1. Plants vs. Zombies 2 (Free)
2. Defenders 2 (Free)
3. Kingdom Rush (Free)
4. Toy Defense (Free)
5. Infinitode 2 (Free)
6. Swamp Attack (Free)
7. Steampunk Tower (Free)
8. Castle Creeps (Free)
9. Summoner’s Greed (Free)
10. 2112TD ($1.99)

A genre of gaming that comes under the wide umbrella of strategy games, Tower Defence (or TD as the genre is more popularly known) games require players to defend their area by obstructing enemy forces from intruding into their space. Defending an area is done by building structures of various kinds that help keep out your enemies and help keep your dominion safe and sound. Tower Defence games have been around for a long time, with the first forms of such games being released as early as the late 1970s and early 1980s. Some early precursors for what we know today as TD games are Space Invaders, released in 1978, in which the main objective was to defend the player’s territory against incoming hordes and waves or invaders, and Missile Command, released in 1980, that added a more tactical and strategic element to the genre. Early varieties of Tower Defence games such as Space Invaders and Missile Command were real-time strategy games, but over the years the real-time element has morphed into a more turn-based element, which is what most Tower Defence games utilize these days.

In this article, we bring to you the ten best Android Tower Defence games for you to play in 2022.

1. Plants vs. Zombies 2 (Free)

Kicking off our list of the best Android Tower Defence games of 2022 is Plants vs. Zombies 2. Released by Electronic Arts or EA in 2013, with its predecessor, Plants vs. Zombies being released in 2009, the franchise has grown very popular in the last decade, amassing tens of millions of downloads worldwide. The story revolves around a zombie apocalypse in which the user must defend their home against incoming hordes of zombies by planting different kinds of plants in the garden in front of their home. Each plant has a special ability that somehow negatively affects the zombies, such as the peashooter plant that shoots peas at the zombies and deteriorates their health until they die, or the sunflower plant that produces “sun”, the in-game currency, which is how users can buy any of the other plants in the game. “Sun” also pops up randomly across the lawn on which the battle between the plants and zombies takes place; although popping up slowly they are a great help when fighting the zombies. The zombies in the game are also of many different types and have their own strengths and weaknesses. For example, the Balloon Zombie can float over all the plants on the lawn except the Cactus plant, which can pop the zombie’s balloon, turning it into a regular zombie which can be killed by other plants. 

Plants vs Zombies 2 introduces a new plot element to the game, which is that of time travel. The protagonist of the game must travel back in time through different time periods in order to prevent a time paradox from occurring. Due to this plotline, players get to play the game in many different settings, such as that of the Middle Ages, the Far Future, the 1980s, and even the Ice Age. Plants vs. Zombies 2 also introduces the freemium model, as opposed to the first game in the series which was completely free. Players do not necessarily have to buy anything in order to finish the game, however, and the game can be played normally, without purchases if that is what the player wants.

With over ten million downloads, Plants vs. Zombies 2 is rated 4.3 out of 5 stars on Google Play Store.

2. Defenders 2 (Free)

Released in 2018 by Nival, Defenders 2 is a mix between a Tower Defence game and a card collecting game, but it definitely has the best of both worlds. Defenders 2 has a standard Tower Defence gameplay style, in which you have hordes and waves of creeps and monsters of various kinds rushing towards your base, and in order to defeat them, you must place on the fixed points appointed to you the various towers and defenses at your disposal in order to keep your base safe. The game has three different types of cards for you to collect and make use of. The first is the Tower card, which, as one may expect, is used to build towers, upgrade them, and strengthen your defenses as much as possible against incoming enemies. The second card is the Spell card, which allows you to damage monsters and enemies using various spells and attacks. The last card type is the Enhancer card, which is used to upgrade the first two types of cards so that you can build stronger defenses and deal more damage to your enemies. At the beginning of the game, you start off with one Tower card and one Spell card which you must upgrade and enhance as you move forward with the game.

The game has top-down 3D graphics and looks really good when you’re playing it. The gameplay is smooth and every character has a unique design, including the creeps and monsters. The game does have a freemium element to it, in the sense that you can always pay to make levels easier or grind out certain levels over and over again in order to upgrade your cards, but the game can be played regularly, using strategy, if you do not wish to play the same levels repeatedly for in-game currency.

