Hijack Defense
Tower defense · Free · No install
A tower defense game where the attackers are all machines, and machines can be hacked. Wear them down, take them over, and send them walking back into their own side.
Play Hijack Defense ▶What the game is
Machines march along a path towards your base. You build towers on the ground beside the path to stop them, and earn gold for each machine you bring down. What sets Hijack Defense apart is hacking: a badly damaged machine can be taken over. It turns pink, reboots, and walks back down the path the way it came, crashing into the machines still coming.
How to play
- Pick a tower from the bar at the bottom, then a free tile beside the path to build it.
- Tap or click a tower you have built to see it and to upgrade it. Each tower can be upgraded twice.
- A wave ends when every machine that has not been hacked is gone.
- Machines that reach your base damage it. Let too many through and the stage is lost.
The towers
| Tower | Cost | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| Sentry Gun | 50 | Cheap, steady fire. The first tower of most stages. |
| Tesla Coil | 100 | Harder hits than the Sentry Gun. |
| Cryo Emitter | 120 | Slows machines down so the other towers get more shots. |
| Rocket Battery | 150 | Splash damage for groups. |
| Hack Node | 175 | Does no damage. Hacks a machine in range once it is down to 40% of its health (50% and 60% after upgrades). |
| Railgun | 200 | The heaviest single hits, for big and armoured machines. |
Hacking
- A Hack Node takes over a machine whose health has fallen to its threshold, then waits a few seconds before it can hack again. When there are several, it picks the biggest: a large mech makes the best shield.
- A hacked machine reboots with 60% of its health and walks back towards the entrance. You get its gold the moment it is hacked.
- When a hacked machine meets an enemy, each takes damage equal to the other's remaining health, so a big hacked mech can flatten a line of small ones.
- Riot Tanks only give in at half the usual threshold. Enforcers have a firewall: they can't be hacked and only freeze for a second.
The base cannon
Your base has a cannon of its own. Aim with the mouse and fire with a right click; on a touch screen, turn the rim of the FIRE dial to aim and tap its centre to fire. Every few shots the cannon loads a hack shell, which does no damage but hacks every machine in its blast that is down to 30% health. The FIRE dial turns pink and reads HACK when the next shot is one.
Modes
- Normal: ten stages. Stages 5 and 10 end with a Titan, a boss that can only be hacked below 15% of its health. Hack one and it shoves its own escort back down the path.
- Endless: opens once you clear stage 1-3. Waves keep coming on the Normal maps you have cleared.
- Nightmare: five large maps with about twice as many machines, opened by clearing all of Normal.
Keyboard
Space pauses, 1 to 4 change the game speed (up to 5x), and Esc cancels building or closes a tower's panel.
Tips
- Put the Hack Node after your damage towers along the path: the others wear machines down, the node takes them.
- A Cryo Emitter in front of a Hack Node gives it time to recharge between hacks.
- Save hack shells for the moment a large machine is low; one good shell can turn a wave.
- Against a Titan, keep the cannon for the end and watch the pink mark on its health bar: that is where it can be hacked.
Questions
Is it free?
Yes. It plays in the browser with no install and no sign-up.
Does it keep my progress?
Cleared stages are kept in your browser on this device.