NodalBastion is a delightful mixture of tower defense and incremental progression

Taking inspiration from incremental games with a long progress tree to unlock, NodalBastion is a tower defense game that just keeps on going. It's a bit too heavy on the screen effects by default though.

A demo is available on Steam which has a Linux version, and if you like tower defense games you might like to try this one too. You may find you end up putting a fair amount of time into the demo to unlock all it has to offer. It does things a bit differently too, which is why I liked it. Starting off with just a single square core, you have to keep expanding with linked nodes to defend that initial core. Placing more nodes is on a timer, and you're given a random assortment of nodes each time you place a new one in a little time-line list. So it's all about making the best of what you're given, based on what you've unlocked from previous runs.

Did you fail? No problem, go back to the menu, unlock a bunch more and have another run.

Clever idea. Check out the trailer:

YouTube videos require cookies, you must accept their cookies to view. View cookie preferences.
Accept Cookies & Show   Direct Link

More about it:

The AI wars are over. You are the last intelligence — defending the final core against ever-evolving humanity.

Deploy nodes, expand your network, and neutralize endless hostile intrusions.

Harvest data and install upgrades to adapt with every iteration.

• Build your bastion and collect resources - Shape your network and fortify the core against humanity’s assault. Collect data to expand faster, energize skills, and unlock upgrades.
• Adapt and upgrade - Optimize your systems, evolve your code — and download more RAM.
• Unleash powerful skills - Execute powerful skills to shift the flow of battle — unleash energy pulses, fire devastating lasers, deploy repair and stasis fields, launch explosive mines, release swarms of autonomous drones, and more.
• Survive boss battles - Face humanity’s elite in relentless showdowns. Neutralize their tactics and prove machine superiority.
• Visual Protocols - Your network, your rules. Switch post-processing effects on or off for optimal clarity — customize scanlines, chromatic aberration, vignette, and more.

The full game is currently set for a March 2026 release date.