When does DG2: Defense Grid 2 get good?

Give it 10 hours. In the first 2 hours 1 in 3 reviews are negative (32%); after 20h it's 1 in 16 (6%). Fully opens up by hour 20.

How many players finish DG2: Defense Grid 2?

32% of players who start reach the ending.

All games

IndieStrategy

DG2: Defense Grid 2

Sep 23, 2014 Steam: Very Positive

Give it 10 hours

Gets good by 10h then rated almost like by veterans

Fully opens up by 20h rated like by long-time players

Reach the ending 32% of players who started

Started playing 86% of owners

Steam reviews 87% positive of 3,475

What the data shows

In the first 2 hours 1 in 3 reviews are negative (32%); after 20h it's 1 in 16 (6%).
Fully opens up by hour 20.
32% of players who start reach the ending.
Most players drop off before “Boot Camp”: only 62% of starters get there.
86% of owners got the first achievement.

When it gets good

Share of positive reviews by how many hours the reviewer had played when writing the review.

before it gets good opening up fully opened up

Based on all 3,491 Steam reviews in every language. Median playtime in a sample of 299 reviews: 20.2h for positive, 9h for negative. Almost every game is rated lower in the first 2–3 hours: that window includes refunds and quick first impressions. What matters is how deep the dip is and how fast the game recovers.

Where players quit

Share of players who started the game and reached each story milestone. 100% is the most common achievement (86.2% of owners), so people who bought the game and never launched it don't count.

Started playing 100%
Boot Camp Finish all the missions in Chapter 1 in Story Mode. Most players quit here 62% −38
Base Defender Complete the single player campaign in Story Mode. 32% −30

story milestone ending biggest drop-off

Story milestones were labeled by AI from achievement names and descriptions; mistakes are possible.

All achievements (65)

story milestone ending side

First Blood Kill 1 alien. 100%
Thanks For Playing! Earn Bronze on a Single Player mission. 97%
Eradicator Kill 100 aliens. 96%
Yellow Beats Green Upgrade a level 1 tower to a level 2 tower. 94%
Field Promotion Earn a silver (or better) medal. 90%
Flawless Victory Earn a Gold Medal. 90%
No Sale Win any mission without selling any towers. 90%
Happy Returns Recover a loose core. 89%
Hey! That's mine! Kill an alien carrying a power core. 89%
Arsenal Build 20 towers of any type in one mission. 85%
Surplus Win a mission with at least 1,000 resources remaining. 81%
Close Call Save a core that is less than 10 seconds away from the map's exit point. 79%
Exterminator Kill 1000 aliens. 78%
Death From Above Use the Orbital Laser Special Weapon (General Cai). 69%
Now With Sprinkles Enable a Tower Augmentation item on any tower. 66%
Salvage Rights Kill an alien boss creature. (Juggernaut, Rumbler, Turtle, or Crasher) 64%
Confident Use the speed up control at 3x for a total of 60 seconds in any mission. 62%
Boot Camp Finish all the missions in Chapter 1 in Story Mode. 62%
Full Defense Build 50 towers of any type in one mission. 56%
Liquidator Sell 10 towers. 52%
Would You Like a Boost With That? Build 100 Boost towers. 49%
Penny Pincher Win a mission with at least 5,000 resources remaining. 48%
More Please Use the Resource Reinforcement Special Weapon (Professor Briel). 45%
Leadhead Build 100 Gun towers. 41%
Untouchable Beat a Chapter 4 mission or higher with zero cores captured. 41%
Annihilator Kill 10,000 aliens. 38%
Diversity Build 1 of each tower type in any single mission. 36%
What IS that? Inspect 10 aliens. 34%
Pumped Up Towers Use the Tower Overcharge Special Weapon (Advisor Zacara). 34%
Retry Use the Reload Checkpoint option. 33%
Base Defender Complete the single player campaign in Story Mode. 32%
Filthy Rich Win a mission with at least 10,000 resources remaining. 31%
Kaboom! Build 100 Cannon towers. 31%
The Path Most Traveled Win a Gold medal on mission 19 without using the Command Shuttle. 30%
Indecisive Sell 10 towers or more in a single mission. 28%
If At First You Don't Succeed, Retry Again Use the reload checkpoint option five times in a single mission. 24%
Planet Defender Earn a silver medal (or better) on all missions in the Story mode. 24%
Pew Pew Build 100 Laser towers. 23%
Full Potential Win a chapter 4 (or later) mission with level 3 towers only and no selling. 22%
Full House Build and fully upgrade each tower type in one mission. 20%
Tower Expert Build every tower and every upgrade for each tower. 20%
Alien Tears Earn a gold medal on every mission in Story mode. 19%
The Not-So-Friendly Skies Build 100 Missile towers. 19%
Burn Baby Burn Build 100 Inferno towers. 18%
Great Ball of Fire Build 100 Meteor towers. 18%
10 Items No Less Enable a Tower Augmentation Item on 10 Towers. 18%
No Fast Blast Use the Temporal Cannon Special Weapon (Colonel Rissler). 18%
Master Siege Breaker Survive 100 waves on any Super Grinder challenge mode. 17%
Siege Breaker Survive 100 waves on Grinder challenge mode on any mission. 17%
Not So Fast Build 100 Temporal towers. 16%
Head Trauma Build 100 Concussion towers. 15%
High Voltage Build 100 Tesla towers. 15%
Shoot That Guy Use the Precision Targeting Special Weapon (Rear Admiral Phillips). 12%
Go To Your Home Use the Core Teleport special weapon (Professor Taylor). 10%
Xenocide Kill 50,000 aliens. 10%
Brothers in Arms Earn Bronze in a Co-Op Multiplayer mission. 9.9%
Gun Crazy Using only Gun towers, Win any chapter 4 (or later) mission. 8.9%
Go Team! Earn Gold in a Co-Op Multiplayer mission. 8.8%
Master Builder Use the command shuttle to move 6 map sections in Mission 6. 8.5%
Shell-shocked Using only Cannon towers, Win any chapter 4 (or later) mission. 8.0%
Warning Shots Play a Competitive Multiplayer mission. 7.4%
Firebug Using only Inferno towers, Win any chapter 4 (or later) mission. 7.0%
Minimalist Using only level 1 towers, Win any Chapter 4 (or later) mission. 7.0%
Winning Shots Earn a Victory in a DG Fighter Multiplayer mission. 5.5%
Master Strategist Earn 100 Gold Medals on any missions. 3.4%

Steam page Updated: 2026-10-19.