Defense Grid 2

Defense Grid 2 is a tower defense video game released in 2014. It was developed by Hidden Path Entertainment and published by 505 Games. The game is a direct follow-up to the 2008 title Defense Grid: The Awakening. Funding for the project began with a 2012 Kickstarter campaign, and the game launched on Windows, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 on September 23, 2014. Versions for Linux and OS X arrived on October 15, 2014, with a Nintendo Switch port following on February 7, 2019.

In the game, the player acts as a commander protecting bases, colonies, space stations, and outposts from alien waves that try to steal power cores. The view is top-down, and the player can build towers that attack and redirect alien movement. If an alien grabs a core and heads for the exit, killing it on the return trip causes the core to drift back to its housing. Different towers are effective against specific alien types, requiring strategic placement. Resources are earned by killing aliens and through slow interest accumulation, and are spent on building and upgrading towers, which can be sold at a loss. Upgrades improve stats like firepower and range. Most towers are similar to the original game, but a new addition is the boost tower, which does no damage but blocks aliens and provides a cheap way to control their path. Towers placed on a boost tower gain extra upgrades and better line-of-sight. Aliens vary from fast, weak types to slow, heavily armored ones, and some have force field shields. Wave icons at the top of the interface show incoming alien types, helping players plan. At the start of each level, the player can choose a special ability, such as the returning orbital laser, which fires a large energy burst after a several-minute charge.

Development began with a Kickstarter campaign launched on July 10, 2012. It raised $271,726 by August 14, enough only to fund an 8-level expansion called Defense Grid: Containment, which bridges the story between the original game and the sequel. That expansion was released on January 23, 2013, after a beta with backers. To fund the full sequel, which required $1 million, Hidden Path sought investors. A deal was made with angel investor Steven Dengler, a Kickstarter backer and video game enthusiast. A suggestion website allowed backers and later the public to contribute ideas, leading to features like the boost tower.