Sanctum
Sanctum
Game
Game2013
Sanctum 2
Developer Coffee Stain Studios
Sanctum 2 is a first-person shooter tower defense video game, developed by independent developer Coffee Stain Studios for Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The successor to Sanctum, Sanctum 2 was announced in 2012 and released on 15 May 2013. From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
194 reactions from 4 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Lemmy, Mastodon) · newest Nov 5, 2026 · last updated Nov 5, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
84
LovedLoved
136 positive · 26 negative
95% range 78–89%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 136 | 26 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 10 | 1 | 14 |
| Lemmy * | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| Mastodon * | 0 | 0 | 1 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Very Positive
7,163 of 7,974 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
85% recommend · 139 yes, 24 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 163 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Very Positive (12,940 of 14,393 positive).
Players praise the unique FPS tower defense hybrid and hope for a third installment. [1][2][3] Some reviewers note the game holds up well despite its age, with active players still online. [4][5][6] A few players criticize the repetitive shooting and limited tower defense mechanics. [7][8][9]
Liked
Representative posts
- [7]
REFUNDED!!! Not a bad game, just not good either. its more of a mindless rinse and repeat shooter with the same enemies continually respawning every mission as you just stand there and gun them down; you have a "core" where the enemies end up at in the end of their pathing cycle and that has so much hp its relatively hard to fail even if you go afk for awhile. The towers are semi-useless, as you cant build your own …
- [1]
Every day I pray for Sanctum 3. It still runs well despite its age and is incredibly fun. The art style in the comics is so good please make Sanctum 3
- [4]
Recently 100%-ed the game. What can I say, this is a gem of a game. I've never played a first person shooter which is also tower defence game before playing this game. For a game released in 2013, the graphics holds up pretty well in 2025. There is still a small die-hard population still playing this game. I met some good people from the the public games. The main game has 4 stages. Each stage has 4 levels each. So …
- [17]
One of my favorite tower defense games as it mixes strategy with action. However, after having done all maps on the hardest difficulty I had to, not only find, but suffer through hours of finding and completing what probably are the worst arcade games I've ever seen (or they are trolling their customers) in order to get 100% achievements. Made me irate af. Will recommend the game though for people who enjoy tower …
- [2]
Firstly. Absolutely AMAZING GAME. ESPECIALLY For how old it is. However. Please Devs. Youll never make Sanctum 3. PLEASE OPEN THIS GAME UP TO MODDING. THE POTENTIAL IS ABSOLUTELY INSANE. PLEASE.
Summarised from 34 of the 193 public posts collected about this game; every point cites the posts behind it ([n] opens the post) and the split is counted from the posts’ own ratings. Updated Oct 10, 2026. How summaries are made
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
85% of the 163 Steam reviewers we collected recommend Sanctum 2. The complaint that keeps coming up: repetitive shooting and mindless gameplay. Deal-breaker or nitpick?
Critics, per Wikipedia
Sanctum 2 received mostly positive reviews from critics. The game holds an aggregated Metacritic score of 77/100 for Microsoft Windows, based on 28 critic reviews, and for Xbox 360, based on 12 critic reviews.
From the “Reception” section of Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Critic context only — not part of the audience score.
Reactions
60 of 194 · most liked firstEvery day I pray for Sanctum 3. It still runs well despite its age and is incredibly fun. The art style in the comics is so good please make Sanctum 3
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Firstly. Absolutely AMAZING GAME. ESPECIALLY For how old it is. However. Please Devs. Youll never make Sanctum 3. PLEASE OPEN THIS GAME UP TO MODDING. THE POTENTIAL IS ABSOLUTELY INSANE. PLEASE.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Anyone playing in 2025?? PLEASE GIVE ME SANCTUM 3
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Sanctum 2 is a bit older, but it holds up as a solid FPS tower defense hybrid. It's often on sale for around $4. The dlc is also well worth it, doubling the base game content. Battle Bit Remastered Children of Morta Risk of Rain 2 Crab Champions Echo Gunfire Reborn Journey Hypercharge Unboxed Journey to the savage planet Perish Scanner Sombre Severed Steel Shatterline Strange Brigade Zedfest
positive · AI labelView post →Recently 100%-ed the game. What can I say, this is a gem of a game. I've never played a first person shooter which is also tower defence game before playing this game. For a game released in 2013, the graphics holds up pretty well in 2025. There is still a small die-hard population still playing this game. I met some good people from the the public games. The main game has 4 stages. Each stage has 4 levels each. So the game can be a little short. I recommend you to pick up the DLC's.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Best coop game ever... Hope there is a 3rd one
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Give us Sanctum 3 darn it...