With over one million downloads, Defenders 2 is rated 4.0 out of 5 stars on Google Play Store. 

3. Kingdom Rush (Free)

Created more than a decade ago by Ironhide Games, Kingdom Rush is one of the most popular and most beloved Tower Defence games that has developed into a full-fledged franchise with the release of other games in the series such as Kingdom Rush: Frontiers, and Kingdom Rush: Origins.

The premise of Kingdom Rush is the same as any other Tower Defence game. You must defend your kingdom against waves of enemies before they invade your area. This is done by strategically placing towers of different kinds in the places allotted for tower building. The game has four primary types of towers: barracks, artillery, mage, and archers. There are over 18 towers in total in the game and each one has its own pros and cons. There are also various heroes, 12 in total, for you to control in-game, who will help defend your kingdom against the hordes of enemies. The game has three difficulty levels for you to choose from, Casual, Normal, and Veteran, and the difference between each of them is the variation in HP or Hit Points of your enemies. The higher the HP, the harder it will be for your towers to get rid of your enemies, making the game more difficult for you.

The game is set in the medieval era and the graphics are cartoonish but very bright and colorful. The game uses a third-person POV from above which helps you see all your towers, barracks, etc., and all the enemies trying to get into your kingdom at once so that you can change your strategies accordingly and make the best choices possible in-game. The heroes and monsters alike are unique in design, and, because of the art style, quite adorable. It is for these and many other reasons that Kingdom Rush remains one of the best Tower Defence games available on Android right now even after a decade of its initial release.

With over ten million downloads, Kingdom Rush is rated 4.6 out of 5 stars on Google Play Store.

4. Toy Defense (Free)

Released by Bamgru, Toy Defense is one of the lesser-known games on this list. But just because it hasn’t blown up in popularity yet doesn’t mean it’s a bad game, in fact, it’s one of the hidden gems of the Tower Defence genre that every TD fan should play.

Toy Defense is set during the time of World War 1, but all of the elements of the war, such as the stronghold which you must defend, your soldiers and enemy soldiers, tanks, fighter jets, and other elements are all represented as toys, and the art style of the game, as the name suggests, is also toy-based. Toy Defense has many different types of soldiers and artillery that players have at their disposal. For example, not only do you have regular foot soldiers, but also trench soldiers and soldiers with flamethrowers. Apart from this, there are also tanks, armored cars, bombers, and SAMs, or Surface-To-Air Missiles. Be aware that your enemy may also have at their disposal such an arsenal and so you must plan your attack and defense very strategically. 

The game initially had 72 levels but it has now been upgraded to over 120 levels for you to play through. There are also three different difficulty modes for you to try out. Placing defenses of various kinds in the game makes use of coins, which is the game’s in-game currency. The player is given a limited amount of coins at the beginning of each level, and as the level progresses and the player kills more enemy troops and destroys artillery they receive more coins which can then be used to buy more troops and artillery for themselves. All of the troops, tanks, jets, etc. can be upgraded using these coins as well in order to strengthen their fighting ability.

The game takes a bird’s-eye-view POV and it is a 2D game with old-school graphics that is sure to entice anyone who is fond of TD games from the ’90s and 2000s.

With over five hundred thousand downloads, Toy Defense is rated 4.4 out of 5 stars on Google Play Store.

5. Infinitode 2 (Free)

Released by Prineside, Infinitode 2 is a unique Tower Defence game in two important aspects. Firstly, as the name suggests, Infinitode 2 is an endless tower defense game in which you must withstand as many waves of enemies as possible without falling victim to their strength and numbers. Secondly, Infinitode 2 is a visually minimalist tower defense game, which is not something you see very often in the genre. By no means is it the best-looking tower defense game out there, but its commitment to the minimalist graphic style lends it a freshness that not many other tower defense games possess. 

Because it is a minimalist-looking game, newcomers to the tower defense genre, or even veterans of the genre, maybe confused about what exactly you need to do and how you need to play the game. The creators of Infinitode 2 anticipated this confusion well in advance, which is why there is a comprehensive tutorial system at the beginning of the game to walk you through the various aspects of the tower defense genre and how it applies to Infinitode 2 in particular. Another aspect of the game that is noticeable right from the beginning if you’ve played other TD games is the extensive skill tree available to users in the game. A skill tree this detailed is not often found in TD games and it makes it apparent that the makers of Infinitode 2 have put a lot of thought into the game in order to make it as strategy-based as possible.

