There’s nothing I enjoy more than picking up a great co-op game for my friends and I to enjoy. It’s why I’ve sunk ninety hours into Left4Dead 2, and, now, almost forty hours into Dungeon Defenders. Trendy Entertainment’s 4 player co-op tower-defence action game has quickly become the go to game for my friends and I when we want to enjoy a game together, and for good reason.

The charming third person game is a thoroughly enjoyable one, blending great combat with some enjoyable tower defense. Players can choose between four different characters, with variations available via DLC; the melee focused Squire, the consumable trap and ranged focused Huntress, the Monk with his big, dangerous orbs and little old me, the Apprentice with a staff and magic turrets. The aim of the game is to defend the level’s crystal(s) using traps and your own weapons against waves of enemies, ranging from simple goblins, to hulking great ogres with giant clubs.

It’s an altogether glistening game, with vivid colours and use of shaders making its cartoonish art style look simply stunning – not to mention the weapon design which can be simply incredible at time. It doesn’t stop there either; lighting is fantastic, animations are excellent, with particular kudos to a defeated ogre’s death animation, and even the tavern – which will serve as your main hub for buying, selling and upgrading items, as well as showing off your achievements in the form of physical trophies – is expertly designed, with the developers changing the style of it to blend with the seasons. To say Dungeon Defenders is a visually triumphant game would be doing it a disservice, indeed.

“It’s an altogether glistening game, with vivid colours and use of shaders making its cartoonish art style look simply stunning.”

That’s not to say it’s all style and no substance, however. Dungeon Defenders’ accomplishments are apparent in its gameplay too. The usual keyboard and mouse setup is there – the superior control method – although an Xbox 360 controller is supported on the PC. Typically, WASD is used for movement, with the numbers one through zero used as hotkeys to erect various towers and use hero abilities. Left mouse click is used for your character’s primary weapon, with right click used for different functions for each character, such as blocking with the Squire, using the Monk’s ranged attack, or using the Apprentice’s area of effect attack. Cleverly, Apprentice users can hold down both buttons to auto-fire their projectiles, and both the Squire and the Monk have the ability to move automatically towards their targets. Scrolling the mouse wheel will change camera views, from the preferred third-person view, to first-person and even a top-down view; it’s a wonderfully well tuned control scheme.

“Its aesthetics, gameplay and overall fun-factor keeps me coming back for more, and at a relatively cheap price, it’s well worth buying.”

The game’s modes include a satisfactory campaign mode, which has a lot of replay value, some genius challenges, and some simply infuriating ones to boot, as well as a survival mode, which does exactly what it says on the tin. The levels rarely get old, with the incentive to replay them on higher difficulties and try new challenges to get better equipment serving as a suitable carrot-and-stick. If I had one gripe with the structure of levels, it’s the lack of being able to restart a failed level from the start of the wave. Some levels are quite long, so failing on the last wave and having to start all over again can be infuriating. Cleverly, the game will start you on a certain wave depending on your level, so if you are level 70 and playing on medium, the game will start you on higher wave to make sure you get straight into the action. Equipment has many different levels which dictate their attributes and the level one needs to reach to use them, and the feeling of getting a new weapon that, when upgraded, will really make a difference to your DPS, is great.

Of course the main draw of Dungeon Defenders for anyone will most certainly be the co-op gameplay, something that, thankfully, doesn’t disappoint. It’s an absolute blast to play with friends, with four player co-op being the best fun. Players can use any combination of heroes and can even switch heroes mid level. There is little to no lag, most of the time. While playing solo on Dungeon Defenders can be fun, it’s safe to say that playing with a group of friends, with voice chat, is the best way to play. Even if they do steal your mana and loot from time to time.

In terms of audio, Dungeon Defenders is nothing to write home about. There is very little voice acting outside of the rather weak and oftentimes downright hilarious efforts of the Scottish/Irish/Nordic Tavernkeep, and the music, while serviceable and medieval in style, is largely inconsequential, and I found myself playing my own music instead.

Dungeon Defenders has quickly become one of my favourite games to sit at my desk and play with some friends online. Its aesthetics, gameplay and overall fun-factor keeps me coming back for more, and at a relatively cheap price, it’s well worth buying.