# Defend the Castle: Card TD — user reviews > 87 indexed App Store user reviews of Defend the Castle by Small Giant Games, rated 3.20/5 from 71 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/defend-the-castle-card-td/id6743485492/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/defend-the-castle-card-td/id6743485492.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 29 · 4★ 6 · 3★ 7 · 2★ 8 · 1★ 21 ## What do users think of Defend the Castle? Overall sentiment: neutral **Pros** - 👍 Excellent new TD game - 👍 Lots of weapons and fun game - 👍 A surprisingly good game - 👍 Wonderful little TD game - 👍 Playable - 👍 lov it! - 👍 Fantastic game! - 👍 There just trying there best - 👍 No ads **Cons** - 🐛 Fix the bs - 🐛 Bug report - 🔋 Horrible - 🔋 Fun Game but Badly Balanced - 🔋 Pay 2 Win Luck Base Game - 🔋 Needs Balancing - 🔋 Hitting a Progression Wall **Commonly reported bugs** - Glitch in emblem quest - Missing number display on fire slimes - Crashes - Incompatible with older devices **Most requested features** - Longer waves per round - Ability to merge cards - Daily login rewards - Deck organization - Multiplayer - View resources - 2x speed option - PVE ranking and PVP rewards - Ability to recycle or upgrade duplicate cards ## Newest reviews (16 of 87) ### 3/5 — New update, some things fixed *2026-07-28* Raising to 3 star now. Most of my issues with the game have been resolved. The balance seems good, though levels are still impossible, I hope to advance once I get more of the card and fuse coins. It seems to drop cards and fuse coins more. I have a small amount now that I am banking till I get more cards. It seems pretty balanced now. The ratio of getting a higher star card and just a higher level same card is still an issue. Now what I want to see. Events- a must. Maybe some special monsters or an endless wave event. Maybe a special tower event where you get to use a tower that is themed. PvP- needed, either you play as a team or play till someone loses. New towers and monster- obvious and something that is happening. **Developer response:** We're sorry to hear about your unbalanced gameplay experience. We recently released version 4.0.0 with gameplay balance updates for gameplay, rewards and progression as well as daily Quests and Horde Battles to allow for faster accumulation of resources to collect and upgrade towers. Come see if the game feels better and if not, send a support request through to https://smallgiant.aihelp.net/hc/account/4-Defend_The_Castle/en/contact-us ### 3/5 — Some suggestions *2026-07-07* - Your new horde mode suffers from being too short. Enemies walk straight line and by the time you get any fun defense up, it’s over. Either bake a time increase into manually speeding up waves alongside the score multiplier or just increase it overall - Fusing two max level cards of any rank should never produce a wildcard of that same rank. It punishes players who commit resources to level up cards and should be a guaranteed rank up. - All gargoyles should have an effect for how hard they are to obtain. Storm Gargoyle in particular should have pushback. ### 2/5 — Update wasn’t great *2026-07-02, version 7.0.0* The towers don’t stack like they used to anymore. Darts and aces no longer multiply when you upgrade them during a run. It’s like they downgraded towers with this upgrade. Hoard time isn’t long enough either, the new hoard layout wouldn’t be bad if you had even a little more time during the run…Not a great update. ### 1/5 — I don’t want people to send messages to me *2026-05-17, version 6.1.0* This was cool until it makes you join a group and then there is a group chat. WHY?! Deleted it right away. ### 2/5 — Balance bad *2026-05-16, version 6.1.0* Good game. Needs some more rewards and freebies though. I’d watch an ad to get some gems. Need post match damage chart so I can monitor tower performance. Needs more incentives. When you are stuck. There is no way to progress. All the rewards are stuck behind beating levels. The monster raid is a joke. You get 1 raid per week and the rewards are good for level 20 floors. Also it’s so hard getting anything other than 1 star elements for upgrades. Idk. More thought needs put in. ### 1/5 — New update, same issues *2026-05-10* Taunt golems are so over powered. Pair that with a fairy, auto win on level 2 and 3. A wave 2 golem is over 100k. Who thought that was fair? With the trident debuff, nothing can put out that