Defender

Defender was one of those games you'd find on Flash gaming sites in the early 2000s. It was a straightforward tower defense title, the kind you'd play in a browser during a break. The screen was usually a simple green grid, a path winding through it, waiting for the next wave.

You control the placement of defensive units, little turrets or soldiers, along that path. Your job is to stop an endless stream of pixelated enemies from reaching the end. You click to buy a defender, drag it onto a paved square, and watch it fire automatically. Money comes from kills, letting you buy more units or upgrade the path itself. The pace starts slow but builds quickly; a single missed wave can overwhelm your lines. It feels like a constant, tense calculation, balancing your limited funds against the growing threat.