This can also be seen in the difficulty of the early levels of the game. While you may expect a game to go easy on you when you’re just starting, Infinitode 2 does not comply with this expectation, instead making you think about strategy and the proper placement of all of your artillery right from the start.

With over one million downloads, Infinitode 2 is rated 4.6 out of 5 stars on Google Play Store.

6. Swamp Attack (Free)

Released by Outfit7, Swamp Attack is a fun mix between an action game and a Tower Defence game. The premise of Swamp Attack is quite simple. You live in a quaint little town in the Southern USA, near a swamp, and this swamp is now suddenly under attack by enemies of various kinds, and you must defend your home against these varied forces lest they get to you and kill you. Sounds like a TD game right? You feel the difference, however, when you play the game, since the art style and the fast-paced gameplay make it feel like an action game. Another element that adds to this feeling of Swamp Attack being an action game is the fact that your character needs to actively shoot at enemies that are coming to attack you using guns and other weapons of different kinds. 

This, however, is not the whole story. Swamp Attack, just like any other tower defense game, requires you to strategize and make use of your resources carefully, especially when there are hordes of enemies such as crocodiles, giant platypuses with chainsaws, and alien life forms of different kinds coming to attack you without stopping. Even the action and shooting aspect of the game requires you to be smart and make use of your weapons correctly. As mentioned, weapons of many different kinds are available to you in Swamp Attack. However, you cannot spam shoot with these weapons since you will need to take into consideration things such as reload time, recoil, accuracy, etc. The game also offers other kinds of weapons for you to make use of such as dynamite, Molotov cocktails, flamethrowers, etc. These can be thrown directly at your enemies by dragging and dropping. If you think you’ve mastered the game then you can also test your skills by participating in the Challenge Mode or the Multiplayer Mode.

Swamp Attack offers over 390 single-player levels, contained in 8 different episodes, and over 40 different multiplayer levels. There are more than 40 villains and monsters for you to face in the game and as many as 30 different weapons to defeat these monsters.

With over a hundred million downloads, Swamp Attack is rated 4.5 out of 5 stars on Google Play Store.

7. Steampunk Tower (Free)

Next on our list is DreamGate’s Steampunk Tower, an interesting take on the tower defense genre without bending the basic rules of what makes a tower defense game. In Steampunk Tower, you must defend a literal tower that is placed in the middle of your screen, as opposed to defending a kingdom or other such large spaces where you need to place towers strategically in order to defend your area. Instead, you face waves and hordes of enemies from all sides at all times and you must be able to think quickly and strategize in order to defend your steampunk tower. Defending the tower is done by placing several weapons on the empty, open slots available on the tower itself. You can place two weapons or machines on each “floor” of the tower, one on the right and the other on the left. These weapons and machines can be moved around and replaced with one another in case there is an urgent need for you to do so. The tower is hollow in the middle as well, where you must place your weapons machines in order to reload them, which makes the entire ordeal of defending your tower a lot more difficult.

Another important element of the game, which you can tell by its name, is the Steampunk aesthetic which the creators have not hesitated to make full use of. The art style and the entire visual palette of the game are that of a post-apocalyptic world in which only savage robots survive. Your tower stands like a monolith in the middle of the screen and you must do your best to defend it from enemies of all sorts, including big and small machines, gigantic robots, futuristic helicopters and planes, and many more. The background music also adds to the overall gameplay experience and makes Steampunk Tower a game any tower defense fan must check out.

With over one million downloads, Steampunk Tower is rated 4.0 out of 5 stars on Google Play Store.

8. Castle Creeps (Free)

Released by Outplay Entertainment, Castle Creeps is a well-made, well-polished tower defense game that makes use of all the tropes of the genre correctly. The game may not have many fresh and original ideas, and it builds upon old, tried, and tested ideas, but it does so really well.

In Castle Creeps, you must defend a series of paths and lanes which will be under attack by waves of enemies. On these paths and lanes, the game provides you with designated spots on which to build your towers which will be used to kill these waves of enemies by throwing at them projectiles of different sorts. Some towers also have the capability of calling in infantry armed with hammers which will fight with the hordes of enemies trying to attack you. You also have at your disposal a hero which you can control to kill the hordes that your towers might have missed or are incapable of killing. This hero can use special moves to ward off enemies and keep your area safe.