much damage in the 2nd wave. Their hit level is so high, it then forces you to attack that monster, letting all the other monsters just walk through. You have to adjust the wave buff percents or the golem. This is the 2nd update you broke a monster. Delete the game if you want to keep your sanity. I wish I could report bad devs, this is one of them. They delete and pay for reviews. Use to be at 2 star, now at 3.5. **Developer response:** We're sorry to hear about your unbalanced gameplay experience. We recently released version 4.0.0 with gameplay balance updates for gameplay, rewards and progression as well as daily Quests and Horde Battles to allow for faster accumulation of resources to collect and upgrade towers. Come see if the game feels better and if not, send a support request through to https://smallgiant.aihelp.net/hc/account/4-Defend_The_Castle/en/contact-us ### 2/5 — Love the game *2026-05-04, version 6.1.0* The game is great but It could be so much better with better balancing for cards especially the 5 star cards they r kind of terrible ### 2/5 — Rebalance *2026-04-30* Overall it’s a pretty good game but I’m losing interest because it turns into a bit of a grind to upgrade cards. The merge percentages are killing me- the frustration when you merge and nothing happens is really disincentivizing especially when you’re at three star cards you’re merging to get something good. You need a metric at the end that shows how much damage each tower did. Also it should show how much damage a tower does with each upgrade ### 2/5 — Balance bad *2026-04-27, version 6.0.0* Good game. Needs some more rewards and freebies though. I’d watch an ad to get some gems. Need post match damage chart so I can monitor tower performance. Needs more incentives. When you are stuck. There is no way to progress. All the rewards are stuck behind beating levels. The monster raid is a joke. You get 1 raid per week and the rewards are good for level 20 floors. Also it’s so hard getting anything other than 1 star elements for upgrades. Idk. More thought needs put in. ### 3/5 — Fun but unreliable *2026-04-25* I really enjoy this game its fun and has a lot of ways to be able to keep progressing even when your stuck. But lately with every update to the game they can change things so that your towers lose levels without any compensation for the resources you’ve spent and it will likely cost more resources to rebuild it than you originally spent due to a change in resource requirements ### 1/5 — It’s over *2026-04-25, version 6.0.0* I really enjoyed this one. Like really enjoyed playing it. But they turned it into a cash grab and slowed down the weapons. What a shame. Devs got greedy. F this app. ### 1/5 — New update sucks *2026-04-25, version 6.0.0* They ruined this game with the most recent update. Tridents so super slow are useless. Can’t even play anymore ### 2/5 — Used to be good *2026-04-22* This game was awesome UNTIL the most recent update. Now all the weapons are sooooo slow. Weapons that were slow before are now extremely slow and those that were relatively fast are also extremely slow. ### 4/5 — Amazing potential *2026-04-18* Really fun TD style game with just enough extras to make it fun. The recent update made it a lot harder to win against other players. They nerfed the towers I used in my strategy, to the point where they are useless. Now I have to decide if I want to invest all that time again, just to get back where I was. ### 2/5 — So much potential *2026-04-08* The game is a lot of fun, especially at first. The core systems have a lot of potential, but the difficulty of acquiring new cards for both tower defense and PvP is absurd. Right now, players are forced into buying random RNG packs, only to end up with duplicates or low-value cards that just get merged into more junk. I’ve been playing for weeks and still haven’t received a single Water class card. I’ve bought a few packs and the weekly boost, and every time it feels like I’m getting nothing worthwhile. The advantage given to pay-to-win players needs a serious review, and so does the grind for free-to-play players just to make the game feel enjoyable. I want to like this game badly, because it really could be a cash cow for the developers if they tweak these systems early and make progression feel fun instead of frustrating. Make the bonus sale “deals” actually include cards of value. Help us help you. ### 1/5 — Last update