RoguedexPart 4 (Dec 2025) · #8 of 10 in that tierWatch the moment (1:03:01)
Gnomes
- Developed by
- DYSTOPIAN
- Published by
- DYSTOPIAN, Gamersky Games
$9.99
Gnomes is a turn-based tower defense with deep roguelike progression, set in ever-expanding, procedurally generated biomes. Build, farm and defend your village as you push deeper into goblin-infested territory. Unlock powerful upgrades and craft your environment to survive the endless goblin horde
Consensus
B74/100
Steam players95.1% positiveOverwhelmingly Positive1,847 reviews
VG Insights estimate ↗≈95.9K copies · ≈$606K gross
What creators say
Ranked Apr 2026 · #11 of 14 in that tierListen to the episode
What players say
A turn-based, maze-building tower defense roguelite by the two-person studio DYSTOPIAN in which you place and move weapon-wielding gnomes and plant crops to stop goblins reaching your garden shed.
Gnomes (Steam, April 2025, $9.99, Windows only) is very well received by players: about 1,850 Steam reviews at roughly 95% positive (Overwhelmingly Positive), with the last 30 days around 91%. Players call it a tight, replayable throwback to classic mazing tower defense (WC3-style) with Vampire-Survivors/Balatro-style roguelite build variety and short runs. Complaints centre on RNG-dependent shop and relic offers, degenerate dominant builds (cactus, economy plants) and a sweaty, laggy endgame, plus the per-turn chore of moving every gnome. It is not early access; the two devs keep shipping free updates (1.3 and 1.3.2 in 2025, 2.0 with 4 maps and 8 guilds in early 2026, 2.1 balance and performance, 2.2 controller beta) and have since announced a new game, ALLFATHER. No Metacritic or OpenCritic entry exists for this game, so the signal is player reviews, plus a few small outlets and curators quoted on the Steam page.
Players love
- Classic maze-building tower defense where gnomes physically block paths and you funnel goblins past them; players compare it fondly to Warcraft 3 TD maps and Plants vs. Zombies
- Deep build synergies between gnomes, crops, buildings and relics (crops double as economy and buffs, e.g. coffee plant for attack speed), with items that change core rules like fertilising from dead goblins
- Short runs that encourage experimentation and quick pick-up-and-play sessions; run structure compared to Balatro with an endless mode after wave 16
- Distinct guilds act like character classes with different starting kits, and maps have different biomes, spawn points and music
- Charming lo-fi, arcade look and a soundtrack that many reviewers single out as excellent
- Excellent value (frequently bought around $5 on sale), runs on very low-end hardware, custom engine
- Responsive devs who keep adding free content (new maps, guilds, relics, languages) and act on feedback
- Procedurally generated maps and modifying the terrain give each run a different puzzle
Common complaints
- Shop and relic RNG is heavily influential; some players restart repeatedly until they get the upgrades a guild needs to function
- Balance: a few items, economy plants (e.g. cactus, yawn/root combos) and mazing strategies dominate, so late-game builds converge and strategic variety shrinks
- Late game / endless mode becomes sweaty, slow and laggy, with huge numbers of entities, path-visualisation clutter and very long late runs
- Some guilds feel like meme or challenge starts rather than solid strategy foundations, per a critical review after an update
- Only a single save/run slot at a time, even across modes
- Steep learning curve early on with little in-game guidance for people unfamiliar with classic TD
- Reviewers who bounce off it find it simple, repetitive or shallow: same loop with slight variations, little variety in artifacts, and runs too short for meaningful economy decisions
- Gnome class synergies are weak; most runs stick to one gnome class because of gold cost and class-specific artifact slots
Can feel tedious
- Having to move every gnome every round is called tedious and frustrating by several negative reviewers, and it is the main dealbreaker for players who prefer fixed-tower TD like Kingdom Rush
- Endgame grind: planting thousands of cacti or crops and still not clearing a level; very time consuming and punishing
- Restarting maps repeatedly to fish for a workable RNG shop
- Repetitive opening turns at the start of every run
- Short-lived fun for some: negative reviewers say the loop is simple and repeats the same strategy every run (plant as much as possible, build houses, brute force), so interest fades quickly
What's unique
- Towers (gnomes) are movable every turn, making it a positioning puzzle rather than fixed-node placement, unlike most modern TDs
- Crops and plants are both the income engine and the buff system, so farming and defense are one loop
- Goblins and waves can alter the map (e.g. sappers leaving holes in your maze) and tile effects can redirect enemy waves
- Roguelite meta-loop with guilds and stages unlocked by play, pick-from-options choices and rule-bending relics, described as bringing Vampire Survivors/Brotato-style build craft into tower defense
- Endless mode after beating wave 16 with escalating waves, Balatro-style
- Turn-based pacing with unlimited placement per turn, in a compact, low-spec custom engine
Players want
- Rebalance dominant economy builds and underpowered guilds so more builds are viable in the 20+ day late game
- Reduce RNG dependence (shop rerolls, guaranteed access to guild-relevant items) or add more ways to mitigate bad rolls
- Bulk or group movement of gnomes and other quality-of-life for repositioning, and multiple save slots (both requested on the Steam forum)
- Better onboarding and tutorial for newcomers to mazing tower defense
- Polish controller support (beta added in patch 2.2) and further late-game performance optimisation
- Add a proper soundtrack release (a reviewer wished for one) and requested features such as multiplayer
Summarised from Steam reviews and community discussion.
Steam tags
Tower DefenseTurn-BasedRogue-likeProcedural GenerationFarming SimDwarfEconomySurvivalCity BuilderPixel Graphics
Similar games
More runs with shared subgenres and Steam tags.
Tier list Part 4 (2025)
Gnomes is a tower defense map-building roguelike where you place and reposition gnomes, walls, crops and other structures to protect a house from goblins arriving from varying directions on an open map. It was sent to the channel by a viewer and he went in with zero expectations. He found it a surprisingly strategic, unusual take on tower defense that demands attention every round, so it is not a casual chill game. The minimalistic art and hard-to-read chaos hold it back somewhat. He settles on B tier, phrased as a good B.
Liked
Disliked