Awesome & Novel Tower Defense

I love that developers like this are thinking outside of the box and creating a new type of tower defense that is fresh and fun as heck! Thank you so much! Also, why do people give bad ratings because they refuse to get a job? The developer doesn’t use scummy IAPs, just a one time price for the whole game and some give a bad review and rating because they are too cheap to fork over 6 bucks. Like another reviewer said, this is why we don’t have nice things. Why we get so few premium games anymore. At least you can try it first to see if you want to pay for the full game. That’s generous. If you don’t want to open your wallet on a rare premium and fair price then don’t. But it’s disingenuous as heck to bring down the game’s score when this developer actually has good morals and ethics and only asks ONE fair price for a great game. The people doing this wouldn’t spend untold hours and effort making an awesome game and then give it away completely free. So why do you expect the world to do that for you? Jeez. To all of the other people who understand value for a fair price. I highly recommend this fun as heck game and want to extend my sincere thanks to the developers for creating and offering this game for sale fairly. Thank you very much, God bless and Merry Christmas.

Good game

Fun game, I do feel like it is missing a story though, I think that is why this game isn't more popular, it has good mechanics and variety but lacks a strong story driven goal to give a sense of purpose and connection to the world and character, relying entirely on its mechanics and unlocks to motivate the player. I would double down on this game and revamp the story adding in some mystery where you gain some new dialogue at the start or end of levels that leads the player to answers about the world and gives character to the motives of the player and enemies creating a more immersive and enjoyable experience. Maybe give the player a little helper or mentor for the tutorial to more naturally explain the gameplay and giving help on more advanced mechanics later on, even those types of simple additions create ambiance and connection.

Challenging and unique, with room for guidance

Rift Riff has a lot to offer even before you’re required to purchase the full product. The design and gameplay are intriguing and addictive in a good way—it actually makes you think rather than mindlessly play. Each level feels unique, and you really have to figure out which towers work best to clear it completely. As other reviews have mentioned, it can be a bit confusing at times since the game expects you to figure things out on your own, which might not suit everyone. Hopefully, an optional help or guidance feature (that can be enabled or disabled) could be added in the future. I’m still playing and definitely hoping to see more levels added.

Best iPad game I can remember in a long time

Gameplay is perfect balance of strategy and tower defense. Music and UI are great. But if I had to point out a single trait that really pushed this game over the edge, it would be the way the developers monetized. Instead of ruining a great game with constant up cells or ads they allow you free rain in the first 25% of the game and then offer the rest of the game at a reasonable price. I don’t think I’ve ever decided to pay for a game any quicker than I did for this game. I absolutely recommend you downloading and try and get yourself. Kudos to the game creators. This is a good one!!

Great New Tower Defense

A unique, fun, beautiful, and challenging tower defense game. At times maybe a little bit too challenging, at least for me… but I’m working to get better! :-) Don’t listen to the one star reviews from people who apparently don’t know how to read and aren’t willing to spend a small amount of money on a quality product. Try the game and see if you like it. I bet you will!

Fun

Movement and tower building feels clean. Enemy waves hit fast so it goes from calculated to frantic fast which is fun. I really like the contrast between downtime and action. Sad it sits at 3.8 review score. The whole world is tired of micro transactions but when a developer gives a free trial with an option to own forever; people give negative reviews to a solid game... This is why we don't have nice things, Earth.

Fun and challenging

Definitely one of those games that makes you feel very confident in the beginning and then humbles you as you progress 😅 but in a good way! Every level is easy to retry in different ways to find the optimal solution. The gameplay loop and quickness is a great fit for mobile. The entire game can be easily played with one hand.

Not worth $5.99 for the full game

Let’s start off about the game: 1: the art style is worth noting, it’s a really good art style on paper, (by paper, I specifically mean it looks good in the App Store) BUT, it’s an extremely flat style, most everything isn’t animated with very much effort beyond a few flashing lights, the enemies are all practically just non-moving shapes, but the least effort are the backgrounds, which are just flat images with low detail. 2: the gameplay is extremely bare bones, compared to other TD games like blooms, this doesn’t hold up, game mechanics such as limiting the tower placements to preselected locations makes tower defense games like this very limited and boring. Overall, This game is seriously not worth the 5.99 to get out of the trial, and moreover not even worth the space it takes up on my device.

[The GameDiscoverCo game discovery newsletter is written by 'how people find your game' expert & company founder Simon Carless,...

The GameDiscoverCo newsletter Tue Jan 13 2026

The best iOS and Android mobile games for November 2025 include Rift Riff, Toem: A Photo Adventure, and Hitman: Absolution.

Metro.co.uk Wed Dec 03 2025

If Shakespeare were around today, he'd be making open-world shooters with the same depth and diversion as his plays.

The Guardian Tue Jun 03 2025

When you know Adriaan de Jongh, the designer behind the wonderful Hidden Folks, co-created Rift Riff, its adorable visuals and mouth-made sound effects will...

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