tower defense/first person shooter
GROSS is a tower defense / first person shooter hybrid with new exciting and unique mechanics to spice things up.
100% tower defense
Just like other tower defense games, your goal is to keep your base safe against wave after wave of enemy attackers. Your main line of defense against the enemy hordes are barricades to force them into a maze, and automated turrets that attack them in many different ways.
While you’re in the construction phase, you have almost complete freedom to build whatever you want, wherever you want.
GROSS is a true tower defense game. Build elaborate mazes for the enemies, or focus your resources on the turrets. You can even place traps on the ground. They are one use only, but are cheap and powerful.
Turrets can be upgraded in many different ways. Every upgrade increases the cost for the next one, but in turn you can build a turret that not only shoots further or faster, but also smarter. You can have a missile turret focus on enemies that are close to the base, while having a sniper turret that goes for the highest health enemies.
The construction phase focuses on giving you all the tools to create an obstacle run that’s as difficult to overcome as possible. There is no time limit, and everything you build can be sold for a full refund until you start the next combat phase.
After all, figuring out how to use synergies between different turrets and building a maze for the attackers is most of the fun in a tower defense game. Why should it be different for a tower defense/first person shooter hybrid?
100% first person shooter
Once the combat starts, the game turns into a different beast entirely. Combat is fast paced and requires you to make split second decisions. All your guns feature different firing modes and ammunition types. Full metal jacket rounds can penetrate multiple zombies in a row, and even shoot through objects. Hollow points knock enemies back and give you room to breathe. Incendiary rounds light enemies up and burn them for a while. Grenade and rocket launchers deal massive area damage, but have a chance to destroy the vital cash pickups.
With over a dozen weapons at your disposal, gunplay is fast and rewarding. There is also a number of active abilities you can use. They give you additional tools to kill or distract the baddies, move around more efficient, or manage your cash resources.
Resource management
Cash is the key to succeeding in GROSS. Enemies drop it when they die, but you’re not the only one after this green root of all evil. You have to be quick if you want to secure it. Gathering cash and transferring it to safety is one of your main tasks. Cash is required to buy defensive structures and active abilities. It is also the biggest factor that determines your score.
GROSS keeps you on your toes at all times. In any given moment, whatever you do or don’t has consequences. If you focus on killing attackers because your defenses are overwhelmed, this might well turn the tide of battle, but it also means loads of precious money gets stolen or destroyed in the meantime. Money that is needed to improve your defenses in the next construction phase.
Availability
The full game got released in January 2023.