Developer: ZekGame
Publisher: EastAsiaSoft
Platform: PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, (2) Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S
Tested on: Switch 2
Defending Camelot – Review
Is 2026 the year of fantasy-themed Plants vs. Zombies clones? EastAsiaSoft certainly seems to think so. We’ve only just finished Heroes Battle Awakening, and we’re already looking at another lane-based tower defense game from the publisher. Defending Camelot isn’t a new game, mind you. It’s been out on PC since 2018. Has Defending Camelot stood the test of time, or should it have been left gathering digital dust instead of being revived on consoles?
Story
Although the meat of Defending Camelot’s content is in the game’s story campaign, said campaign’s narrative feels underdeveloped. As the game’s brief opening cutscene explains, players take on the role of King Arthur, who must defend the titular Camelot from waves of invading enemies sent by the evil witch Morgana. Arthur’s overarching goal is to restore peace to the kingdom, but the premise mainly serves as a backdrop for the gameplay, rather than a major focus.
Graphics
Nowhere are Defending Camelot’s 2018 roots clearer than in the game’s visual design. The game simply looks dated by modern standards. The chibi-like character models, in particular, haven’t stood the test of time. The disproportionate bodies, with oversized heads and exaggerated anime eyes, may have been intended to come across as cute, but there is something uncanny about them. The cartoonish art style and minimal special effects also don’t do enough to hide the simplicity of the in-game animations. Environments aren’t the most detailed either, but given that the screen becomes very cluttered, we don’t mind this as it often becomes hard enough to understand what’s going on in the heat of battle without things blending into the background. Admittedly, things fare a lot better when it comes to performance. Even when there’s a lot going on at once, which does happen often, Defending Camelot runs smoothly and stably, albeit with a major caveat: Defending Camelot is the first game where we tried out the Switch 2’s new Boost Mode for Switch 1 games, but even with this enabled, there was an inherent blurriness to the visuals.
Sound
Overall, Defending Camelot’s audio supports the gameplay adequately, although the soundscape doesn’t contribute a whole lot to the game’s identity or atmosphere. The music is forgettable, and the sound effects come across as generic. It doesn’t help that the game’s audio quality is poor as a whole, likely owing to overcompression, as the game was intended to run on low-end PCs back in 2018. The audio clearly wasn’t remastered for the console port, resulting in a game that sounds as dated as it looks.
Gameplay
At its core, Defending Camelot offers lane-based tower defense gameplay, centered on strategic unit placement and resource management. In layman’s terms: this is a medieval-themed Plants vs. Zombies clone. The game uses a grid-based system for deployment, with players deciding when and where to place units to counter waves of enemies moving across the screen. Each of these units has a specific role, from farmers that generate resources to archers that sit at the back of the battlefield, peppering incoming monsters with arrows. Success depends on finding the right synergies between your own units, adapting to different enemy types, and managing your limited resources. Between battles, simple kingdom management mechanics allow for upgrades to your existing units and unlocking new ones, adding a sense of progression beyond the campaign’s individual stages.
At the risk of sounding cynical, Defending Camelot didn’t bring anything new to the table in 2018, and it certainly doesn’t do this in 2026. The core formula works well enough, but it is one that has proven itself time and time again. Defending Camelot is, to put it simply, a derivative game. That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s bad, and we’ll be the first ones to admit that we had fun messing around with different unit combinations. However, that doesn’t mean that Defending Camelot’s gameplay is without fault. The game often relies on trial and error rather than helping the player prepare adequately. When new enemy types are introduced, you won’t always know what they are capable of until it’s too late: take enemies with poles, for example, they’re capable of simply jumping across your carefully prepared defenses. With the game not guiding you to specific counterplays, this makes it so that you’ll face quite a lot of unfair feeling “game over” screens.
With 160 levels in the main campaign, it’s not as if Defending Camelot needs to pad its runtime either. There is a substantial amount of content here, and with 44 playable units and 33 enemy types, it takes surprisingly long before the game starts to feel repetitive, something that other entries in the genre are quite prone to. Should the lengthy story campaign not be enough to sink your teeth into, then Defending Camelot also offers an Endless mode focused on survival and efficiency. It’s definitely fairly priced at €9.99, although the game’s lack of innovation takes away from Defending Camelot’s overall appeal. This is a solid, content-rich genre entry, but not a must-play.
Conclusion
If you can look past Defending Camelot’s lackluster and dated audiovisual presentation, then you’ll find a Plants vs. Zombies clone that is competent but not remarkable. While those audiovisual shortcomings can be attributed to the game being a product of its time, we can’t say the same for the gameplay, as the game would’ve been considered derivative and lacking in innovation even back in 2018. Again, that doesn’t mean that Defending Camelot is a bad game. It delivers pretty much exactly what you’d expect, and sometimes, that’s fine.
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