download. The tetromino building system works far better than it should, and the resource management layer adds just enough depth to keep things interesting past the first hour. It's rough around the edges â the presentation is forgettable and the endgame needs work â but the core concept is strong enough to carry it. This is what indie games should be: trying weird ideas that AAA studios would focus-test into oblivion. Does it need more content? Yes. Could it use another six months of polish? Absolutely. Would I play a sequel with more enemy types and building variety? Already have my credit card out.
Quality
7
Surprisingly polished for an itch.io game â no crashes, clean UI, and the tetromino placement actually snaps where I want it to.
Innovation
8
I haven't seen tower defense married to Tetris-style city building since... never, actually, and it works far better than it has any right to.
Value
7
Free on itch.io with enough depth to justify several hours of tinkering â can't argue with that price point.
Gameplay
7
The core loop of rearranging my city between waves kept me engaged far longer than most indie TD games manage.
Audio/Visual
5
Functional pixel art that won't win awards but won't burn your retinas either â audio exists and does its job without annoying me.
Replayability
6
The puzzle of optimal layouts pulls me back for a second run, though once you crack the meta it loses some magic.
What Didn't Annoy Me
Genuinely novel tower defense mechanics
The tetromino constraint creates real strategic depth
Building lock system is smarter than it needs to be
Underground exploration adds welcome complexity
Free
Actually respects my intelligence for once
What Made Me Sigh
Pixel art so generic I've already forgotten what it looks like
Optimal strategies emerge too quickly
Underground system feels half-finished
Needs more building variety
Tutorial explains approximately nothing
Final Verdict
In six months I'll remember Wretched Lead as 'that Tetris tower defense game that actually worked.' That's higher praise than it sounds. Most indie tower defense games are either Kingdom Rush clones or half-baked experiments that collapse under their own ambition. This one picks a weird idea â constraining building placement with tetromino shapes â and executes it well enough that I kept playing past the novelty phase. The spatial puzzle of fitting defenses together while enemies approach scratches an itch I didn't know I had. It needs more content and the presentation won't win any awards, but Manuel Ineichen made something genuinely interesting here. Download it, play it, reorganize your city seventeen times trying to optimize tower coverage. You'll know within thirty minutes if this is your thing. For me? It's a 6.7 that earns every decimal point.
Wretched Lead
Genre
Tower Defense
Developer
Manuel Ineichen
Platform
Windows, Mac, Linux
Release Date
Jan 1, 2023
Rating
6.7
/10
Tags
Manuel Ineichen made a tower defense game where I have to play Tetris with my own buildings while enemies queue up to destroy everything. It's 2024 and somehow this is the first time I've seen this done properly.
Paul
February 26, 2026
6.7
Overall Score
"In six months I'll remember Wretched Lead as 'that Tetris tower defense game that actually worked.' That's higher praise than it sounds."
Apparently yes, because Wretched Lead made me care about building placement in ways that standard grid-based tower defense hasn't since Desktop Tower Defense in 2007. The premise sounds like someone's game jam fever dream: defend your city from waves of enemies, but you can only place buildings as falling tetromino blocks. Lock the pieces you want to keep, shuffle the rest, pray the L-piece you need actually shows up before the next wave. I expected this to be gimmicky nonsense that falls apart after ten minutes. Instead I spent two hours reorganizing my city like I was Marie Kondo-ing a military installation. The tetromino constraint forces you to think spatially in ways regular tower defense doesn't bother with. You can't just spam towers wherever â you need to fit them together like a demented puzzle while enemies are literally at the gates. It's stressful. It's clever. I'm annoyed at how well it works.
The gameplay loop goes like this: place tetromino buildings, defend against a wave, gather resources from underground mining, rearrange everything before the next wave hits. The kicker is you can lock buildings you want to keep and reroll the rest, but your building pool is limited. Want more towers? Better hope the RNG gods smile upon you, or reorganize your entire city to make space. The resource gathering adds another layer â you explore underground areas for materials, which means expanding your city footprint, which means more surface area to defend. It's a snowball of spatial problems that keeps escalating. Enemies come from multiple directions, so you can't just funnel them through a killbox. You need overlapping fields of fire, but tetromino shapes don't care about your strategic plans. They drop where they drop. The friction between what you want to build and what the game lets you build IS the game. Most tower defense titles hand you a sandbox and say 'have fun.' Wretched Lead hands you tetris pieces and says 'figure it out.' I did not expect to enjoy being constrained this much, but here we are.
