# Monster Tiles TD: Tower Wars — user reviews > 37 indexed App Store user reviews of Monster Tiles TD by Swell Games LLC, rated 4.70/5 from 229 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/monster-tiles-td-tower-wars/id6449416723/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/monster-tiles-td-tower-wars/id6449416723.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 188 · 4★ 23 · 3★ 5 · 2★ 7 · 1★ 6 ## What do users think of Monster Tiles TD? Overall sentiment: mixed **Pros** - 👍 Unique TD gameplay - 👍 Good progression system - 👍 Generous with in-game currency - 👍 Not a money grab (for some) - 👍 Addictive gameplay - 👍 Well-made game - 👍 Honest TD game - 👍 Customizable paths - 👍 In-depth strategy - 👍 Fun rogue-lite elements **Cons** - 💰 Paywall for progression - 💰 Too much grinding - 💰 Aggressive monetization - 💰 Unfair levels - 💰 Too many ads (for some) - 💰 Nowhere to spend currency - 💰 Game stalls out - 💰 Poor UI/interface - 💰 Expensive microtransactions - 💰 Pay to win elements **Commonly reported bugs** - Game doesn't load/launch - Freezes when watching ads - Ads won't let me exit - Tabbing out loses game - Failed purchase error - Ad for boba won't let me exit **Most requested features** - Portrait mode - More towers - More modes - Merge equipment - Audio customization - Add more updates or changes ## Newest reviews (13 of 37) ### 3/5 — 中文 *2025-02-03* 中文 ### 4/5 — I like the game. *2024-08-05* It’s okay I can see I’ve hit a pay wall so I’ll be playing for another couple days to see if it’s a skill issue but I think it’s a pay wall. I’m pretty good at understanding synergies and which upgrades to get. I lack the strategy behind making the paths. That part is new to me. But other than the paywall I’ve hit. I enjoyed the game. I think there’s a few things that could’ve been different like getting a different road path… I personally think it should cost gold not energy. It’s like you have to choose between the perfect path, (kind of) or the upgrades. Or the evolution. I mean it is possible clearly. But less possible when your a free to play… takes some serious thinking and a lot of micromanaging your energy. Again I do like the game. But I don’t think I’ll get past hard difficulty without spending a few bucks. And which I would be okay with. But what would I get.? Currency to upgrade an fly through hard just to be stuck again. Eh could be a skill isssue I’m not denying that. But I’m not bad at the game. Idk good luck. And thank you. I actually just downloaded another one of your games to check that one out but the reviews on it seem to be the same as this one… pay wall…… ### 5/5 — Bon jeu TD *2023-10-22* Ce jeu est super, les mécaniques sont sympa et la façon de progresser permet de passer pas mal de temp sans ce lasser, je recommande si vous chercher un bon jeu du style tower défense ### 5/5 — Very good game! *2023-10-18* The game offers a variety of (Monsters) to choose from, you have to unlock them as you progress, there are barely any advertisements (only personal choice which rates the game 5 stars) the game is fairly new, I am very surprised this game hasn’t had a lot of attention. I have found a few bugs however it is a fairly easy fix, I like the currency system with the credits as you have to play several games to save up for research (upgrades) ### 4/5 — Freezes when watching ads *2023-10-15* Mid level and watching an ad and the ad for boba won’t let me exit. ### 4/5 — Good fun *2023-10-08* Good TD game you can equip your towers with items and they level for a bit more depth. My only issue with it is if you tab out for 5 mins you lose your game. ### 5/5 — Great game so far *2023-10-05* Just started playing a couple days ago it’s a fun game nothing bad so far just wish leveling up was a bit easier ### 4/5 — Really in depth *2023-09-29* Not only are there a bunch of towers to build ( which are different creatures in this game) you can also equip weapons and armors, skills, and match types for synergy bonuses. It’s really in depth. ### 5/5 — Um dos melhores jogos de tower defense *2023-09-24* Eu tava procurando um jogo bom e viciante esse é, quase n tem ad graças a deus, é otimizado e bem bonito ### 4/5 — Amazing game, But: *2023-09-23* This a fantastic game, I’ve sunk a lot of hours into it and I love how generous it is with gems, credits and gear. After most games you can watch a video for credits, after another one watch a video for a gear, after another one watch a video for 15 gems. And as you keep getting better and watching more of these videos the rewards get better (gems stay the same). I only have two gripes: 1. I think it needs to be easier to level up characters. It just takes too long. I’ve been using a specific tower since I downloaded months ago and he’s just now almost level 10. So I would love for easier leveling up to be added into one of these updates. 