The perfect blend of Teamfight Tactics and tower defense

I love tower defense games, but I've played so many over the years that it's tough to find one that does something new. With that in mind, Defense Derby definitely surprised and impressed me! It starts out looking like the typical gacha-heavy, merge-style tower defense game that's become so popular on mobile in recent years, but there's a lot more going on here.

The real core of Defense Derby's brilliance is in the method of recruiting new units for the four players going against each other in any given match. In between waves of monster attacks, a single unit will be made available, and players must each put in a bid for that unit. The player with the highest bid (or players, if multiple players bid the same amount) pay that price and get the unit in exchange.

This approach might seem limiting if you've played other games of this style, where you recruit new units at a rapid pace. In reality, though, it's a seriously fantastic approach that leads to intense psychological games and tough choices in every match.

Should I bid extra to try to deny an upgraded unit to one of my opponents? Or should I save up for units matching my hero's preferred type? If my enemies just spent a bunch of coins, maybe I can lowball my bid and still sneak in a powerful unit. And best of all, I have the opportunity to bid on and use units even if I haven't actually pulled them from the gacha yet.

The bidding system reminded me somewhat of Teamfight Tactics and other similar autobattlers. It's a really smart tweak that leads to every single match feeling compelling and exciting, and it's why I'm going to be sticking with Defense Derby for at least a while longer.