Unveiled for the first time at G-Star 2025, 'Gate of Gates' is a post-apocalyptic tower defence title published by Webzen and developed by Retrail. It follows the journey of young women known as 'Tactical Dolls' and a 'Captain'—that’s you—as you navigate personal insecurities and struggle for survival. Based on the demo, the game leans heavily into its narrative, featuring fully voiced cutscenes and standing CGs that adapt to the character's emotional state, which adds a surprising layer of polish to the experience.

The storytelling is quite deliberate, offering a handy replay feature for dialogue that you might have missed or simply want to hear again. The premise? Humanity is under siege by creatures emerging from 'Gates' caused by a mysterious 'black substance'. You, quite suddenly, find yourself as the commander of the 49th Special Disaster Control Unit, leading these 'Tactical Dolls'—living weapons forged by mankind—into the fray.

These 'Tactical Dolls' are individuals who have had their bodies replaced by machines for various tragic reasons, essentially treating them as precision armaments. This grim backdrop, coupled with the game's moody trailer, really hammers home the dark atmosphere. The early story chapters are fully voiced, using Live2D technology to ensure their facial expressions match the gravity of the situation.

At its heart, 'Gate of Gates' is a tower defence game. You must strategically deploy your units to prevent these creatures from breaking through the final line of defence. Keep in mind that everything—deployment, skill usage, and upgrades—costs 'Energy', so you will need to manage your resource income carefully throughout the battle.

Combat is straightforward enough: place your unit, set the attack direction, upgrade, trigger skills, or retreat if things go south. You’ll need to position your Dolls precisely to ensure that the waves of creatures don't reach the operation limit zone.

The units are divided into classes: 'Support' for energy generation, 'Assault' for rapid-fire damage, 'Bombardment' for air targets, 'Sniper' for heavy armour penetration, 'Striker' for melee area-of-effect damage, and 'Vanguard' for holding the frontline. You can build a deck of up to 12 units, including auxiliary gear like 'Particle Relays' and 'Ballistic Shields'.

The main gameplay revolves around leveraging specific class strengths to clear missions. For example, when a massive boss creature appears, the Sniper class is your best friend. They can’t attack at close range, but they pack enough punch to whittle down health from a safe distance.

Once you’ve mastered the basics through the story, you can head to the 'Operation Analysis Room' for more in-depth progression. This uses a roguelike growth system involving three stages of combat. You’re graded based on clear time, which impacts your overall growth stats. Since your rewards, like the 'Tuning Index' used for upgrading, depend on these grades, speed is the name of the game here.

Here, you can also equip 'Memorial Cards' and auxiliary items. These cards boost stats based on your sync rate with the Tactical Dolls. Since the skills and stat effects vary per phase, you’ll need to tinker with your setup quite a bit.

After completing the three phases, you can use the 'Tuning Index' you’ve earned to fine-tune your performance. Crucially, you can even swap skill chips between different Dolls, so hoarding that index is vital.

Beyond the combat, there are plenty of social and collection elements. You can view character skins, read through backstories, or inspect the Live2D and 3D models. It’s these small touches that elevate 'Gate of Gates' from a mere tower defence game to a narrative-driven strategy experience where tactics and character development intersect.