Mindustry is a fun and interesting game that is melding together two different genres. On one hand, the game can be described as a tower defense game, but it also has resource management and factory building as well. It is a very addictive and fast-paced game and one that you can easily lose hours and hours too!
How to Download Mindustry
To download the game from Steam, click on the Download button located at the end of this review. If you like tower defense titles, check out also our review of Kingdom Rush Origins or Dungeon Warfare 2.
The Game Review
The idea of Mindustry is that you are on the planet Serpulo and you need to mine for materials. These materials are used to build buildings, make ammo and help you fight off wave after wave of enemy robots. There is a campaign here that is a lot of fun to play through, but the game is very light on an actual story.
You take control of this drone-like thing and you move all over the map finding resources that you can mine. The thing is, much of the stuff required in this game needs a helping hand from you. That is where building factories and conveyor belts come into play. You can mine and build ammo, but you then want it to be taken directly to a gun so that it always has ammo to fight off the wave after wave of enemies.
The enemies are coming for your base, they destroy your base and you lose! Much of the strategy comes from not just the mining and setting things up. It also comes from the position of these things. Using the terrain to hide for example can make it harder for enemy fire to get to a structure.
Mindustry has a tech tree which at first is very confusing to figure out what you have to do. You may have the resources, but it will not let you upgrade anything. The reason for this is that you have to send the resources to your base and you can then play around with the tech tree once you have left a level.
I liked how the game kept me on my toes, I would think that I had the ultimate line of defense, only for a new flying type of enemy to come in and force me to change things up. Stuff like this is what makes Mindustry so addictive and fun as it is always forcing you to think.
While I only focused on the campaign, you also have many other game modes to enjoy. Survival mode, attack, PvP, and there is even a sandbox mode too where you can mess around and try to figure out the best designs and strategies. I found the number of game modes on offer here very impressive.
You can also take direct control of your little drone and this comes in really handy. You can use it to quickly gather any resources you may need. Also, you can use this to provide additional firepower if the enemy threat is starting to get a bit out of hand. I found this added a bit of action to the game.
The presentation of the game is great. It has a kind of retro pixel-art style thing going on and that is something which I really like. It gives the game a ton of personality and everything is easy to understand what it is. The soundtrack is kind of just there if I am being honest, but this is the kind of game I would play with my own music on anyway.
I had a great time with Mindustry, while I played the game on PC, I think that it would be even more addictive on mobile platforms. If you enjoy tower defense games and like resource management, you are in for a real treat with this game.
