# Core Defense — user reviews > 46 indexed App Store user reviews of Core Defense by Sonderland Games UG haftungsbeschrankt, rated 4.70/5 from 459 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/core-defense/id1546364145/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/core-defense/id1546364145.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 374 · 4★ 56 · 3★ 14 · 2★ 5 · 1★ 10 ## What do users think of Core Defense? Overall sentiment: positive **Pros** - 🎮 Engaging roguelike tower defense gameplay - 🔄 High replay value with randomized tower selection - 🧩 Strategic maze-building mechanics - ✨ No pay-to-win elements - 📱 Works smoothly on multiple devices - 🎯 Simple but deep strategic gameplay - 🚫 Minimal intrusive advertisements - 🎪 Unique tower synergies and combinations **Cons** - 💰 Aggressive monetization behind paywall - 🐛 Frequent crashes and white screen flashes - 🔋 High battery consumption - 📚 Lacks tutorial for new players - 🎨 Plain graphics and minimal animations - 🔊 Audio crackling issues - 🗺️ Limited map size restricts maze variety - 😴 Gets repetitive and stale quickly - ⚙️ Buggy UI with zoom and scrolling issues - 🚫 Incompatible with older devices (iPad Air 2) **Commonly reported bugs** - Game crashes to white screen on startup - Fails to load on first tower select - Start wave button becomes unresponsive - White screen flashes during gameplay - Game returns to main menu unexpectedly - UI zooms in with no zoom-out option - Scrolling functionality is buggy - Audio crackling throughout gameplay - Incompatibility with iPad Air 2 - Game soft locks during loading **Most requested features** - Tutorial system for new players - More tower variety and types - Stronger upgrade synergies - More creative tower effects - Better enemy designs and animations - Drone-spawning tower type - More free game modes - Reminders about tower and enemy types - Additional content and levels - Larger map for better maze design ## Newest reviews (13 of 46) ### 3/5 — タワー売らせて *2024-04-04, version 2.3.2* タワー取ったらワンゲーム中は二度と売れないから注意。 セオリー通りに敵を遠回りさせつつ、遠距離とヒールさえ取れば楽々クリア可能。 真新しさは全く無いけど、ゲームとして遊べるから評価は中央の星3。 ちなみに難易度ノーマル以降は課金らしいので、これ以上遊ぶつもりはないです。どうもありがとうございました。 ### 3/5 — Paying for different experiences *2024-02-29* The f2p experience turns it into a rougelike, but if you pay it’s a rougelite basically ### 3/5 — うーん *2023-04-29, version 2.3.2* 1ウェーブ終了ごとに、報酬を選ぶという仕組み。報酬はタワーだったり、タワーの性能アップだったり。あるタワーをあえて選ばなかったら、その後ずっとそのタワーは報酬として出てこなくなり、永遠に使えない感じだった。 ### 3/5 — Interesting TD idea *2021-12-14* However, it soft locks the actual gameplay behind its paid modes, meaning you’ll likely beat the game at its easiest (and only available difficulty level) within 30 minutes to an hour and have nowhere to progress from there. The gameplay itself revolves around random towers and abilities you pseudo-draft, and a maze you create yourself. However, the map is too small to make any type of maze other than a simple spiral. ### 3/5 — Potential, but focuses way too much on roping you into paying up. *2021-10-27* The title says it all. It’s a great game, definitely it rly worth checking out, but don’t think for a moment that it’s free. Yeah, you can technically play for free, but the game literally takes the fun out of it. In the game’s description it says that premium only adds some new difficulty levels, and an endless mode. What it doesn’t mention is how, in order to play on any difficulty besides abysmally easy, you need to buy premium, and half of the achievements for progression rely on playing on harder difficulties, meaning that not only does the game get stale and boring incredibly quickly if you don’t pay up, but you literally can’t get half of the achievements, showing that the entire game was designed around the assumption that players buy premium. Now whether premium is worth it is up to the individual, but I certainly won’t be getting it. Perhaps I would have had they not tried to pretend that it was a free to play game. ### 5/5 — Great game *2021-10-23* Really great game from how rounds play differently each time. Hope more content is added to the game ### 3/5 — Feels highly manipulative *2021-10-17* The game feels highly manipulative, and I got sick of this feeling. The towers and abilities you can access are heavily randomized from game to game. Some towers are unavailable in some games, even though they are “common,” and readily available in other games. And, in many games, after the first few waves, no more towers ever become available. If you bother continuing to play, rather than bailing, you are forced down some play path the Developer prefers (regardless of your own preferred play style), such as trying to win with a single defender, aid but nothing but furious healing and shielding. I love TD games, but even after having paid I deleted this one. ### 5/5 — Sehr nices Game *2021-10-10* Als rogue-lite Genießer finde ich das Game richtig gut. Da es keine p2w Elemente hat kann ich immer entspannt spielen. Würde mir noch mehr Turrets wünschen, trotzdem ein sehr gutes Spiel ### 4/5 — Battery consumption *2021-08-25* Great game. Only one star off because the battery consumption seems to be really high ### 5/5 — Easy but fun *2021-08-11* I’ve replayed this game over a thousand times; I own it on Steam and also play it on mobile. The levels get progressively more difficult and on top of that, it’s impossible to replay the same level in the same way as your upgrades are down to chance. Maybe this tower defence isn’t for everyone but it’s been the best one I’ve ever played.ii ### 5/5 — Best game to scratch that TD itch in the App store *2021-07-20* This game is truly one of if not the single best the best tower defense game in the app store right now. In a time when most app store games are bloated micro transaction cash grabs this game stands out as positive and fun experience worth your time (and if you so choose) your money as well. It has great replay value and though it can feel simple or empty at times the gameplay has way more depth than most other apps. Please consider that this game is made by a smaller developer and what that means in comparison to the AAA games and judge accordingly. ### 4/5 — Cool game so far *2021-07-07* I enjoy playing this game for more than two reasons one the tower defense mechanics and how you can place walls the alter the enemies pathways and another cool thing you could add is a tower that spawns drones that stays in the towers range but follow the enemies and should attack half as fast as the repeater ### 5/5 — Very solid tower defense game *2021-07-06* Lots of avenues for strategy in each game and decent longevity in the overload-mastery progression system between games ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Por lo probado en iPad Air 2 no funciona *2022-08-11, version 2.3.2* El juego no funciona en un iPad Air 2 ### 1/5 — Unplayable *2022-04-02* Start game then fails to load on first tower select ### 1/5 — Won’t let me start *2022-01-13* The game runs fine, until I go to start the wave, I push the button and it does absolutely nothing. I know the button works because when there’s no tower placed, it tells me to “place all towers before you begin the wave”. When I place all towers, the button to start doesn’t do anything. Extremely frustrating since everybody else says the game is great. ### 1/5 — I can’t even get it to play *2021-11-30, version 2.3.1* The game is literally unplayable it just keeps on attempting to load ### 1/5 — Unplayable *2021-06-30, version 2.1.2* This game crashes to a white screen every time I open it. I haven’t been able to play once. Uninstalling. ### 1/5 — Don’t get it... *2021-04-21* ...it needs a tutorial for us thick ones who are used to classic tower defense. ### 2/5 — Major audio crackling. *2021-09-11, version 2.2.0* The game has a major audio problem. 8/10 Great game! ### 2/5 — Платная *2021-05-18* Абсолютно все тут платно. Хочешь больше уровней плати.хочешь бесконечно играть плати.хочешь качаться плати ### 2/5 — Flashes and crashes mid game *2021-05-14* Flashes and crashes mid game Features seem busted and broken Games slow ### 3/5 — Fun, but broken on iPad *2026-07-24* So this has so much promise but none of the abilities will work for me on the iPad. It’s kind of hard to advance without them, so I’m kind of stuck. I wish I hadn’t purchased the paid version because there’s no benefit for me. Such a bummer. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Idea *2026-05-21* I have an idea where you can get a Gate and a Button (Both in one if it works) and the Button closes and opens the Gate. After the Round the Gates close.it would be cool Becuse you can make a Long thing with a Sniper and the enemys Must Spiral alot to get there.also this game is very cool ### 5/5 — Thanks! *2023-11-22* Simple strategy game that I can’t seem to get bored of! ### 5/5 — Great game where the key is the maze building *2023-05-10, version 2.3.2* Great tower maze oriented game. Few in its genre ### 5/5 — Best Tower Defense game out there! *2022-11-28* Full stop, nothing more to say… ### 5/5 — Enjoyable *2022-08-20* The game has a nice logic. Simple but exciting. I recommend everyone to give it a try. ### 5/5 — Plain graphics but amazing gameplay *2022-07-27* What an awesome game! The gameplay loop is practically flawless but it could really use a tutorial to ease players in. It would also be nice if there were reminders about the fine-points of enemy and tower types The graphic design is really plain. It could really use better enemy designs and character animations to improve immersion. If this was done the game would be nigh perfect! ### 5/5 — Short’n simple *2022-02-05* The game’s short and simple. It has a little progression to keep you playing for a bit but not much to it. I personally like these styles of games and they’re impossible to find though so here you go. You’ve got a fiver from me. It was a good time while I played it but rather short after downloading it before unlocking and burning out on the game from getting/doing the same stuff every time. It’s free though, so to efforts wasted there. I like the rouge lite to it, although, with such little options you have very little replayability. I would’ve liked to see stronger upgrade synergies and more creative tower effects and affects, but then I suppose it wouldn’t have been as short’n simple, would it? ### 5/5 — Great TD! *2022-01-25* This was just what I was looking for. I’ve really enjoyed this game. I went ahead with unlocking the premium game modes. If you like classic tower defense with some smart new twists, give it a try! ### 5/5 — It is good *2021-12-29* But the game just keeps sending me back to the main menu ### 5/5 — Simply superb *2021-11-21* I’ve never rated an app five stars before, but from the roguelike tower Defense gameplay that is as perfectly constructed as could be to the absence of pushy advertisements that seem to have become the norm in games today. All I have to say is Mr developer, you did a good job. --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-08-24.*