killed game *2026-04-06* Last update added more cards, great. Didn’t fix anything. They just added Immune to all the new stuff. The game now ends before you play anything. Most players put a weak guy as their first wave, then all their fully upgraded cards after. This does not let you get more than 1-2 cards before the sting waves come. Dumb. **Developer response:** We're sorry to hear about your unbalanced gameplay experience. We recently released version 4.0.0 with gameplay balance updates for gameplay, rewards and progression as well as daily Quests and Horde Battles to allow for faster accumulation of resources to collect and upgrade towers. Come see if the game feels better and if not, send a support request through to https://smallgiant.aihelp.net/hc/account/4-Defend_The_Castle/en/contact-us ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Why I uninstalled *2026-08-22* The most useful review I can provide is an explanation of why I uninstalled the game after many months and hundreds of dollars spent. You can see for yourself what’s fun and appealing about the game. Just look at the blurb. I’m here to tell you how it’s broken. I recently spent $10 to buy some diamonds. I used the diamonds to buy fuse tokens and gold coins and card packs. I used the gold coins to upgrade the cards in the packs, and merged the upgraded cards together to get more cards of higher rarity until I could no longer do so. Here’s the problem. Every time I merged cards together, I got a result I didn’t want. And you cannot undo a merge, even by spending another token. So the end result of spending ten dollars was that my decks got worse and worse until I had literally no options for which cards to play with. TL/DR: Spend money on game, things get worse, no choice left, uninstalled. **Developer response:** We're sorry to hear about your unbalanced gameplay experience. We recently released version 4.0.0 with gameplay balance updates for gameplay, rewards and progression as well as daily Quests and Horde Battles to allow for faster accumulation of resources to collect and upgrade towers. Come see if the game feels better and if not, send a support request through to https://smallgiant.aihelp.net/hc/account/4-Defend_The_Castle/en/contact-us ### 1/5 — New update, some things fixed *2026-08-08* I would raise the stars, but the combining cards and almost impossible advancement I. The main game are impossible to overlook. Most of my issues with the game have been resolved. The balance seems good, though levels are still impossible, I hope to advance once I get more of the card and fuse coins. It seems to drop cards and fuse coins more. I have a small amount now that I am banking till I get more cards. It seems pretty balanced now. The ratio of getting a higher star card and just a higher level same card is still an issue. Now what I want to see. Events- a must. Maybe some special monsters or an endless wave event. Maybe a special tower event where you get to use a tower that is themed. PvP- needed, either you play as a team or play till someone loses. New towers and monster- obvious and something that is happening. **Developer response:** We're sorry to hear about your unbalanced gameplay experience. We recently released version 4.0.0 with gameplay balance updates for gameplay, rewards and progression as well as daily Quests and Horde Battles to allow for faster accumulation of resources to collect and upgrade towers. Come see if the game feels better and if not, send a support request through to https://smallgiant.aihelp.net/hc/account/4-Defend_The_Castle/en/contact-us ### 1/5 — New update, same issues *2026-07-15* It is super hard to get cards and Fuse Coins. Why would you make it 50/50 to get nothing? Especially at 4+ star? You take so much time to get the cards and coins, you combine, and you just get 1 card of the same level (meaning you lose a card and get nothing), or worse, a wild card. If I take 2 4 star cards, that may be in my decks but I want a 5star, and get a wild 4 star card, I just lost 2 cards from my deck and have nothing. You have to fix this. Give something other than just a slightly upgraded same level card or a wild card. These are still an issue in the July update-Taunt golems are so over powered. Pair that with a fairy, auto win on level 2 and 3. A wave 2 golem is over 100k. Who thought that was fair? With the trident debuff, nothing can put out that much damage in the 2nd