The Steam Tower Defense Festival competition has ended — and players pushed the Contact Rear map further than ever.
One strategy clearly dominated: building a massive resource economy to support huge fields of explosive mines. In particular, Anti-Matter mines were able to wipe out entire waves of enemies.
Watching players discover strategies like this has been fascinating. It also revealed some balance issues — especially with Anti-Matter mines — which I’ll be adjusting in future updates.
These competitions have been incredibly valuable for exposing strategies, flaws, and unexpected metas that only appear when thousands of players start experimenting.
#1 – fjo2570 — 61,260
#2 – GOLANX — 33,520
#3 – 黄hih141 — 17,338
These three players will earn a permanent place in the game credits as Tower Defense Champions 2026. Their names will survive in the game for eternity.
Since releasing the demo, over 5,000 players have already jumped in to test their strategies. Your feedback, bug reports, and wild tactics have been incredibly helpful.
Next up: more gameplay improvements, balancing changes, bug fixes, and continued work toward completing the full game as we move closer to launch.
Thanks again to everyone who played and competed during the festival.