Killing enemies earns you the in-game currency known as Elixir which can then be used to buy more towers or upgrade existing towers, which will help as the strength of the enemy waves increases as time goes on. Towers that you’ve erected can also be sold in case you think there needs to be a stronger tower or a tower of a different kind at that particular location. Selling a tower gets you less Elixir than you used to buy that tower, which is why players must be sensible in their use of Elixir, lest they lose a lot of Elixir and hence the game. 

The gameplay in Castle Creeps is very smooth and every click and press of a button is accurate and instant. This helps a lot when there are a lot of enemies attacking you at once and you need to make rapid actions in order to defend yourself. The graphics are very high quality, the art style is bright, colorful, and inviting, and the soundtrack ties all the different elements together.

With over a million downloads, Castle Creeps is rated 4.3 out of 5 stars on Google Play Store.

9. Summoner’s Greed (Free)

Released in 2017 by PIXIO, Summoner’s Greed is an idle Tower Defence game, which means you don’t need to actively play the game in order to, well, play the game. The plot surrounding Summoner’s Greed is very interesting and goes like this: the user plays a Summoner who is amongst one of the strongest and most powerful in the world, and this Summoner has broken into the King’s castle in order to steal the royal treasure. Although the Summoner thinks that he has gotten away scot-free, the King is aware of the theft and has ordered his soldiers and all the defenders of his kingdom to bring back the royal treasure. 

As the Summoner, you must summon various monsters and minions in order to fight the king’s army, and you must also place towers of different kinds in order to keep the enemies away. As mentioned, this is an idle TD game, which means you don’t have to kill enemies yourself or fight using a hero. Instead, you can just place towers in the appropriate locations and summon your monsters to fight for you. The catch is, however, that your defenses won’t last forever, especially when the incoming enemy waves get stronger and stronger. In order to defeat stronger waves, you must use your powers to summon stronger monsters or upgrade the ones already fighting. 

Summoning monsters requires either orbs or gems, the former acquired whenever you finish a level, and the latter when you complete achievements. Upgrading your monsters requires you to spend coins, which can be quite tiresome since coins are only awarded to you every time you kill an enemy, and the ratio is one coin to one dead enemy. Even the advertisement system of the game is new and innovative. Since Summoner’s Greed is a free game it must show ads, but instead of simply playing an ad whenever the game feels like it, the game has a character that walks up to the screen on the bottom and offers you a reward for watching an ad. This way you have the option of skipping the ad if you so wish, but if you do watch it you get a sweet reward out of it.

With over five million downloads, Summoner’s Greed is rated 4.8 out of 5 stars on Google Play Store.

10. 2112TD ($1.99)

The final game on our list of the best Android Tower Defence games of 2022 is Refinery Games’ 2112TD. Although a very little-known game, 2112TD has garnered critical acclaim from popular gaming websites and blogs, which have hailed it as one of the best mobile tower defense games of recent times. The thing that strikes you about 2112TD right from the jump is the fact that there are no in-app purchases or advertisements in the game due to the fact that it’s a paid game. This throws out the window any possibility for users to pay their way to victory or grind out old levels in order to get upgrades. The only way you’re going to win in 2112TD is through strategy and hard work.

The premise of the game is simple and builds the world of 2112TD very effectively. You must strategize to fend off an alien invasion on Earth and keep the aliens from colonizing your planet. This basic premise allowed the creators of the game to build an environment filled with post-apocalyptic scenes in which terrors reigns supreme on every side. The maps are large and there are swarms of enemies everywhere, so you must think long and hard as to how exactly you’re going to defeat the aliens and keep them at bay. There are tons of different weapons at your disposal including things such as airstrikes, machine guns, flamethrowers, fortification walls, and plasma turrets amongst many others. Towers can be set up at designated spots and you must micro-manage the entirety of your defense as the hordes of enemies keep attacking.

The game’s graphics are inspired by early 2000’s PC games, and given the plot and premise, the aesthetic is well suited to 2112TD. All the monsters are unique in their character design, and the game’s soundtrack is phenomenal.

With over ten thousand downloads, 2112TD is rated 4.7 out of 5 stars on Google Play Store.