wave. Their hit level is so high, it then forces you to attack that monster, letting all the other monsters just walk through. You have to adjust the wave buff percents or the golem. This is the 3rd update you broke a monster. Delete the game if you want to keep your sanity. I wish I could report bad devs, this is one of them. They delete and pay for reviews. Use to be at 2 star, now at 3.3. Looks like they slowed down deleting bad reviews. I know one of mine was deleted and I had to write another. **Developer response:** We're sorry to hear about your unbalanced gameplay experience. We recently released version 4.0.0 with gameplay balance updates for gameplay, rewards and progression as well as daily Quests and Horde Battles to allow for faster accumulation of resources to collect and upgrade towers. Come see if the game feels better and if not, send a support request through to https://smallgiant.aihelp.net/hc/account/4-Defend_The_Castle/en/contact-us ### 1/5 — No more stacking!?! *2026-07-08* What happened to the tower stacking? Now it’s almost impossible to win a round unless you spend real money to level up your towers and even if you use ones to slow the hoard down, it doesn’t slow them down like it used to. This used to be my favorite game but with it being impossible to have a real chance at winning a round anymore, I don’t even want to play it and I just got past level 200…if it’s not fixed to how it was, I’m going to be deleting the app. I’m not spending money because you want to change the game and try to force money being used over actually strategy. You’re forcing me to end my usage. ### 1/5 — New Update Ruined Game *2026-07-05, version 7.0.1* The new update has made the game pay to win and is unplayable. I was having a ton of fun and now it is one of the worst games I have ever played. The greed of the creators sickens me. ### 1/5 — Was great till updates *2026-07-01* I have spent money monthly on VIP and extras. And was doing well, but since they have changed the mechanics twice in the last couple of months I can’t get past level 497. I will either have to spend tons of money buying packs or grind the quests for a very long time. If you are going to keep lowering the weapon stats, then lower the health or speed of monsters. If the game doesn’t even out. I will no longer be playing or spending money with this game. ### 1/5 — New update, same issues *2026-06-21, version 6.1.2* **Dead Game, devs abandoned. Don’t download It is super hard to get cards and Fuse Coins. Why would you make it 50/50 to get nothing? Especially at 4+ star? You take so much time to get the cards and coins, you combine, and you just get 1 card, or worst, a wild card. If I take 2 4 star cards, that may be in my decks but I want a 5star, and get a wild 4 star, I just lost 2 cards from my deck and have nothing. You have to fix this. Give someone other than just a slightly upgraded same level card or a wild card. Taunt golems are so over powered. Pair that with a fairy, auto win on level 2 and 3. A wave 2 golem is over 100k. Who thought that was fair? With the trident debuff, nothing can put out that much damage in the 2nd wave. Their hit level is so high, it then forces you to attack that monster, letting all the other monsters just walk through. You have to adjust the wave buff percents or the golem. This is the 2nd update you broke a monster. Delete the game if you want to keep your sanity. I wish I could report bad devs, this is one of them. They delete and pay for reviews. Use to be at 2 star, now at 3.5. ### 1/5 — Delete account *2026-05-24, version 6.1.1* The developers make you write out a reason why they should delete your account, REALLY? Why ? If I want to restart the game why do I have to wait for you to respond and type out a whole response just to delete my account. Such BS…. ### 1/5 — New update, same issues *2026-05-20* It is super hard to get cards and Fuse Coins. Why would you make it 50/50 to get nothing? Especially at 4+ star? You take so much time to get the cards and coins, you combine, and you just get 1 card, or worst, a wild card. If I take 2 4 star cards, that may be in my decks but I want a 5star, and get a wild 4 star, I just lost 2 cards from my deck and have nothing. You have to fix this. Give someone other than just a slightly upgraded same level card or a wild card. Taunt golems are so over powered. Pair that with a fairy, auto win on level 2 and 3. A wave 2 golem