Sanctum Collection review

Sanctum is a hybrid FPS shooter and tower defence game set in a sci-fi world. Your goal is simple: prevent alien forces from reaching and destroying the energy core at the centre of the facility you’re defending.

It was released as a download game originally, with additional downloadable content (DLC) coming out afterwards; this version includes the original game, plus the soundtrack and all the DLC levels and add-ons that have been release for the title, which provide extra maps and weapons.

What sets Sanctum apart from other tower defence games, is that as well as setting up blocks and weapons to direct and destroy the invading alien hoards, you too become part of the action once the onslaught begins, using a variety of weapons to snipe, freeze and blow up your chitinous foes.

Unlike most other tower defence games, Sanctum lets you take over first-person.

This combination of action and defensive strategy immediately invites comparisons to the brilliant Orcs Must Die. The two games do have a fair in common, although Sanctum’s strategic elements are more closely related to a traditional tower defence game.

You start the game in construction mode, placing blocks which the aliens will have to go around. Like the rest of the game, this takes place from a first-person perspective, which means that it can take a bit of getting used to. Fortunately, there’s a map overview screen which allows you to view your defences from a top-down perspective. The game’s controls for placing defences, consulting information on your enemies and fighting in real time seemed complex at first, but they become second nature in no time.