2. More tournament points rewarded. Other than that keep up the awesome work 🤌 ### 5/5 — Top Dog *2023-09-23* By far best TD game I’ve played ### 5/5 — Fantastic Rougelite TD *2023-09-11* Probably best rouglite I have ever played. Great TD game. Challenging. Quite addictive. ### 5/5 — Suggestion - merge equipment *2023-09-05* I wish I could merge equipment Bug = ads sometimes freeze on last second ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Really fun game——Where’s the 2X events? *2026-01-06* Customizable paths. Towers to equip/boost with different strategies. Portrait mode would be cool. EDIT———Seems to have stopped giving the 2X events like cash. Portrait mode would be nice ### 1/5 — Game doesn’t load *2024-02-12* This game doesn’t even launch. It gets stuck on the loading screen; IPhone 13. **Developer response:** Sorry about that! There was a bug with the previous update. Please update to the latest version (v50), and this should be fixed :). ### 2/5 — To much grinding no updates or changes *2026-02-09* Great potential ,unfair levels with uneven advantage to game ,played for two years,way to many adds, nowhere to spend money or gems after1 year,game just stalls out after one tower reaches 20, no way to make intelligent decisions because of no information on monsters or stats interface and interface of levels and game interface sucks! This could be a fantastic TD game but creators are just unwilling to be play fair and financially fair!!! ### 2/5 — Love TD, Hate paying to beat levels *2025-01-15* You won’t pass level 25 ever if you don’t pay for upgrades… love a good TD game though ### 2/5 — Good game, not running on iOS currently *2024-02-11* I began playing this on steam earlier today, and thought it was a good rendition of tower defense games! I noticed an account could be created for cross platform progression. Bought all of the progression power ups since I’d play it on my phone as well, but I hadn’t downloaded it on my phone yet. It runs perfectly fine on steam, but on iOS, the game sits at the initial loading screen with the cog icon spinning endlessly. I deleted and redownloaded multiple times, played on different wifi networks and cellular, to no avail. I see a new version was released 8 hours prior to the time of this review, so I’m assuming the latest update broke something and it will be fixed. If so, I will be altering my review. If it does not, then I’ve been essentially robbed of the $30 I spent on those unlocks because I can’t even play it the way I want. Admittedly I should have waited until I downloaded and played on the mobile version first, but it should never be expected that an entire game wouldn’t run at all. **Developer response:** Sorry about that! There was a bug with the previous update. Please update to the latest version (v50), and this should be fixed :). ### 2/5 — Pretty good except money grab *2023-10-28* Originally had a four star, then a three and now at two because they keep on adding ways to squeeze large amounts of money out of you. Let me just play the freaking game. I already paid enough. **Developer response:** I am sorry you feel that way! Some new purchases were added to support the development costs to maintain the game's growth. The last update has added several new great features to the game, which I hope you can enjoy :). ### 2/5 — Pretty good except money grab *2023-10-19* Originally had a four star, then a three and now at two because they keep on adding ways to squeeze large amounts of money out of you. Let me just play the freaking game. I already paid enough. ### 2/5 — Fun, but… *2023-08-28* The game itself is great, but when I tried to buy the ‘progress bundle’ it took my $ & told me “Failed Purchase Error: ReceiptValidation.” When I tried to create a support ticket, the ‘I’m not a robot’ crap wouldn’t let me through. So I guess I’ve just surprise donated $10. Update: I don’t know what happened, but the game gave me the progress bundle a day later. Problem solved itself. The game is still great. **Developer response:** Glad the problem sorted itself out! It is because of a critical bug that existed in v31 of the game. As soon as you updated to v32, it resolved itself. Please update your stars rating of the game if you're enjoying the game :). ### 2/5 — Fun, but… *2023-08-27* The game itself is great, but when I tried to buy the ‘progress bundle’ it took my $ & told me “Failed Purchase Error: ReceiptValidation.” When I tried to create a support ticket, the ‘I’m not a robot’ crap wouldn’t let me through. So I guess I’ve just surprise donated $10. **Developer response:** Sorry about that! What is your in-game username? I will manually apply this purchase to your game. Version 31 of the app had an unexpected bug causing issues with purchases. Please update to v32 before purchasing anything else. And again, please just edit your comment with your username or email me at contact@swellgames.org and I'll fix your original purchase for you :). ### 2/5 — Fun and unique BUT Money Hungry *2023-08-24* TLDR: THE GOOD - Unique rogue-lite tower defense where you create the map yourself. THE BAD - Exploitative micro transactions. Remove Ads - $5. Season Pass - $5 per MONTH. Double Exp - $5 (Required to finish season pass). Double Credits - $5. Faster game speed - $5. Better drop rates - $5. Online Leaderboards with extreme advantages from the above transactions. —————————Full Detailed Review————————— The ability to create your own tower defense map as you play, and with some fun upgrade systems along the way is very nice. But it’s time to rant about malicious developer practices as of the current version of the game Great fun in some parts of the game, however you’ll be watching a ton of ads (between runs at least). I got no problem paying to disable ads on good games, but it’s expensive to do that in this game. Plus there is a (seemingly monthly) season pass with a huge amount of currency given through these systems that’s way more than you get playing the game. Much of it is free, but it’s REALLY trying to incentivize you to spend money in a LOT of different ways. Just logging in and watching an ad daily gives you more currency than playing through multiple hour long runs. Especially with upgrades getting expensive fast and only granting 1-2% regularly for many upgrades. Pretty blatantly exploitative. I ONLY SUGGEST YOU PLAY IF you aren’t susceptible to these tactics. It’ll try to rob you blind. ———————————— Update in response to Developer reply: I appreciate the reply in an attempt at reaching out. I played their last game, and learned about their new game through their discord. I didn’t leave a review on the last game, because I figured a new Dev would hear the other user’s feedback and update accordingly. But it’s got the same issues as before. I’ll go into specifics about points you and I brought up below. 