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I really Like Tower Defense games, they fit in it's own Unique Niche genre that doesn't get enough credit from the general audience. This is One of the Best tower defense games . Hoping they make SANCTUM 3 . In this game market were people are STARVING for New unique Games This game Fits the Qualification . Games are Meant to be Beaten and well there are many gamers looking for a Challenge :D . I recommend this game , Tower Defense games Like Sanctum 2 are Underrated and Deserve More Credit .
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →i am starving for 3 please Coffee Stain Studios, do not pull a valve on us
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I'm gonna recommend this game, but it's incredibly frustrating. Play Sanctum 1 instead. I decided to play this in 2026, 13 years after its release. I was checking my steam library and I didn't understand why I only played this game like 2 hours, and Sanctum 1 for 26 hours. Now I know why. Sanctum 2 is frustrating, because: - You have too many meaningless choices early on: 4 characters, different weapons, and turrets, which are seemingly very similar. It's really just a choice between a…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Virtually impossible solo.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →make sanctum 3 pls, this peak needs a sequel
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →had a blast playing it. concept is crazy good. a sanctum 3 would be awesome. or workshop support if there is a steam sale and you and your friends are bored. grab it for a few bucks and kill a night or two. have played this game a little on my other account
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great game. Sanctum 3 when?
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This ended up a bit longer than I intended, whoops. Most of your examples are more conceptually unique than most of these, but I figured it couldn't hurt to mention them since they all do something 'different' you might find interesting. I've really enjoyed all these games myself. - Perspective - Absolutely mind-blowing, this is the one that I think fits your question best. There's both walking around in a 3d environment and 2d platforming, but the platforming is based on your perspective.…
neutral · AI labelView post →Really fun, casual gameplay loop where you blast mobs (who explode very satisfyingly) and then get little breathers to set up your towers. The characters and perks feel different enough to provide some variety, and leveling up/unlocking new stuff gives you something to work toward without going fully into RPG territory. I really love the way reloading works in this game, and the way TSYGAN having a damage boost on the last shot in the mag smartly subverts it. It was fun at 13 and still fun at…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Still waiting on Sanctum 3!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I'm a big fan of this old tower defense game called Sanctum 2, it's always a blast
positive · AI labelView post →Best ever hybrid between FPS and tower defense. Multiplayer is great also. Just play it already!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game fails on everything the first game worked. There is no actual endless mode, the sandbox is not a sandbox (still have limited "walls" and "towers", the maps go quickly from you trying to make a proper maze to forced long paths where you have to FPS more than manage towers. I used to love the first game and hoped for improvements, but the ONLY improvement were different characters and weapons. Hard pass, play the first more.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →REFUNDED!!! Not a bad game, just not good either. its more of a mindless rinse and repeat shooter with the same enemies continually respawning every mission as you just stand there and gun them down; you have a "core" where the enemies end up at in the end of their pathing cycle and that has so much hp its relatively hard to fail even if you go afk for awhile. The towers are semi-useless, as you cant build your own maze or path for them to go down, You can only build within the designated area…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Play this game, holy fook it's good! I really enjoyed this game. I played this from launch until well after the final DLC came out. I played with friends. This is one of my favorite games ever!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →cool game. wish i had friends.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →should I jerk off?
