Choose Bloons TD Battles
Choose Bloons TD Battles if you want a Free To Play experience. On Steam, it's free to play, so the barrier to trying it is zero. 21,230 Steam reviews back the pick.
Bloons TD Battles vs HardLuck
Bloons TD Battles and HardLuck both land in Action, Strategy on Steam, which is why they keep getting compared. The comparison below is built from each game's Steam metadata — release year, genres, categories, Steam Deck status, price, and review score — refreshed daily by imho.run's scraper. Headline differences: Both share Action, Strategy on Steam. Bloons TD Battles (2016) is 10 years older than HardLuck (2026). Bloons TD Battles is free; HardLuck is paid (Price unknown). No login or purchase needed — scroll for the full table, the verdict FAQ, and links to ranked similar games for both titles.
Which should you pick?
Choose HardLuck
Choose HardLuck if you want an Indie, Massively Multiplayer, and Casual game with Multi-player, Online PvP, and PvP. On Steam, it's the newer release (2026) and ships with the modern feature baseline. HardLuck launched in 2026.
Both Bloons TD Battles and HardLuck sit in Action and Strategy on Steam and both list Steam Leaderboards, so either pick lands in the same broad neighborhood. Use the side-by-side table for the feature view, or follow the "Games like" links below to see ranked alternatives for either title.
Side-by-side comparison
 Bloons TD Battles |  HardLuck | |
|---|---|---|
| Released | 2016 | 2026 |
| Genres | Action, Strategy, Free To Play | Action, Strategy, Indie, Massively Multiplayer, Casual |
| Platforms | Windows, macOS | Windows |
| Steam Deck | Deck Playable | Unrated |
| Price | Free to play | Price unknown |
| Steam reviews | 90.6% positive (21,230 reviews) | — |
| Multiplayer | Single-player only | Multi-player |
| Developers | Ninja Kiwi | Akshay Gadekar, No Coding Guru |
Side by side
- Both share Action, Strategy on Steam.
- Bloons TD Battles (2016) is 10 years older than HardLuck (2026).
- Bloons TD Battles is free; HardLuck is paid (Price unknown).
- Bloons TD Battles is Deck Playable on Steam Deck; HardLuck has no Deck rating yet.
Bloons TD Battles vs HardLuck — FAQ
- Should I play Bloons TD Battles or HardLuck first?
- If you want chronology, Bloons TD Battles (2016) came out before HardLuck (2026). If neither is a sequel to the other, order doesn't really matter — start with whichever fits your current mood, since both share enough on Steam to make either a reasonable opener.
- Are Bloons TD Battles and HardLuck similar?
- They overlap on Action, Strategy on Steam, so the catalogue groups them together — but "similar" depends on the specific mechanics. Use the genre + category rows above to decide whether the overlap matches what drew you to the one you've already played.
- Does Bloons TD Battles have multiplayer like HardLuck?
- No. HardLuck supports multiplayer on Steam (Multi-player), while Bloons TD Battles is listed as without multiplayer support.
- Is Bloons TD Battles free?
- Yes — Bloons TD Battles is a free-to-play Steam title. HardLuck is paid (Price unknown).
- Does Bloons TD Battles run on Steam Deck?
- Yes — Bloons TD Battles is rated Deck Playable by Valve. HardLuck doesn't have a Deck rating yet, so its Deck behaviour is currently unverified.