Speaking as a generally terrified person who curls up into a tiny ball whenever they feel threatened, the tower defence genre really resonates with me. Like a besieged castle, I am also in a state of constant high-alert and paralysing, teeth-grinding stress. I am incapable of any kind of meaningful conflict resolution, and embarrassingly vulnerable to being destroyed by hundreds of angry men with swords over the course of several helpless minutes.
Diplomacy Is Not An Option doesn’t bill itself as a tower defence game, but it is a real-time strategy game about protecting your medieval settlement as wave after wave of attackers try to smash it up. Rather than have you traipsing around the map in search of trouble to make, there is a refreshing focus on defence – offence’s nerdy younger sister – with victory determined not by how well you’ve conquered the surrounding land, but how capable you are of taking a beating and coming out on top.