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →can we get sanctum 3 pls
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →One of my favorite tower defense games as it mixes strategy with action. However, after having done all maps on the hardest difficulty I had to, not only find, but suffer through hours of finding and completing what probably are the worst arcade games I've ever seen (or they are trolling their customers) in order to get 100% achievements. Made me irate af. Will recommend the game though for people who enjoy tower defense and don't care about steam achievements. Tower defense: 10/10…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Just a good underrated game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →why have I never reviewed this? I bought it in 2014 and loved it
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Where sanctum 3?
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Game will not create a save file and none of the fixes from multiple forum posts going all the way back to the launch would fix it. Very disappointing. The game seemed like it had potential.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I played **Sanctum 2**, a fun mix of FPS and tower defense. There still are some active players, although it might take a while to get a full 4 player game. ::: spoiler And 3 new games which don't fit the community rules **Tiny Glade** is a really nice relaxing game to turn your imagination into reality and build small castles and medieval towns. Hopefully they expand the contents, but even now it was really fun to just experiment a bit. **Age of Mythology: Retold** still is fun to me,…
positive · AI labelView post →It's Tuesday and we're streaming with the boys, calling back to a game I haven't touched in a dozen years. Going back to #Sanctum2 and gaming with some friends so come hang out. #twitch #youtube #twitchteam #smallstreamer #streamingwithfriends www.twitch.tv/hirrothgaming youtube.com/live/un9WlHK...
neutral · AI labelView post →I bought this game back in high school when it was discounted on Steam and I was allowed to try it for free for a while. I was immediately hooked and bought it. I was impressed by the theme and the tower defense concept combined with FPS, especially with the map that allows exploration and discovering small secret details created by the developer. Now that I have a decent PC, I'm still playing it and it still works great on modern PCs. The campaign may be too easy for some, and I agree, but…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →For a game that came out over 10 years ago and it still runs flawless speaks how good this game is
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →legendary first person tower defence
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →An old game I used to play with friends. I recently tried it again and was pleasantly surprised to see that people are still playing it. I’d say this game is old but gold. It can be quite challenging and the controls are a bit meh, but it gives off such strong nostalgia once you start playing again. Now I just need to convince my friends to jump back in too. The game ran smoothly, though you’ll need to adjust the resolution at the beginning. Component Details OS NixOS Processor AMD…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I recommend it, but it's a close call. The graphics and visual design are fantastic. Good music too. It's also awesome that there are characters with some voice acting and a story presented via great looking comics. Extra setup customization via perks is a neat addition too. Overall definitely an improvement over the first sanctum game in virtually every way. However, I have 2 main complaints. The first is that the FPS part of gameplay gets mind numbingly boring after a while. It's so…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I can’t be the only one that listens to Satisfactory tapes/boombox music outside the game because it’s actually legit good, right? Anyone? What’s your favorite? Favorite banger? LeMichael (it sounds so good on a razer computer speaker system!) Favorite general listening while playing? Sanctum 2
neutral · AI labelView post →This game was my childhood and it still holds up. Give us Sanctum 3 soon pls uwu
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Id been looking for this game for ages and finally happened across it on a steam sale and so glad I did! played roughly 3 1/2 hours in one sitting so far and the only reason I'm stopping is cause I've gotta go shovel snow otherwise I'll be back to finish the campaign once I'm done out in the cold. It crosses off so many boxes for me tower defence, fps, real time strategy and they all blend really nicely together and surprisingly it holds up nicely for being a game from 2015ish? (not sure) Side…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Cool combo tower defense/shooter hybrid. Played on steam deck and once out of the menu it ran super smooth, even with tons of explosions wnd enemies on screen (menu seems limited to 30 fps but the game is full 60 fps). Liked being able to set up a strategy but also get involved with the shooting. Shooting wasn't super complex but was fun and satisfying. Only negative is some levels that seems balanced for multiplayer, I'd like more difficulty options so I don't need coop for a couple levels…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Character sketch from the game Sanctum 2, I kind of never got around to giving this the 2nd pass Sorry yosh :s
