Castellan

The old races made a pact in the dark: the age of man ends here. Every castle along the border has fallen. Yours is the last one standing, and thirteen armies are already on the road.

Castellan is a real-time roguelite castle defense where nothing plays itself. You aim every arrow, place every soldier and time every spell, all at once, while the horde keeps coming.

You are the castle

Hold the left mouse button and arrows fly wherever you point. You choose the target: the healer hiding behind the line, the rock thrower standing far from your walls, the supply chest falling from the sky. Press F to switch on auto fire and just aim. When the castle's health runs low, Last Stand begins: you shoot faster, your soldiers move faster and every kill pays more mastery. Some of the best comebacks start there.

Your soldiers are cards

Before each attempt you spend your gold on chests. Every card that comes out is a soldier in your squad for that attempt. In battle those cards sit in your hand: drag one onto the field and the soldier appears right where you dropped it. Put footmen in the gap, archers behind them and a cleric close enough to heal both. Changed your mind? Right-click a soldier to pick it up and move it.

There are 33 different soldiers in three roles: melee, ranged and healers. Each one brings its own trick. Lightning that jumps between enemies, shots that slow, blows that hit a whole group, extra damage against flying enemies, finishing off the wounded, war drums that speed up everyone nearby.

Nine spells, four slots

Spells come out of chests too, and you take four of them into battle on keys 1 to 4. Entangling Roots holds a wave in place. Frost Field slows it. Fireball burns it. Poison Cloud eats through it. Repair Ritual patches the castle, Sunburst punishes summoned enemies and Windshear drags flying enemies down to the ground. Rally Horn shields your whole army and brings back the last soldier you lost. Judgement takes a bite out of the strongest enemy on the field. Charges are limited, so every cast is a decision.

Lose, upgrade, return

Losing is part of the game. Every attempt pays mastery, even a failed one, and mastery buys upgrades that stay with you for good. There are 204 of them in 11 tabs: Castle Defense, Arrows, Supply Drops, Soldiers, Economy, Remnants, Overall Power, Spells, Chests & Cards, Elite & Boss, Advanced.

Tougher walls and castle repairs. More arrows per shot, critical hits, arrows that pierce. Stronger and faster soldiers. Supply chests that fall from the sky in the middle of a battle: shoot one open and its card flies straight into your hand. Stronger spells, luckier chests and special tools against elites and bosses.

Every chapter has five quests. Completing them raises your gold cap for good, which means more chests and a bigger army on the next attempt. Enemies you kill leave remnants that drift back to your castle. Upgrade them and they repair the walls, pay mastery and gold, or explode.

Thirteen chapters, thirteen rules to learn

Every chapter is a different army with its own elite, its own boss and its own rule. There are 85 different enemies in total, and brute force alone will not get you through:

Goblins that pour in like a flood while their slingers shoot over your front line.
Wolf clans that jump over your soldiers and land right at your walls.
Swamp witches that heal their army as fast as you hurt it.
Giants that stop far from your walls and throw rocks at your soldiers and your castle.
Skeletons that stand back up unless someone breaks the bone pile.
Vampires that turn your own soldiers against you.
A bronze bull that turns red just before it charges.
Gates that open in the middle of your field.
Wyverns that never land, and a dragon that only comes down when her brood is dead.
And at the end of the road, the pact itself, calling back every race and every boss you thought you had beaten.

Know what you are getting

Castellan is a single-player game played with the mouse and a handful of keys. It is a roguelite: a chapter is meant to take a few attempts, and every attempt leaves you stronger than the last. If you like learning an enemy, coming back with a better plan and finally breaking through, this is your kind of game.