1. You can get the premium currency (Gems) for free, yes. BUT to spend them, it’s not under upgrades. You have to Scroll past the “Buy Gems” section at the top of the page. 2. $5 to disable ads is a normal good price that I might pay. BUT a lot of boosts aren’t locked behind ads, but additional purchases. $5 for faster progression is one thing, and honestly fair enough. BUT they are SOLD SEPARATELY through 4 different $5 purchases. No Ads, Better Drops, Faster Game Speed, Double Experience, and Double Credits are EACH $5. 3. $5 MONTHLY “Season Pass” for more currency after asking for the above. 4. Then the biggest offender that JUST started in the game and made me drop another star. Many EXTREMELY expensive profile cosmetics using normal in-game currency. Even to get the terrible ones you have to pay more than I’ve earned in weeks and many hours of gameplay. That wouldn’t be terrible alone, but then we get the new Tournaments. Actual PAY TO WIN (that the game supposedly “doesn’t have”) to get to the top of the leaderboard, and the people who DO Pay To Win have crazy expensive profile add-ons. That’s DEEPLY malicious! Especially to younger players! The personal progression boosts affecting competition, and only the top players having the best icons is actively scummy. Dev: You can be greedy, we live in a Capitalist world where you can succeed and go far when you do. But you better own up to it. Denying that you are is so blatant it hurts. If the game improves with subsequent updates, I’ll happily raise my score. But until then, I’m giving this my honest 2 star. **Developer response:** Thank you for your feedback! I am always careful to design my games with a "pay to progress quicker" mindset, rather than "pay to win" like most games. The entire game can be unlocked, played, and completed fairly easily as 100% free to play. There are a few microtransactions that can speed up your progress and reduce your grind, but they are not required in any way whatsoever to complete the game in a timely manner. I also make sure that the premium currency is earned very generously just by playing the game normally. As for your comment about having to watch "tons of ads", I am very surprised! Firstly because the ads are 100% optional, so I wouldn't think they would bother anyone. And secondly, because I actually think this game has WAY less ads than most games out there. You only watch like 2 ads per hour in this game if you're playing casually. But I do appreciate the feedback and will see how I can adjust things to satisfy all types of players :). ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Really fun game *2025-09-15* Customizable paths. Towers to equip/boost with different strategies. Portrait mode would be cool ### 5/5 — Very good game *2024-11-03* This is the best game I’ve found in a long time. Not a money grab like most. Not a watch lots of ads game like most. Honest to goodness TD game. Highly recommended! ### 5/5 — Great Fun *2024-08-04* Honestly one of the best tower defense I’ve played that’s free. It isn’t pay to win; for the competitive modes everyone is on an equal playing field. There is progression for non competitive that is also fun ### 5/5 — 5 star game *2024-02-13* Very fun ### 5/5 — Unique TD *2024-01-28* Haven’t played a TD like this before. It’s quite fun and I’d recommend it a try. ### 5/5 — Well made! *2024-01-13* Not predatory, fun TD rogue like… rogue-lite? Whatever, progression feels good. ### 5/5 — True TD rogue-lite *2023-11-20* No $$$ or ads unless you want it that way. True TD rogue-lite on mobile with actual mazing and unlocks are made with progress in game and/or meta-currency. There are equipment loot-boxes but havnt felt compelled to buy one yet. This is the TD game on mobile you are looking for. ACTUAL MAZE BUILDING NOT A MONSTER RPG DISGUISED AS A TD GAME. ### 5/5 — One of the funnest app games I’ve ever played *2023-11-12* I’ve been looking for a game like this for years. Honestly, there’s just no other game that hits like this. My only issue is when hitting end game, there’s not much more to do other than grind leveling up towers. Please add more towers and modes!!! Starting to hit the point where it’s getting boring grinding. ### 5/5 — Brilliant game *2023-11-09* Addictive ### 5/5 — Best game in a while *2023-10-25* I’ve been looking for a game to get hooked on for years. They just don’t make them like they used to. But this game has really blown me away. My only complaints are some of the UI but who cares. The gameplay itself is great and a unique twist on the TD genre. **Developer response:** I'm glad you like it so much! I'd love to hear more your suggestions to improve and polish the UI! Hit me up on Discord :). --- *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 2026-08-21.*