I think it was during the ShopTalk with Blake Watson where “tower defense” games briefly came up and someone recommended Kingdom Rush. It’s not exactly new, coming out in 2011, but it was new to me. I played on iOS. It feels like the total classic of tower defense games. Monsters come at you, you build towers to stop them. There are different types of towers, and your success comes from the right combinations, upgrades, and placement. The gameplay is very engaging as you aren’t just buying upgrades and new towers, but controlling a hero character who (should) be helping out areas that need it the most, as well as using abilities and purchased items for added help.
I had a lot of fun playing through it. Technically I’m only maybe 75% “done” as each level contains multiple levels of difficulty and extra challenges, but I’m feeling pretty done now that I’ve completed the entire upgrade tree and have 3 stars on every level.
They have a bunch of follow up games, some of which I hear are even better, but I haven’t touched them yet. I lost probably more hours than I should have to this so I might have to let those be for a while.