Heroes and Castles 2 Review

Developer: Foursaken Media
Price: $1.99
Version Reviewed: 1.0
App Reviewed on: iPhone 5

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The original Heroes and Castles’ interesting take on castle defense appealed to me greatly back in 2013. And not just because of my general enjoyment of just about everything Foursaken Media creates, either. Jump to the present and now we have Heroes and Castles 2 at our disposal.

The basic idea is pretty much the same as the first: a horde of monsters is attacking your castle, and you need to defend it. You'll be in the thick of the fight while using the hero of your choice, but you can also use points generated by banner carriers and good old fashioned monster slaying to summon several different soldier types to aid you. Also archers. Having archers on the walls is incredibly important.

This sequel does its sequel thing by improving on the original formula almost entirely. Aside from it looking significantly better, of course. There are some nasty new enemies, helpful new soldiers, fancy new gear, and a larger world to explore. Kind of. It’s not really exploration but you can now capture outposts between attacks on your home castle, which will all give you various benefits like increased item drop rates or unlocking new units to hire. The catch is that the enemy horde is always on the move, so you’ll need to be mindful of impending attacks if you want to hold on to your lands. Thankfully you can take them back if you ever lose them.

The heroes are also quite different this time around. Each is functionally the same at first, with different base stats depending on their race (human, dwarf, or elf). Once you start to level them up you’ll be able to customize their skills to fit your preferred playstyle, with skill trees for Knight, Paladin, and Mage to play around with. You may also spend Gems or whatever they’re called to reset a hero’s skills in case you decide you want to try something different. You can also find some pretty sweet loot as you play, in addition to having some forged for you at the blacksmith.

It’s weird for me to say, but Heroes and Castles 2 is very much a Foursaken Media through and through - so if you’re a fan of their previous work then you’ll likely have a blast with it. It has this interesting sense of progression that makes every game feel like you’re accomplishing something, whether it’s taking over a new outpost so that you can start using priests or fighting through a few waves to save up for an upgrade. It can also be played in bite-sized chunks or for extended sessions, whichever you’re in the mood for, without losing any of its appeal.