Guard Times: Defender's Quest II - Mists Of Ruin

Defender's Quest is my favourite tower defence game. The designers managed to combine the basic idea of positioning units on a series of paths with RPG upgrade systems without botching the balance of the entire campaign, or limiting player choice. It's a quietly brilliant piece of work and news of a sequel is most welcome. Level Up Labs are taking preorders for Defender's Quest II: Mists of Ruin now, with Kickstarter style reward tiers. I'd never suggest that anyone preorder anything that isn't in extremely limited supply but $15 will secure a copy of the sequel on release and a copy of the original game right now. If you haven't played it already, that's worth considering. There's even an online demo of the first game. Teaser trailer beyond the ramparts.

It's an all new world with an all new art style, with contributions from veterans of Dust: An Elysian Tail and Waking Mars. As I've come to expect from Level Up, there's a reassuring honesty and acknowledgement of the team's strengths and the limit of their ambitions. I get the impression they once spotted some feature creep and immediately shot it, burned the remains and launched the ashes into space.

Here is a list of things that Mists of Ruin won't involve.

We favor 2D over 3D because 2D art looks great, it keeps costs low, and most importantly - it's way easier for the player to understand what's going on.
We're not adding multi-player or co-op.
We're not adding a bunch of irrelevant mini-games.
We're not committing to voice acting.
We're not throwing our old engine away and starting from scratch.
Most importantly, we're not committing to any stretch goals.

If you already own Defender's Quest, spare copies can be gifted.

...you'll receive a giftable Humble Store key in your pre-order. And if you're really in the giving mood, consider buying a 4-pack -- you'll get 4 individually giftable codes, at 25% off the regular pre-order price.

Lovely.