Good to know before playing. Aegis Defenders is an action rpg game developed by GUTS Department for the PC platform.
The environment in the game belongs to the stylistics of retro, and the following features can be distinguished: action, adventure game, indie, strategy, role-playing game, pixel graphics, tower defense, platformer, co-op, steam achievements, there are subtitles, adventure, tower defense, co-op local play , anime, local multiplayer. You will have access to such game modes as "for one player", "co-op" and "for multiple players."
Immortal achievement
Retrying is what actually stops you from unlocking this achievement. In my first two playthroughs, I thought that using the pause menu to repeat from a breakpoint was just a matter of convenience. I ended up having to play the game for the third time. This is the main reason why I decided to put together a guide.
Beware of bonus levels. While the game as a whole doesn't put pressure on you with the threat of instant death, one of these three levels will force you to constantly run away from it. These levels are suggested by NPCs from other games that appear near the main store in the middle of the game. The female NPC is the one to look out for (and with the other two being the mech and the knight, you’ll know right away).
It is possible to disable autosave. It can be found in the game settings, in the "Data" section.
Difficulty settings
Unfortunately I didn't get the chance to try co-op, which I suppose would be great, but here's my personal experience with three different modes.
Usual
My third playthrough of the game. With only an immortal achievement left, I ignored most of the level objectives after the first zone and swept through the game in about five and a half hours. Not my best speedrun. Now that I think about it, I don't believe I have ever watched a fast launch of a hybrid tower defense game. And I would love to!
Difficult
My first playthrough of the game. While most of the main levels felt completely right, there are three that I really struggled with, and these were the only levels I had to repeat to complete the level reward (which is not necessary for 100%). I think these levels would be a lot more fun in co-op. Taking my time, I finished the run in about twenty hours.
Insane
My second playthrough of the game. Frenzy isn't much different from hard, or at least playing the former after the latter presented an almost identical experience. I thought I could unlock the immortal achievement while I was on it, but eight hours later I found that I shouldn't have to repeat the levels from the checkpoints.
Collecting
Relics never hide behind false walls. I know of only two cases where a character can pass for a part of a level, and neither of them hides anything that cannot be found elsewhere. Both times the art teases you properly, so there is no need to hammer your head into every solid wall.
You can always return to the story level from the world map, and the world map will almost always be available, even after completing the game. However, the three bonus levels cannot be re-entered after clearing, but I'm pretty sure the relics in these areas are optional and won't show up in the relic viewer.
Selection dialog
Dialogue choices sometimes reward you with 1-3 RP (which presumably means "exploration points" and "role-playing"), which are used to improve defensive blocks. Level rewards will usually reward you one to two orders of magnitude more.
During my first playthrough, I was able to fully upgrade all the units I regularly used with enough headroom, but not enough to fully upgrade everything else. I don’t think it’s possible to completely update everything, so I don’t think the RP dialogue is very important, although not entirely insignificant. Think of it as a little bonus. You may also notice that some dialogs only offer 1 or 2 RP for the "correct" answer.
Quickly
If you want to quickly work through the platform parts of the levels while avoiding all the monsters, keep in mind that there are three rare monsters, each with their own achievement. They are the largest in the game, so I'm sure you'll recognize at a glance, but if you want a size reference, they're bigger than stone golems that throw stones. I think each of them appears at least twice.
Saving a file
The save and load menus start with three empty slots, but the list expands as more slots are used. If you're here, you probably already know why making backups is a good idea. I've also included the location of the actual save files.
In the game settings, it is possible to disable autosave (menu with nine squares).
Saving and Locating a File in Windows
C: Users \% USERPROFILE% AppData LocalLow GUTS Department Aegis Defenders <>. Data
With sync enabled on Steam Cloud:
C: Program Files (x86) Steam userdata 371140 remote <>. Data
Possible locations for saving files on Mac OS
~ / Library / Application Support / GUTS Department / Aegis Defenders / <>. Data
~ / Library / Application Support / unity.GUTS Department.Aegis Defenders / <>. Data
With sync enabled on Steam Cloud:
~ / Library / Application Support / Steam / userdata / 371140 / remote / <>. Data
Save slots are stored in a single file with a lot of digits in its name, and if you have custom key bindings, they can be found in the adjacent file (inputPrefs.data).
Taking a look at the saved files, I think you will be able to restore the slot even if you accidentally delete it. But not if you accidentally rewrite it. The save file is mostly human readable, but at the beginning there is some weird data that I can only assume is a checksum (which might prevent manual editing to some extent). I haven't tried fiddling with my saved files, so I'm not sure how easy it will be. I also noticed that nowhere in the file does the game specifically record the number of deaths; the closest would be "..." gameMetrics ": {" retryCount ": ... '. Hmm.
Afterword
I put together this guide for players like me because there weren't any guides when I played the game. Getting cheated by the final achievement and having to launch the game a third time was pretty disappointing, but I'd like to point out that I actually enjoyed my first launch (and most of the second too). The game is pretty pretty and I hope it gets the attention it deserves.
If there is anything unclear or incorrect, please leave a comment!