The building lock system is genuinely smart design. You can flag structures as permanent and only shuffle the disposable ones, which creates this evolving city where your core infrastructure stays put while support buildings rotate in and out. It's like planning a city that's half concrete foundation, half temporary carnival. The underground exploration surprised me too â it's not just 'click resources, get resources.' You're expanding into darkness, dealing with whatever's down there, managing risk versus reward. Go too deep too fast and you've overextended. Play too safe and you're under-resourced when harder waves hit. Manuel Ineichen clearly thought about how these systems interact. The tetromino mechanic isn't just window dressing â it fundamentally changes how you approach tower defense. I can't just copy-paste optimal builds from my last run because the pieces won't cooperate. Every playthrough requires adapting to what the game gives you. That's replay value I didn't expect from an itch.io tower defense game.
Visually, Wretched Lead does absolutely nothing to stand out. It's pixel art. It's clean. It's functional. It looks like forty other indie games I've reviewed this month. The buildings are readable, the enemies are distinguishable, the UI doesn't make me want to claw my eyes out. That's the entire audiovisual report. There's sound. Towers go pew pew. Enemies make enemy noises. Music exists in the background doing music things. None of it offends, none of it impresses. It's the video game equivalent of beige wallpaper â does the job, won't be remembered. For a game this mechanically interesting, the presentation feels like an afterthought. I'm not asking for hand-painted masterpieces here, but something to make it visually memorable would've elevated this from 'solid indie game' to 'solid indie game I'd actually recommend to friends.' As it stands, screenshots won't sell anyone on this. You need to play it to get why it works.
The biggest issue is that once you understand the optimal strategy, subsequent runs lose tension. The tetromino constraint creates interesting problems early on, but experienced players will quickly learn which building types to prioritize and how to manipulate the lock system. The randomness that makes the first playthrough exciting becomes a minor speedbump by the third. The game could use more enemy variety or difficulty modifiers to keep veterans engaged. Underground exploration feels underbaked too â it's there, it adds resources, but it never becomes as interesting as the surface defense puzzle. Feels like a system that got 80% finished and then development moved on. I also wish there were more building types or defensive options. The current roster works, but more toys to play with would extend the longevity significantly. And Manuel, if you're reading this: the game needs a tutorial that actually explains the lock/reroll mechanic clearly. I figured it out through trial and error, which is fine for me because I'm stubborn, but normal humans might bounce off it.
If you like tower defense and want something that makes you think differently about the genre, yes. If you enjoy spatial puzzle games and want them to shoot back, yes. If you're tired of tower defense games that feel like spreadsheets with graphics, definitely yes. Wretched Lead isn't going to replace your favorite tower defense classic, but it's doing something novel enough to justify the download. The tetromino building system works far better than it should, and the resource management layer adds just enough depth to keep things interesting past the first hour. It's rough around the edges â the presentation is forgettable and the endgame needs work â but the core concept is strong enough to carry it. This is what indie games should be: trying weird ideas that AAA studios would focus-test into oblivion. Does it need more content? Yes. Could it use another six months of polish? Absolutely. Would I play a sequel with more enemy types and building variety? Already have my credit card out.
Quality
7
Surprisingly polished for an itch.io game â no crashes, clean UI, and the tetromino placement actually snaps where I want it to.
Innovation
8
I haven't seen tower defense married to Tetris-style city building since... never, actually, and it works far better than it has any right to.
Value
7
Free on itch.io with enough depth to justify several hours of tinkering â can't argue with that price point.
Gameplay
7
The core loop of rearranging my city between waves kept me engaged far longer than most indie TD games manage.
Audio/Visual
5
Functional pixel art that won't win awards but won't burn your retinas either â audio exists and does its job without annoying me.
Replayability
6
The puzzle of optimal layouts pulls me back for a second run, though once you crack the meta it loses some magic.
What Didn't Annoy Me
Genuinely novel tower defense mechanics
The tetromino constraint creates real strategic depth
Building lock system is smarter than it needs to be
Underground exploration adds welcome complexity
Free
Actually respects my intelligence for once
What Made Me Sigh
Pixel art so generic I've already forgotten what it looks like
Optimal strategies emerge too quickly
Underground system feels half-finished
Needs more building variety
Tutorial explains approximately nothing
Final Verdict
In six months I'll remember Wretched Lead as 'that Tetris tower defense game that actually worked.' That's higher praise than it sounds. Most indie tower defense games are either Kingdom Rush clones or half-baked experiments that collapse under their own ambition. This one picks a weird idea â constraining building placement with tetromino shapes â and executes it well enough that I kept playing past the novelty phase. The spatial puzzle of fitting defenses together while enemies approach scratches an itch I didn't know I had. It needs more content and the presentation won't win any awards, but Manuel Ineichen made something genuinely interesting here. Download it, play it, reorganize your city seventeen times trying to optimize tower coverage. You'll know within thirty minutes if this is your thing. For me? It's a 6.7 that earns every decimal point.
Wretched Lead
Genre
Tower Defense
Developer
Manuel Ineichen
Platform
Windows, Mac, Linux
Release Date
Jan 1, 2023
Rating
6.7
/10
Tags