Indie · October 30, 2012

Defender’s Quest: Valley of the Forgotten (DX edition) (2012)

trophy30 achievementsgroup1M–10M ownersrecommend2.7k recommendations
Defender's Quest is a Tower-Defense/RPG Hybrid (Think Final Fantasy Tactics meets Tower Defense). It focuses on three things: tactical depth, customization, and story. That means no random encounters, no spikey-haired emo kids, no forced time sinks, and no tedious, repetitive battles. The battle system builds off of tower defense, with individual characters taking the place of towers. Each character levels-up, learns skills, and equips gear individually, allowing the player to customize their battle experience and strategy. The overall game structure is similar to 'tactical' RPG's, but with a real-time battle system. Game speed is adjustable, and commands can even be issued while the game is paused. It also features an engaging, character-driven story written by an actual English major! The story strives to be fast-paced, snappy, and always relevant to gameplay with minimal exposition. Finally, it's got options and accessibility settings out the wazoo, so that you can have the best possible experience!

Peer Indie titles

Comparable titles in the same genre and review-volume band — ranked by Steam positive percentage.

Community Tag Signals

Tag weights reflect how many Steam users voted each descriptor — larger pills = stronger consensus.

  • Tower Defense · 452
  • Female Protagonist · 333
  • Tactical RPG · 330
  • Strategy · 325
  • RPG · 319
  • 2D · 315
  • Story Rich · 311
  • Pixel Graphics · 308
  • Zombies · 302
  • Fantasy · 297
  • Medieval · 293
  • Moddable · 289
  • Comedy · 285
  • Adventure · 282
  • Retro · 278

Position in Indie

MetricThis titleGenre position
Review volume3.5k Steam reviewsTop 66% in Indie
Positive rating95% positiveGenre average: 87% — this title sits in top 23%
Engagement hours27 h averageTop 22% for session depth among Indie

Localization Coverage

Interface / Subtitles (11)

  • English
  • Czech
  • German
  • Japanese
  • Russian
  • Korean
  • Spanish - Spain
  • Italian
  • French
  • Simplified Chinese
  • Traditional Chinese

Features & Capabilities

Community

  • Steam Achievements
  • Steam Trading Cards
  • Steam Workshop
  • Steam Cloud

Input & Comfort

  • Full controller support

Other

  • Single-player
  • Includes level editor
  • Family Sharing

Indie releases from 2012

8 Indie titles launched in 2012 — top 6 by review volume.

Press Quotes

'It's Brilliant.' – Rock, Paper, Shotgun 'Incredibly Fun.' 8.5/10 – Destructoid 'Excellent' 4.5/5.0 – RPGamer

Release & Availability

Release dateOct 30, 2012
DeveloperLevel Up Labs, LLC
PublisherLevel Up Labs
Base price$14.99
PlatformsWindows, macOS, Linux
Estimated owners1M–10M
External linksOfficial site · Support · [email protected]

Reception Metrics

Steam community

95%Overwhelmingly Positive · 3.5k reviews

3.3k positive · 173 negative

Curator recommendations

2.7k

Engagement Profile

All-time avg

27h

moderate (15–40 hours)

Median

13h

Typical completion time

Achievements

30

Steam unlocks available

Editions & Packages

  • Buy Defender's Quest: Valley of the Forgotten (DX edition)