IDUN – Frontline Survival review

Tower Defence is a genre I’ve always played sporadically, and usually only when it’s bolted onto the side of something else. It’s rare that I ever get into the nitty gritty of tower defence in its purest form. I prefer a narrative, or at the very least some form of character progression like an RPG or Metroidvania. But IDUN – Frontline Survival surprised me with just how quickly it sucked me in.

Primarily, you play as Ham, a gruff but snarky security officer whose job it is to oversee the defence of a mostly automated mining operation on the planet Idun. Aided by his daughter Ro-ro and a handful of unlockable allies, Ham is often the guy in the thick of the action when deadly alien vermin begin attacking the operation from every direction.

Ham is just one guy, and will be swarmed in seconds without the aid of equipment deployed via orbital drop. Turrets, flamethrowers, towers and upgrades can be called down, earned with material you pull out of the ground during the mission. The action is fast, the deployment instant, the gratification immediate. But that’s not the cool part. The cool part is that none of your placements are permanent. Just as you can move Ham and his allies around to fill gaps in your defences, you can also move turrets and other items at zero cost and with no wait times. Too many bugs amassing to the east? Drop your turrets there while Ham and his buddies finish off stragglers to the west.

In between, you can use a powerful “sky gun” to obliterate enemies in real-time to give your guys on the ground some help. Periodically you’ll receive golden packages you can click on to get new upgrades, more guns, or boosts and buffs, and as missions are often short and frantic you’ll need to use everything. IDUN is designed to be challenging, and taking your eye off the ball for even a few seconds will see you overrun.

Other characters soon join you, such as sharpshooter Rayne and melee-focused Q, and with them comes more of a focus on narrative. IDUN – Frontline Survival exists in quite a fleshed-out universe, and the colourful, well-drawn characters reflect this universe. They mostly squabble, but also exposit plenty, and build the world.

It’s a good-looking game too. The mission levels aren’t super detailed but they do run the gamut of alien landscapes. The character portraits during conversations are gorgeous though. It also sounds pretty good, with fully voiced dialogue and some great sound effects. It’s quite satisfying to slam turrets into the ground and mow down hordes of giant bugs with the sky-gun.

IDUN is seriously frantic at times though. It barely gives you a moment to think once an onslaught begins, and while it’s really fun to micromanage the defence in this way, it can get stressful. Once you start losing turrets it’s hard to unlock replacements fast enough, and repairs aren’t always an option. As I said, it’s challenging by design, and the higher the difficulty you choose per mission, the better the rewards you’ll earn.

These rewards are then used to unlock various upgrades to your defences, research new items, and level up your characters and their gear. The between-mission hub allows you to spend resources in any way you choose, though you won’t spend a great deal of time there. It’s interesting to note that IDUN also plays really well on Steam Deck despite not being verified at time of writing. The small screen can make it tricky to read some of the dialogue, but it runs really smoothly and is easy to control even when in the thick of the action.

IDUN – Frontline Survival is an interesting take on the tower defence genre with likeable characters and a fun story. It’s quite unique in its mechanics, which keeps it feeling fresh throughout. It’s not super easy though, so be prepared for a little frustration as you get to grips with it.