Kingdom Rush 6: Genesis goes back in time to stop Vez'nan before he becomes Vez'nan

There is an idea in this sixth Kingdom Rush that could have been a mere pretext and becomes the game's best argument: you travel back in time to stop Vez'nan becoming the villain.

For anybody who started the series in 2011 in a browser, that is a return to origins in the literal sense. For everybody else, it is an excellent reason to start with this one.

What it changes

The game sends you back to the lands of the original Kingdom Rush, at a time when legends were only beginning.

You meet familiar faces, revisit iconic battlefields, and build defences against waves that do not let up. The studio's line captures it: defend the past to change the future.

What works is that this premise is not merely dressing. A tower defence series lives on the familiarity of its towers and enemies, and using time travel as a pretext lets it reuse that familiarity instead of working around it.

The mechanical change that counts

There is a line in the description that should interest every regular: you play with two heroes in each stage.

The studio phrases it with its usual humour, asking who knew heroes could be such close roommates.

Substantively, that changes a great deal. In previous entries the hero was a single piece you dropped wherever things were burning. With two, you have to choose a pair, so think in terms of complementarity, and above all cover two hot spots instead of one.

It is the kind of addition invisible on a screenshot that completely changes how you read a map.

The announced content

Ironhide does not do things by halves, and the list is precise.

27 upgradeable characters, including 15 towers with special skills, to combine for their synergies.

12 epic heroes, which allows a great many different pairings.

9 powerful spells to equip and turn a situation at the critical moment.

18 campaign stages, each with its own hordes and mechanics, across 3 landscapes of Linirea.

Over 40 different enemies, across 5 races, and 6 colossal boss fights.

Plus additional game modes, over fifty achievements, and the easter eggs the studio has made its signature.

What it is worth

The game launches today, developed and published by Ironhide Game Studio, with no price displayed and no reviews as I write.

Ironhide is one of very few studios to have sustained a tower defence series for fifteen years without diluting it, and it shows in the precision of what they announce: they know exactly what their audience wants to count.

My reservation is structural. A sixth entry in a series this codified has little room: too many changes and the regulars complain, too few and you are selling the same thing. The double hero is this entry's bet, and it is what the game will be judged on in a month.

Otherwise, if you have enjoyed a single Kingdom Rush, you already know whether this one is for you. And if you have never played one, starting with the prequel has never been better justified.

We have written a guide to getting started, particularly on choosing hero pairs and the order of upgrades.

Your favourite hero pair? We compare setups on the InsertCoins Discord.