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[Durante]

Name: Sanctum
Developer: Coffee Stain Studios
Genre: FPS Tower Defense
Platform: PC
Availability: Steam
Price: 15USD / 15EUR / 10GBP (discounted 2-packs available, the game has co-op)
Release: Today!

I just saw that there is no thread for this so far, and I actually almost have missed the release even though I've been interested in this for a while now. It's clearly being overshadowed by Portal 2, but I still believe it deserves some recognition. I love the tower defense sub-genre, and Sanctum really seems to be trying something new in that.

Key Features: (Copy/paste from Steam)

• Experience a brand new mix of genres!
• Play through beautiful environments with unique strategic possibilities
• Develop your own strategy and build your custom mazes
• Team up with a friend in co-op mode!
• Powered by Unreal Technology, Sanctum is one of the world's best looking independent developed games!

Here's a trailer.

I'll add some impressions when it unlocks later, for now have some screenshots:

Edit:

By the way, the game obviously has Steam achievements. One of them is called "599 US Dollars". Just saying.

 

[garath]

Great game. I bought the pre-release two pack for myself and my friend. Came out to $10 a piece. Pre-release came with beta access so I got to play it some.

Game is really fun. Very challenging. The difficulty ramps up very quickly and you need to build your maze, upgrade your towers and upgrade your guns with a lot of forethought. I can't wait to try it co-op with my friend. I think we're going to try it tonight.

I'm looking forward to the additional maps the full release will bring. The developer has been very attentive as well. He uses steam forums as the primary forums and is an active poster/reader. The game has changed quite a bit from the early beta gameplay videos I saw.

 

[spandexmonkey]

I played the beta, really enjoyed it, but was disappointed I couldn't play beyond the first map. Picked up the two pack, glad to hear it was finally released.

 

[Davidion]

Have been eyeballing this since it popped up on steam front page.

Will look forward to some reviews!

 

[RealMeat]

Anyone know how many maps this is going to have?

 

[garath]

Anyone know how many maps this is going to have?

Just based on the beta build from earlier this week it looks like 3. Two were locked during beta.

 

[Shawsie64]

looks pretty awesome ill give it a go

 

[(._.)]

looks interesting not sure I'll be buying this at launch but during a sale this will probably get purchased.

 

[Durante]

I played in co-op for a while. The difficulty is extreme. There's only 2 modes on multiplayer, casual and hardcore. Being self-respecting gamers we wouldn't choose casual, so for a few hours we tried moving beyond the 5th wave. And I'd say we're both pretty good at tower defense and FPS. I hope some intermediate difficulty for multiplayer mode makes it in soon.

In any case, the game controls well and looks and sounds great for an indie title. But the balance between waves and overall difficulty in multiplayer really needs some tweaks.

Here are 2 screenshots, sorry about the mumble overlay.

 

[LethaL ImpuLse]

This game looks awesome, shame it's not getting more attention. I'll be picking it up soon, but here's a link to the demo if anyone is wanting to try it out (it's not available on Steam just yet): http://www.coffeestainstudios.com/files/SanctumDemoInstaller.exe

 

[eiskaltnz]

This game is brilliant. I have been playing a bunch of COOP with one of my friends. Anyone who likes tower defense and FPS games will love it.

Does anyone else find that they spend way more money on towers but do a lot more damage with their weapons?

 

[Pkaz01]

Its disappointing that this game isn't getting much recognition. Its pretty damn fun,.

 

[Boerseun]

Wow, this looks good. Also great to read the positive impressions. It seems everyone's playing in co-op though. That makes me think a console release with a split-screen option would be ideal.

 

[subversus]

I have played a year ago (or a year and a half?). It didn't impress me. But I don't care about tower defense games.

 

[garath]

The co-op is very very hard. It's refreshing in a way but I'd love a more gentle difficulty spike.

Needless to say though, my friend and I have been having great fun with it. We're getting the hang of things pretty quickly. Can't wait to see all the new features the devs will be adding. They've been very active.

 

[gregor7777]

oooohhhh what's this now

 

[Durante]

We finally gave in and tried "casual", and it's really only casual for the first few waves. It's fun to finally get some higher level towers and fill out the maze though.

 

[Moobabe]

This game is kicking my ASS so hard. Still fun though; especially knowing that I'm doing the levels wrong; always spurs me on to try different routes.

Edit

What's the 600 meg patch that's just dropped?

 

[garath]

We finally gave in and tried "casual", and it's really only casual for the first few waves. It's fun to finally get some higher level towers and fill out the maze though.

I'm not going to lie, after playing hardcore a little in the beta, my buddy and I instantly started on casual. Imo there's not much casual about it.

 

[Primate Ryan]

The patch added a server browser according to the Steam forums and that's about it? It's weird though, a 600 mb patch for a game that is somewhere around a gigabyte in size.

 

[EXGN]

Fun, but not as good as the other TD game I've been hooked on lately, Anamoly: Warzone Earth. Would definitely be interested in playing some co-op, if anyone else is down.