neutral · AI labelView post →This seems kinda tough but here are some games that come to mind: **Slay the Spire 2** - 1-4 player co-op - main gameplay is turn-based tcg-like deck builder (in multiplayer, turns are simultaneous but teamwork works best when you slow down and don’t all go at once) - plot gets unlocked bit by bit mainly through achievements, which don’t always come from winning a run - Strong class identities, and this is built on in multiplayer. You form your build from cards and items drafted from random…
neutral · AI labelView post →Soild and fun tower defence with a nice twist on the genre, can be bought very cheap on several sites. You should buy yourself a copy and 3 more copies for friends and family for funzies.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →You could give Sanctum and Sanctum 2 a try. They are “FPS Tower Defense” games where after the tower building phase you go in and blast the enemies by hand alongside the towers. The FPS combat is not particularly hard because it is still a tower defense at its core, but there are some enemies that are easier to kill by hand than with towers because they have armor and take much more damage at their weakpoints and the towers aren’t very good at aiming at the weakpoints. Also there are some…
neutral · AI labelView post →Fun and chill with enough depth. Great music.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Unpolished. Game is balanced around towers from DLCs. Vanilla towers are mostly clunky and dont hit (why is this not fixed?). Attempts to make the game multiplayer just make it more tedious. Focused too much on art style and not enough on gameplay. Game is very short, especially given the price point.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Pls give Sanctum 3
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →16. Sanctum 2 honestly i don't know what to say about this game. maybe going to play it in other chances.
neutral · AI labelView post →pretty awesome game but apart from the levels featuring Walker Patriarch. Worst designed enemy in gaming history!!!
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's like a game that would be one of the best arcade games at the arcade to play with your friends back in the day. It's fun enough, but feels like it's resting on the idea of the game being a unique combination of two genres and never doing the little things of either very well. It's an okay tower defense and a passable shooter, but limits the potential of both games. I did like that it had extras that you'd expect in a shooter, like hidden bonus items to use if discovered, areas not on…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It took me less than 5 minutes to figure out this game features none of what made the first one so entertaining. Near-mandatory multiplayer because of the utterly unfathomable choice to not scale for solo play. The core game-play loop also features this bizarre "switch weapons to reload" idea that's un-fun in the extreme. I know I'm 12 years late to the party, but I was really hoping the game would deliver more of what made the first game a long time favorite of mine. Instead, it's a…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game removes so many of my favorite things in the first game. It removed holos which added so much strategy with you and your turrets. The gameplay feels very dirty compared to the first game. Your turrets kill you now. You can't teleport to specific spots on the map. The game was half baked. It is really easy to accidentally go under the map and see really janky things that developers usually try to iron out. If the game gets bugged and you get stuck you have to commit suicide in menu to…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →nice tower defense game i "still" not much good because i "still" pew pew most of time and my partners were the one who use strategy glad i had a chance to play and coop this worth it game if you have friends ONLY! i hope they make third part for this because the dlc end is ..
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Choose 20 games that greatly influenced you. One game per day, for 20 days. No explanations, no reviews, no particular order. #GameChallenge #Games #GameDev Day 12 Sanctum 2
neutral · AI labelView post →We're live for a new game! @ernos.bsky.social gifted us Sanctum 2, and we're going to try to do this one co-op today! www.twitch.tv/fyrekat_2
neutral · AI labelView post →I like it but its not well balanced. Some perks, towers and weapons are way too strong and others way too weak. Some combinations on some maps just won't work ever.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →peak game, dlc's are expensive tho, but 100% recommend best peak you will ever play
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Nope! Quote: "Remember Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth, the Life. Probably worth a google?"
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Rounds quickly turn into a complete mess of ugly visuals and constant loud noise. In a normal tower defence you could just tab out, but this is a hybrid FPS so you have to be aiming and shooting the whole time. Started off fine but it became so unpleasant to play I had to quit.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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