IndieStrategy
Defense Grid: The Awakening
Give it 7 hours
Gets good by 7h then rated almost like by veterans
Fully opens up by 20h rated like by long-time players
Reach the ending 27% of players who started
Started playing 93% of owners
Steam reviews 96% positive of 5,385
What the data shows
- In the first 2 hours 1 in 5 reviews are negative (21%); after 20h it's 1 in 105 (1%).
- Fully opens up by hour 20.
- 26% of players who start reach the ending.
- The biggest drop-off is between “Boot Camp” (Finish the first 3 missions) and “Base Defender” (Complete the Story mode): from 80% to 26% of starters.
- 93% of owners got the first achievement.
When it gets good
Share of positive reviews by how many hours the reviewer had played when writing the review.
before it gets good opening up fully opened up
Based on all 5,391 Steam reviews in every language. Median playtime in a sample of 297 reviews: 28h for positive, 5.3h for negative. Almost every game is rated lower in the first 2–3 hours: that window includes refunds and quick first impressions. What matters is how deep the dip is and how fast the game recovers.
Where players quit
Share of players who started the game and reached each story milestone. 100% is the most common achievement (93.3% of owners), so people who bought the game and never launched it don't count.
- Started playing 100%
- Boot Camp Finish the first 3 missions. 80% −20
- Base Defender Complete the Story mode. Most players quit here 27% −53
story milestone ending biggest drop-off
Story milestones were labeled by AI from achievement names and descriptions; mistakes are possible.
All achievements (87)
story milestone ending side
- First Blood Kill 1 alien. 100%
- Hey! That's mine! Kill an alien carrying a power core. 99%
- Happy Returns Recover a loose core. 99%
- Field Promotion Earn at least one silver medal. 98%
- Leadhead Build 5 Gun towers. 97%
- Eradicator Kill 100 aliens. 96%
- Surplus Win with 1,000 resources remaining. 95%
- Yellow Beats Green Upgrade a tower. 92%
- Burn Baby Burn Build 5 Inferno towers. 92%
- Salvage Rights Destroy at least one boss alien. 91%
- Penny Pincher Win with 5,000 resources remaining. 89%
- I Spy Activate reconnaissance system. 88%
- Pew Pew Build 5 Laser towers. 88%
- Close Call Save a core less than 10 seconds away from the map exit. 86%
- What IS that? Inspect 10 aliens. 85%
- Arsenal Build 20 towers in one mission. 84%
- Exterminator Destroy 1000 aliens. 81%
- Flawless Victory Earn at least one gold medal. 80%
- Boot Camp Finish the first 3 missions. 80%
- Confident Use speed up controls for a total of 30 seconds in any one mission. 80%
- Not So Fast Build 5 Temporal towers. 77%
- Great Ball of Fire Build 5 Meteor towers. 75%
- Sharpshooter Shoot down a flying alien. 75%
- Kaboom! Build 5 Cannon towers. 74%
- No Sale No towers sold in a single mission. 73%
- Liquidator Sell 5 towers. 70%
- Filthy Rich Win with 10,000 resources remaining. 66%
- High Voltage Build 5 Tesla towers. 64%
- Death From Above Fire the orbital laser. 58%
- The Not-So-Friendly Skies Build 5 Missile towers. 57%
- Pyrrhic Victory Shoot down flying alien carrying a core. 55%
- Power Builder Build 6 towers within 10 seconds. 54%
- Head Trauma Build 5 Concussion towers. 51%
- Retry Reload an earlier save checkpoint. 47%
- Overseer Build 5 Command towers. 44%
- Annihilator Kill 10,000 aliens. 39%
- Full Defense Build 50 towers in one mission. 36%
- Indecisive Sell 10 towers in a single mission. 30%
- Tower Expert Build every tower and upgrade. 28%
- Base Defender Complete the Story mode. 27%
- Relay Race Witness 1 core handed off 10 times within 20 seconds. 23%
- Full Potential Beat an advanced mission with only level 3 towers and no selling. 20%
- Diversity Build all tower types in one mission. 19%
- The Long Road Alien time until exit exceeds 5 minutes. 18%
- Flurry Earn a gold medal on an adrenaline challenge mode. 18%
- If At First You Don't Succeed, Retry Again Reload an earlier save checkpoint five times in a single mission. 18%