 

[Alex Connolly]

Terrific fun. Nice and challenging, with some finely nuanced gun integration.

 

[Alex Connolly]

Had a bunch of fun with this in co-op with Poimandres tonight. Hard as balls! But a great game regardless. Needs more attention.

 

[Chocoboko]

I really wish there was a demo. I am interested in this but I wish I could try it before I drop $15.

 

[Alex Connolly]

I really wish there was a demo. I am interested in this but I wish I could try it before I drop $15.

Did you try the old demo? As far as options and towers go, it's quite different to the full version, but you get the same idea. Certainly has the same vibe.

 

[Poimandres]

This game is a lot of fun. I particularly appreciate that you can take all the time you need between waves. Nice and smooth in coop as well- no lag at all.

 

[Alex Connolly]

Spent another evening playing co-op again...the lack of enthusiasm by a few more GAFers is a heinous, though not unexpected, travesty.

Surely the Giant Bomb quicklook might draw in a few pundits. Although, Ryan certainly talks the talk without walking the walk during his backseat driver duty over Brad's shoulder.

 

[Durante]

A new patch was released recently that, among other things, added a new map and rebalanced multiplayer difficulty.

Previously we had trouble reaching Wave 35 on Casual. Now there are 3 difficulty levels, "Casual", "Experienced" and "Hardcore". We tried the middle one first and got to Wave 53. Quite a difference there.

 

[NewBrof]

Sanctum demo on Steam is released. You can play to wave 7 in the demo.
I think I will buy it now...

(Good for testing your PC. I have an old PC (single core AMD 3000+), it works ok, if I set settings to low and resolution to 800x600...)

 

[QisTopTier]

I just picked this up because of the steam summer sale, been playing it all day. I just want to say this is by far the most fun tower defense game I've played.

 

[Erudite]

4 Player Co-op Patch came out today, among some other additions:

Added support for 4 players in co-op!
Added Endless Singleplayer mode!
Added Limited amount of waves in multiplayer!
Added Turbo Mode!
Added more Achievements!
Added co-op build and upgrade towers!
Added Ping in Server Browser
Added option for server to kick players
Added option to see full games in Server Browser
New and improved HUD arrows!
Improved GamePad support!
You can now "Ping" by right clicking in the overview!

On top of this, a huge amount of general bug fixes, performance optimization and balance changes has been made.

This game seriously needs more love, especially now that they've increased the co-op player count. Really hope it becomes a daily for those who are on the fence, then you'll really have no excuse.

A two pack is available as well.

 

[Durante]

This game seriously needs more love, especially now that they've increased the co-op player count. Really hope it becomes a daily for those who are on the fence, then you'll really have no excuse.

And it happened. Everyone should get this game. Nice idea, good implementation, full coop features and fantastic post-release support.

 

[Foliorum Viridum]

Just looking at those screens gives me a headache. Horrible art style.

 

[Sober]

I think a couple of people (myself included) were looking for putting 4-packs together. Probably be a bit easier to organize in here than the Steam thread.

 

[ASilva]

Im up for a 4-pack deal. Can paypal the money to whoever buys it in advance. I cant really buy it myself cause i'm not in the US and its not as cheap in Europe.

 

[Freedom = $1.05]

Im also down for a 4pack DONT FORGET MEEEEEEE

 

[ASilva]

Ok just need 1 more

 

[TheExodu5]

Just looking at those screens gives me a headache. Horrible art style.

The game looks far better in motion. They did a great job with it.

 

[Mairu]

Ok just need 1 more

I'd go for a 4pack if you still have space

 

[ASilva]

I guess we have 4 people right? Is any of you from the US? Its a bit cheaper buying there

 

[Freedom = $1.05]

I'm still down for a 4 pack. C'mon, I've got $2.50 sitting in my paypal for this...

 

[Maxim726X]

Anyone else still need a person to chip in for a 4-pack?

Will paypal you. PM me if anyone has one available.

 

[d[-_-]b]

Also looking for people for the 4-pack, I can host too :O.

 

[JacksUsername]

Picked this up - was just wondering if there was a GAF server set up at all?

 

[Dizzy-4U]

Holy crap this game is hard!

I've been playing by myself (friends are still downloading) and I couldn't beat wave 8.

I'm really liking it though. How many maps does it have?

 

[Exuro]

I'm having trouble with the game as well. My brother and I are able to play on the casual level relatively easily, but bumping it up to the normal difficulty we can't even get to wave 10. Any tips/pointer?

 

[faceless007]

Is there a single-player element to this? I'm not really interested in co-op.

 

[Yaska]

Is there a single-player element to this? I'm not really interested in co-op.

Yes, but the game is in my opinion alot better with friends.

 

[Petrie]

I'm looking to buy into a 4-pack to get an extra copy for my g/f. I'm willing to host if need be, so please shoot me a PM if you need another Gaffer. US here.

 

[Katzenjammer]

Much more fun with friends! There should be some sort of a GAF server, there isn't even a thread about it in the community section..