Review Insights · App Store
Isle of Arrows - Tower Defense
Studio Gridpop Inc · 267 ratings · ★ 4.5
4.5
★★★★★
267 ratings
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Top complaints - extracted from 17 negative reviews
Recurring phrases mined from 1-2★ reviews. The bigger the percentage, the more users have the same problem. Fix the top 2-3 in your version and you have product-market fit on day one.
1
"game"
14 negative reviews mention this · 82% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Too buggy. Sometimes buttons don’t work. I’ve only used this app for like 20 min and, so far, the buttons not working has caused me to forfeit an in-progress game and I was unable to start a new one. For an app that I had to pay for, this is unaccepta…" - jhhdhfufngcgsb
2
"play"
5 negative reviews mention this · 29% of all complaints
★★★★★ "AI?. Inconsistent and random generation of play area. Definitely tuned for the player to lose. Each and every gam, the difficulty level would increase with no way to win (towers used to defend would not populate. I had a whole isle full of flags…" - abracadabrapoof
3
"level"
4 negative reviews mention this · 24% of all complaints
★★★★★ "AI?. Inconsistent and random generation of play area. Definitely tuned for the player to lose. Each and every gam, the difficulty level would increase with no way to win (towers used to defend would not populate. I had a whole isle full of flags…" - abracadabrapoof
4
"luck"
4 negative reviews mention this · 24% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Boring. Frustrating because so much of winning relies on luck. It’s like playing a slot machine, but it takes an hour to figure out if you’re going to win. Mistake to purchase." - Ugly Jon
5
"progress"
3 negative reviews mention this · 18% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Too buggy. Sometimes buttons don’t work. I’ve only used this app for like 20 min and, so far, the buttons not working has caused me to forfeit an in-progress game and I was unable to start a new one. For an app that I had to pay for, this is unaccepta…" - jhhdhfufngcgsb
6
"fixed"
3 negative reviews mention this · 18% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Too buggy. Sometimes buttons don’t work. I’ve only used this app for like 20 min and, so far, the buttons not working has caused me to forfeit an in-progress game and I was unable to start a new one. For an app that I had to pay for, this is unaccepta…" - jhhdhfufngcgsb
7
"towers"
3 negative reviews mention this · 18% of all complaints
★★★★★ "AI?. Inconsistent and random generation of play area. Definitely tuned for the player to lose. Each and every gam, the difficulty level would increase with no way to win (towers used to defend would not populate. I had a whole isle full of flags…" - abracadabrapoof
8
"played"
3 negative reviews mention this · 18% of all complaints
★★★★★ "AI?. Inconsistent and random generation of play area. Definitely tuned for the player to lose. Each and every gam, the difficulty level would increase with no way to win (towers used to defend would not populate. I had a whole isle full of flags…" - abracadabrapoof
9
"levels"
3 negative reviews mention this · 18% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Not fun after some playtime due to bad RNG.. At first this game is lots of fun. But this wasn’t checked well for playability. Leave the first few levels and it is almost impossible to win. RNG will give you impossible to win games over and over again. I love games that are challenging…" - flipngenious
10
"impossible"
3 negative reviews mention this · 18% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Not fun after some playtime due to bad RNG.. At first this game is lots of fun. But this wasn’t checked well for playability. Leave the first few levels and it is almost impossible to win. RNG will give you impossible to win games over and over again. I love games that are challenging…" - flipngenious
11
"give"
3 negative reviews mention this · 18% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Not fun after some playtime due to bad RNG.. At first this game is lots of fun. But this wasn’t checked well for playability. Leave the first few levels and it is almost impossible to win. RNG will give you impossible to win games over and over again. I love games that are challenging…" - flipngenious
12
"games"
3 negative reviews mention this · 18% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Not fun after some playtime due to bad RNG.. At first this game is lots of fun. But this wasn’t checked well for playability. Leave the first few levels and it is almost impossible to win. RNG will give you impossible to win games over and over again. I love games that are challenging…" - flipngenious
📋 All 17 negative reviews
Every 1-2★ review we fetched. Use the copy button to grab them all for your own analysis (paste into ChatGPT/Claude with a prompt like "summarize core user problems, group by theme, ignore bugs, focus on missing features").
Too buggy
Sometimes buttons don’t work. I’ve only used this app for like 20 min and, so far, the buttons not working has caused me to forfeit an in-progress game and I was unable to start a new one. For an app that I had to pay for, this is unacceptable. Now add to the fact that it was ~$6 and you can see my frustration. I hope this gets fixed, cuz the game itself is fun.
AI?
Inconsistent and random generation of play area. Definitely tuned for the player to lose. Each and every gam, the difficulty level would increase with no way to win (towers used to defend would not populate. I had a whole isle full of flags in one instance. The last game I played, I had 6-7 towers at an early stage and easily lost. Ridiculous game for the price.
Not fun after some playtime due to bad RNG.
