by Little Worlds Interactive
available to purchase on Steam
There I was, minding my own business, studying my magic books, when all of a sudden!!–the castle started shaking. It threw me from my chair, but I managed to crawl to the window, where I looked out on hordes of monsters. Terrible things, covered in…numbers?
Out today is one we’ve been watching for a while – a successful Kickstarter, The Counting Kingdom was available to play through early access on Steam…and play I did! I played through the entire game in one sitting. I mean, come on. A math tower defense game? This thing was made for me.
Your adorable little math wizard character in his charmingly oversized robes has numbers at his fingertips, and they are full of magical powers (as all us math nerds KNEW they were!). As the monsters advance, your mathematical prowess has to group them together to attack them–add up the numbers on the field and match them to one of the number spells at your disposal. Sounds easy, right?
Yeah, just wait.
Not only do the numbers get bigger, but the monsters have a few tricks up their sleeves: monster in a box, anyone? Energized monsters that grow with each advance? Each new kind of monster will cause you to change your strategy a bit, and the randomization of your power ups (move, freeze or destroy monsters, or add or subtract a bit) means you can’t always find a spell that will work. Let them get too close, and they start tearing down the wall.
Don’t let the leisurely pace fool you. The harder levels are pretty satisfying, and you have time to figure out a strategy as more and more monsters join the field. If I were to wish for anything to be different in this game, it would simply be “More!” Even though the difficulty ramps up, I would have loved a way to replay every level with a timer, or just a whole new map once the first one was completed. Fortunately, there’s a free play mode which will let you choose the difficulty setting and play forever.
Even though it’s uber cute and completely bite sized, it’s definitely a game for grownups and I can’t stop playing!
Little Games 