WARDEN

You are not the hero.

WARDEN is a turn-based tactics game where you step into the shoes of the dungeon boss. Heroes are storming your keep, and your job is to stop them cold—not by scrambling to react, but by planning every move three steps ahead.

Each turn, you'll draft action tiles from a shared rack to program your minions: move, attack, throw a grenade, or hold position. Once you commit, the turn resolves register-by-register (think RoboRally) while the AI heroes respond to your locked-in actions.

The twist? The heroes always telegraph exactly what they plan to do before you make your move. This isn't about guessing or getting lucky; it's a tight tactical puzzle. You win by completely outsmarting an enemy you can't out-maneuver.

Between Encounters

Fortify the Dungeon: Before the fighting starts, spend your Essence budget to set the stage. Lay down hidden spike traps, spill tar pits, or raise walls. Walls instantly alter the heroes' telegraphed pathfinding, while traps spring the exact moment a hero steps onto them.

Build Your Strategy: Win or lose, use the aftermath of battle to draft new tiles, upgrade your current deck, recruit tougher minions, or claim powerful Ward relics that break the game's rules in your favor.

Features

• Core Tactical Loop: Control two programmable minions across an 8×8 grid with tense, register-by-register resolution.
• Shared Tile Drafting: Every action tile you give to one minion is one you've explicitly denied the other. Choose wisely.
• Roguelike Meta: Navigate a floor map, hit the shop and forge, survive random events, and try to keep your roster alive through permadeath.
• Dungeon Defense: Set your layout before every fight to manipulate enemy pathfinding with walls and hidden hazards.
• Varied Foes: Face off against Soldiers, Brutes, Archers, Clerics, Skirmishers, and deadly Champion bosses, all beefed up by Armored and Swift modifiers.
• Game-Changing Relics: Discover four distinct Ward relics: Aegis, Eternal Snares, Overdraw, and First Blood.
• Retro Vibes: Crisp pixel art meets a vibrant neon synthwave aesthetic, complete with juice like screen-shake, hit-stop, and full SFX.

Made in 72 hours for Mini Jam 212.

Theme: Control · Limitation: You are the enemy

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