X-Morph: Defense is a 2017 Tower Defense game by EXOR Studios (with The Riftbreaker being their more famous title) that combines shooter elements and destructible environments into the Tower Defense format. It contains traditional "endless waves" survival gameplay, but also a relatively long story campaign that can be played solo or in co-operative mode. The player character is a "consciousness" belonging to an alien species the humans designate as the titular "X-Morph", and their job is to protect the Harvester cores the aliens land from orbit, establishing highly advanced energy harvesting operations with their ultimate goal to drain the earth's core of its geothermal energy.
Humanity of course is heavily opposed to their planet being turned into a wasteland by an alien menace, and will send wave after wave of various attack forces from meager infantry to super-heavy tanks, fighters and bombers and even Humongous Mechas as boss units. The player then will fight these waves with the main protection of the core usually being done by the various types of defence towers that can be freely moved and adapted against constantly changing compositions of the enemy waves. Additionally the alien forces are augmented by a "scout" fighter unit the player controls directly, that can similarly morph into various forms with different strengths against different foes, and is often needed to provide addditional firepower before proper impenetrable defenses can be built up due to resource limits.
X-Morph: Defense contains the following tropes:
- Advancing Boss of Doom: Several missions have a boss unit in the final wave that is significantly more durable than anything else in the game and is too strong to be defeated by towers alone.
- Airborne Mook: Humans have a handful of ground units that can bybass laser fences and rubble by jumping over them. There's also heavy bombers, assault helicopters and assault fighters.
- Comically Missing the Point: When you're invading Egypt, the humans forces assume you are there to harvest energy from the Pyramids.
- Deflector Shields: In case you mess up and enemies get to your core, your core has a shield that can hold off enemy fire for a little while and give you some time to mop up enemies by yourself.
- Death Course: The whole game is an exercise in creating these for your enemy. You can link up your towers with laser fences or fell large buildings, destroy bridges, etc, to force enemy units to travel down specific paths - preferably where they can be endlessly bombarded by your towers.
- Frontline General: The human general appears to lead from near the warzone, and will personally pilot the last boss unit in the final campaign mission.
- General Ripper: The general who opposes the X-Morph invasion gives off this vibe, per the game's B-Movie atmosphere; however, he is played more like a Hero Antagonist trying the best he can to save the planet.
- Hopeless War: The campaign is essentially this for the humans; however, it's not for the lack of trying on their part.
- Humans Are Warriors: When the X-Morph land, humanity's immediate response is to send an entire tank regiment, massed air support, and a gigantic Spider Tank with an enormous laser cannon against them. The ferocity of human attacks in the game is high enough that without the power of Save Scumming on their side, the X-Morph would be utterly boned.
- Plasma Cannon: Is the X-Morph's most basic, all-purpose weapon system.
- Swiss-Army Hero: The fighter unit you're using can transform into various forms, from an anti-air fighter to heavy bomber, heavy laser platform or generic but all-round useful plasma-spammer.
- The Right of a Superior Species: The aliens don't seem to particularly hate humans, but see them as an annoying indigenous species in the way of their harvesting operations. Your commander often remarks how primitive humans are, but grudgingly commends them for being able to occasionally put up an unexpectedly fierce resistance.
- Villain Protagonist: You are invading Earth, and ultimately your actions will turn Earth into a Death World.
- You Require More Vespene Gas: Obviously, to give the AI some chance of defeating you, you have a limited amount of energy per wave to use to place your towers. The amount of energy is replenished each wave and if a tower is destroyed, that energy is also returned to you. Additionally, all enemy units drop some amount of salvage when destroyed, which your fighter unit can hoover up and the salvage provides some extra energy during missions, if you just have the time to pick it up.
- Zerg Rush: The main tactic of the enemy is to overwhelm your defenses with so many units that inevitably some must get through, especially when the attacks come from multiple directions so you can't place all your defenses to a single point.
