The app stores are absolutely flooded with boring, pay to win strategy games that basically play themselves. If you are sick of tapping a screen and waiting three hours for a building to finish upgrading, you need to completely shift gears.

Mushroom Wars 2 is an entirely different beast. It takes the heavy, big brain tactics of a real time strategy (RTS) game, mashes them up with the frantic pace of a tower defense, and sprinkles in some MOBA elements just to keep things chaotic. And yes, it actually works. The game didn’t just win Best Mobile Game at the Indie Cup and Best Multiplayer at Casual Connect for no reason.

A MASSIVE CAMPAIGN TO TEST YOUR SKILLS

Before you even think about jumping online, the single player campaign is an absolute monster.

You take command of a sprawling mushroom army and immediately hit the frontlines. There are over 200 incredibly challenging missions where you have to constantly upgrade your fungal bases, capture strategic map objectives, and overwhelm enemy towers. It starts off simple enough, but the difficulty ramps up fast. You really have to plan out your defense strategies and know exactly when to blitz the enemy to survive. It is ridiculously addicting.

HEROES THAT ACTUALLY MATTER

This isn’t just about throwing thousands of mindless troops at a wall and hoping it breaks.

You get to summon legendary heroes that act as your battlefield generals. Each one packs completely unique, massive skills that can flip the momentum of a match in seconds. You can power up your squads with heavy buffs, drop sneaky abilities to cripple enemy defenses, and totally blindside your opponent when they think they have you pinned down.

MULTIPLAYER CHAOS AND CO OP BATTLES

Playing against the AI is great, but wiping the floor with actual players is where this game truly shines.

You can jump into intense online PVP matches with up to four people on the map at the exact same time. It is complete, unfiltered chaos. If you want to see exactly how your skills stack up against the best generals in the world, the ranked leagues will humble you real quick. Not feeling competitive today? Team up with your friends in Co Op mode and coordinate your tactical strikes to break the enemy together.

If you have ever lost sleep playing tactical military titles like Tactile Wars, Top War, or Island Battle, you are going to feel right at home here. Stop playing games that hold your hand. Download this, pick a hero, and start crushing some towers.