At first this game is lots of fun. But this wasn’t checked well for playability. Leave the first few levels and it is almost impossible to win. RNG will give you impossible to win games over and over again. I love games that are challenging but not games that are poorly thought out where it is more to chance than skill.
Utlimate Masochistic Frustration
This could have been one of the greatest TD games ever--except that it is only winnable if you have the hack. Otherwise, you will be at the complete mercy of an anti-player algorithm (forget the eyewash about it being "random").
Lol
Worst Td game ive ever played. Period. Its not even tactical its pure rng. Bad joke
NO cloud save?
I mean the game is an honest 10/10 but no cloud save is absolutely absurd.
Should be called “just luck”
This game isn’t about strategy but simply how the computer lucky draws you cards. You can play the same level a thousand times and it doesn’t matter the strategy behind your moves but simply the AI giving you benefits, which never ever happens
Deeply flawed to the point of being a rip-off
This game is an utter joke. Typically I’ll lay down tiles to where they loop around my towers, so that enemies are shot at on both sides…it’s still not enough. By the time you reach level 30 on the map, the enemies will be 3x faster than they were originally, and then have shields (that regen 🤦♂️) that need to be broken every few seconds in order to damage the units.
The units with bubbles are impossible to kill, especially at the speed they run. They need to be nerfed as it’s impossible to get to level 40.
The units with bubbles are impossible to kill, especially at the speed they run. They need to be nerfed as it’s impossible to get to level 40.
Awful
Just dumb… not a strategy game. Just luck based and you never get the pieces you need. Stupid waste of $6.
Serious power imbalance
This game is nearly impossible to win. I like a challenge but I also play games to have the occasional win. Plz fix the imbalance
First, make half less water tiles attached to other tiles
2 give more towers. Toward the end you end up with 3 paths and no towers or no bombs to destroy all the water.
3, chill out on how hard it it lol
It could be such a good game tbh but is lost by never being able to win
Worth the buy if it’s fixed.
First, make half less water tiles attached to other tiles
2 give more towers. Toward the end you end up with 3 paths and no towers or no bombs to destroy all the water.
3, chill out on how hard it it lol
It could be such a good game tbh but is lost by never being able to win
Worth the buy if it’s fixed.
Grind and Gamble
Like someone else on here mentioned…it’s built like a pay to advance game so it’s addicting at first but once you realize you have to grind and gamble the game loses its initial magic. With limited customization options, like difficulty, it really narrows the potential user base and replayability. Definitely not worth the money because it’s made for microtransactions so gameplay is throttled. After so many years you would think someone would add some tweaks to add replayability and enjoyment but they probably get more money scamming people into thinking this is a real game. They really had something here and threw it away.
Updates?
No updates for over a year, only 4 levels and you can beat them very quickly.
Boring
Frustrating because so much of winning relies on luck. It’s like playing a slot machine, but it takes an hour to figure out if you’re going to win. Mistake to purchase.
Terrible for battery life, mediocre game
The game itself is somewhat enjoyable, but it’s absolutely awful for your device’s battery life. An hour of playing it measurably uses five times more battery than a FaceTime call of the same duration. It’s in no way worth the trade-off.
Buggy
This would be a great game if bugs around tile placement were fixed - basically making all path placement legal would be a great start
Game is rurally hard and success relies to much on luck.
I don’t mind a challenging game but when your entire success is not your mastery of the game but on the luck of the draw (in this case tiles) I find it infuriating. Replay ability is one thing, a great thing actually, but when you play the same map over and over despite mastery of the game but loose over and over again just on luck of the draw isn’t fun for me. In this game you can play the same map 20 (or many more times) and only be able to win because of extremely lucky card draws. Trust me, I don’t give up on game just because it is hard to beat. Example, I played the heck out of Square Enix’s Crystal Defenders. That game was super hard to beet but at least with the next play through I might have a slightly better strategy and be able to progress. Not so with this game. It’s all luck of the draw. That and the game has MAJOR glitches which for a paid title like this are not acceptable. I only give this two stars for not having in app purchases as a pay to win bullsheet like Bloons TD6.
Would love to love this game…
But!!!! Holy crap I think the developer forgot what a game is suppose to be…..fun. At first I was having fun but now I am stuck repeating over and over again the same levels trying to hit 40. I don’t enjoy cannoneers or merchants at all. There should be some minor stats that get better the more you play. Right now the only OP relic is the one where a flag turns into a tower. With that I usually can get further. I wouldn’t say win but it will get me close to 40. I don’t have any desire to play the daily challenges and I have only beat the 1st gauntlet level on the 1st type….One of the other reviewers suggested having 2 cards to pick from and paying for a third and a one step undo. That would help. Also, what would help is maybe a 5-10% drop in enemy health? Not really sure but currently it’s very frustrating. This game was written like a game that requires you to put in real money to progress but I already put the real money to buy the game.
Sentiment summary
86%
Positive (4-5★)
6%
Neutral (3★)
8%
Negative (1-2★)