Skip to content
Defense Grid: The Awakening
81 Score
Strategy · Indie

Defense Grid: The Awakening

Hidden Path Entertainment  /  December 8, 2008  /  Rated Everyone 10+

Data last updated July 24, 2026

Buy on Amazon Search on eBay

As an affiliate, PixelScry may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through these links.

48 playing now on Steam $9.99 on Steam 6 DLC available View on Steam →

Released

2008

Time to beat

~4 hrs

Community

1,442

Microsoft’s tower defence

The game is one in the genre of tower defense, developed by Hidden Path Entertainment for PC and Xbox 360. Later it was ported to the Mac, and for other consoles in 2013. For Xbox owners, it was distributed free of charge to all holders of the Gold Xbox Live subscription. The game was actively promoted by Microsoft at Game Developers Conference 2008.

Key features

The player must defend his own military bases from alien attacks. The latter aimed at power cores, which are located on each map at power plants. To protect the cores player has at their disposal ten different types of towers. They have to be built on platforms specially allocated for this. Thus each level turns into a puzzle, created by the developers for the player to solve. Enemies can not attack the towers, and killing the foes is the only source of resources for the player. Each tower has its own strengths, and for the maximum efficiency, they must be correctly positioned on the map. The player has to defeat Fifteen types of enemies, each like towers, with its own strengths and weaknesses.

The Plot

There is a story in the game, despite the simplicity of the gameplay. It is based on the fact of an attack by some alien race on the planet, where for some unknown reason the defense grid is disabled. Completing the levels, the player turns on each node of the defense system and eventually one by one and reflects the enemy attack. The game is set in the distant future, and the scenery for the battles contains ancient ruins and military bases built amid the dying grandeur of civilization.

Defense Grid: The Awakening is a tower defense video game developed by Hidden Path Entertainment for Windows and Xbox Live Arcade on the Xbox 360. The game was one of the titles promoted by Microsoft during their Game Developers Conference keynote speech on February 20, 2008. The game was released for Microsoft Windows on December 8, 2008, and for Xbox 360 on September 2, 2009. The OS X version shipped from Virtual Programming on July 7, 2010.

Read more on Wikipedia →
recommended
51.85%
meh
25%
skip
15.74%
exceptional
7.41%

Available on Steam · Epic Games

More like this