Monsters are Coming! Rock & Road

Monsters are Coming! Rock & Road marries Vampire Survivors-style waves with a moving base and tower-defense placement. I loved the concept instantly — it’s a fresh mash-up of survivors, base-building and Unrailed-like forward momentum — but the game often feels like a brilliant prototype that still needs some balancing love.

You control a persistent hero who runs ahead to gather wood, stone and gold, while your moving city gets towers, districts and special buildings to defend itself. The core loop is elegant: forage or fight, decide when to retreat to repair, place towers like archery outposts, necromancers or even dragons, then push toward the Ark. Town Halls give distinct modifiers, shelters hide secrets and you unlock compasses as meta-currency to make future runs easier. Boss fights and environmental obstacles add peaks to otherwise brisk runs. Controls are simple and the short runs are satisfying — perfect for quick sessions. But the game also pads progression with tiny percentage boosts, the unlock pool grows until choices feel diluted and RNG often wins or ruins a run. Difficulty scaling can spike hard (normal → hard feels brutal), some towers outshine others, and early ban/lock tools for the unlock pool are limited. The audio and visuals are nicely done and the devs seem responsive, so there’s real potential — just expect a few frustrating runs while the systems settle.

I had a lot of fun ferrying my little town toward the Ark — the concept is clever and often exciting — but the current meta systems and balance drag it down. Buy if you love experimental roguelites and don’t mind some grind, otherwise wait for a couple of patches.