- Siege Breaker Survive 100 waves on the Grinder challenge mode. 15%
- Well Invested Gain 10000 resources from interest in a single mission. 15%
- Untouchable Beat an advanced mission with zero cores captured. 15%
- Xenocide Kill 50,000 aliens. 12%
- Gun Crazy Beat an advanced mission with only Gun towers. 11%
- Minimalist Beat an advanced mission with only level 1 towers. 11%
- Nail Biter Win mission with the last core less than 10 seconds away from the map exit. 11%
- Kickstarter Begin playing any mode of the Containment Campaign. 10%
- Few and Proud Earn at least a silver medal on the Story or Story Challenge mode of Divided Attention. 9.1%
- Planet Defender Earn a silver medal on all missions in the Story mode. 8.7%
- Full House Build all upgrades of all tower types in one mission. 7.9%
- Shell-shocked Beat an advanced mission with only Cannon towers. 7.6%
- Foresight is 20/20 Earn a Gold medal on any Containment mission without going back to a save checkpoint. 6.9%
- Out of Bullets Beat all 5 "Out of Bullets" challenge modes without using Gun or Cannon towers. 6.8%
- Alien Tears Earn a gold medal on all missions in the Story mode. 6.5%
- Majestic Pony Earn a bronze medal on all story missions in the You Monster campaign. 6.0%
- Master Siege Breaker Survive 100 waves on any Super Grinder challenge mode. 5.7%
- The Container Earn at least a Bronze medal on all eight Story modes in the Containment campaign. 5.4%
- Savant Genius Earn a gold medal on any story mission past 'Divided Attention' in the You Monster campaign. 5.3%
- Regional Deluge Earn a gold medal on the Campaign mode of Kill Zone and Overflow. 4.5%
- Combat Turmoil Earn a gold medal on the Campaign mode of Service Interruption and Height of Confusion. 4.3%
- Civil Divergence Earn a gold medal on the Campaign mode of Urban Planning and Tactical Diversion. 4.1%
- Circular Hazard Earn a gold medal on the Campaign mode of Risk Exposure and Roundabout. 3.9%
- Firebug Beat an advanced mission with only Inferno towers. 3.8%
- Mostly Dead Earn a silver medal on all story missions in the You Monster campaign. 3.4%
- Contains Trace Amounts of Gold Earn a Gold medal on all eight Story modes in the Containment campaign. 3.1%
- Top of the Class Earn a gold medal on the Story and Story Challenge modes of Ghost in the Machine and Divided Attention. 2.4%
- You Monster Earn a gold medal on all story missions in the You Monster campaign. 2.4%
- Master Strategist Earn a gold medal on any 100 missions in The Awakening campaign. 2.3%
- Overflowing Earn a gold medal on all the modes of Overflow. 2.3%
- A Temporal Would've Been Nice Earn at least a Bronze medal on the Story or Story Challenge mode of Occupation using only Gun, Inferno, and Laser towers. 2.3%
- Clean Getaway Prevent the aliens from stealing a core until they have arrived safely at the second core housing in the Story or Story Challenge mode of Auger. 1.8%
- Faithful Companion Earn a gold medal on 10 challenge modes in the You Monster campaign. 1.8%
- So Many Spaces to Build On, So Little Time Earn at least a Bronze medal on the Story or Story Challenge mode of Foothold building ten towers or less without selling. 1.6%
- Best Friends Forever Earn a gold medal on all story challenge missions in the You Monster campaign. 1.5%
- Supreme Strategist Earn a gold medal on any 150 missions in The Awakening campaign. 1.5%
- This is…spartan. Earn a Gold medal on the Story or Story Challenge mode of Volition building fifteen towers or less without selling. 1.5%
- Beating A Dead Potato Earn a gold medal on any 35 missions in the You Monster campaign. 1.4%
- Fully Contained Earn at least a Bronze medal on all 40 modes in the Containment campaign. 1.4%
- Clear Skies Earn a Gold medal in the Campaign Reversed mode of Passage without building any Meteor or Missile towers or using the Orbital Laser. 1.4%
- Core Container Earn a Gold medal on all 40 modes in the Containment campaign. 1.3%
Steam page Updated: 2026-10-19.