is over 100k. Who thought that was fair? With the trident debuff, nothing can put out that much damage in the 2nd wave. Their hit level is so high, it then forces you to attack that monster, letting all the other monsters just walk through. You have to adjust the wave buff percents or the golem. This is the 2nd update you broke a monster. Delete the game if you want to keep your sanity. I wish I could report bad devs, this is one of them. They delete and pay for reviews. Use to be at 2 star, now at 3.5. **Developer response:** We're sorry to hear about your unbalanced gameplay experience. We recently released version 4.0.0 with gameplay balance updates for gameplay, rewards and progression as well as daily Quests and Horde Battles to allow for faster accumulation of resources to collect and upgrade towers. Come see if the game feels better and if not, send a support request through to https://smallgiant.aihelp.net/hc/account/4-Defend_The_Castle/en/contact-us ### 1/5 — Not as fun. *2026-05-19* The game was fun up until it became a merge grind, and a the cards became weaker and weaker no matter how much I upgraded them. Also with the merging system, I’ll merge my cards and get total bs. Either the same card but with extra level, or another level up card. Nothing that can help me progress or get further in the game. Also when you finally do get your cards up to 5 stars and finally were able to merge up until that point without getting bs. The new 5 star cards do no damage, and it takes an eternity to get anything to upgrade them. You can have all the coins in the game, but no emblems to upgrade them. Not as fun as it was, deleting until it hopefully gets better. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Encyclopedia *2026-07-06, version 7.0.1* Please add an encyclopedia listing all towers, enemies and troops. When will you answer? ### 5/5 — Great *2026-04-05* Good game. Needs some more rewards and freebies though. Should be rated higher ### 5/5 — Really fun!!! *2026-03-18, version 5.0.1* This game has so many weapons and difficult enemies to play against! It’s just really really fun ### 5/5 — A hit *2026-03-12* This game is a hit it’s a mix of tower defence meets card builder meets rogueish meets ahhhhhhhh .. it’s fun it’s balanced.. if ya need a casual escape get it now ### 5/5 — Fun Fun Fun!!! *2026-03-02* This Game is A Lot Of Fun! Especially if you like castle or tower defense games! It’s fun to learn which Elements are strong or weak against another element. You get your cards and Level them up by playing all the different modes, wether you’re in A Clan like me, Battling The Clan Horde or PVP or Single Player Quests! This is My Absolute Favorite Game and I’ve played so many ### 5/5 — Best TD game *2026-01-25* I think this is my favorite TD game. I do hope you balance out the income of cards vs coins. I’m sitting on 40k coins with no way of using them due to not having enough cards to upgrade or enough of the tokens. It would be great to have more cards available in each tier and especially have more unique cards for each type. Maybe have one or two types with the same tower but not every type have it. ### 5/5 — PLEASE FIX!!! *2026-01-19* I LOVE THIS GAME!!!! Downloaded it like 3m’s ago cuz it looked like it’d be fun and I was hooked on the first round. Since downloading, I’ve played on a daily basis, multiple times a day and I’ve never had a problem…..until now!!! For about the last week or so the game has started glitching/freezing in the middle of a round and there’s no choice but to force close and restart the game. Causing me to lose both progress AND energy. PLEASE FIX THIS ISSUE. Energy is already limited and takes time to build back up and when you’re trying to complete challenges, it’s very annoying and makes it almost impossible to complete them. ### 5/5 — Best mobile game oat *2026-01-17* Easily the best mobile game, very simple but the gameplay is just very fun, actually addicting and the multiplayer is really good too ### 5/5 — BIG FAN *2025-12-25* I love this game. Absolutely incredible. Should make us be able to test our monsters or the monsters of your groups. Make the monsters matter to US as players. Different maps. Overall one of the better mobile games I’ve played. Bravo ### 5/5 — Fresh start *2025-12-09, version 3.0.2* Is there a way I can restart my progress and start fresh --- *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 2026-09-09.*